"Isn't packing on food calories as excess fat also a waste of the food?"
--Unknown
Ideally, we would always bring home our leftovers, but there are situations where we might not want or be able to. Perhaps we are traveling, perhaps we are talking about the last 3 forkfuls of a meal and we are embarrassed to ask for a box...
It has to be OK to throw out food.
Gary Taubes noted that even the world champion of calorie counting wouldn't be able to count calories with enough precision to make a difference. We have to rely on, and listen to our own satiety signals.
We shouldn't turn ourselves into Foie gras, perennially trying to stuff that last little bit of the meal down our gullets. Reflecting, a lot of this behavior is motivated by a discomfort with throwing away food.
I realize this is kind of a dicey thing to write, given starvation in places like Afghanistan (currently in the news.) What I'm really advocating for is a recalibration between what we take onto our plate, and what we should actually consume.
It's fine if there is still a discomfort with throwing out food as long as the response is to take less next time, not stuff ourselves.
