Dear Lee,

Flea market food is notorious. Much of it is deep-fried, from french fries and turkey wings to dill pickles, funnel cakes, Twinkies and Oreos. And, of course, there’s popcorn, salted pretzels, cotton candy, frozen custard and pizza loaded with the works. Eating is part of the fun at a flea market, but limit your calorie-laden treats and consider going on what we call “The Collector’s Diet.”

The best way to lose weight, of course, is to eat less and exercise. Walking through the market is exercise, and buying old dishes will start you on your way to eating less without even realizing it.

Researchers have discovered that if your food is served on a large plate and your beverage in a short fat glass, you will eat and drink more. A large plate makes portions look smaller, and we tend to empty the plate. That could also be the result of our parents telling us to “join the clean plate club” or to eat up because “there are children starving in Africa.”

A modern dinner plate is 10 inches in diameter or, if made to metric standards, 10 1/4 inches. But until the early 1900s, dinner dishes came in a 9-inch size that was often called a “luncheon plate” or “breakfast plate.” Other plates were smaller, too. You could get a 7 1/2-inch salad plate, a 7-inch bread plate and a 6-inch dessert plate. And many of these older dishes were made with a wide rim, so the area for food was even smaller.

Tumblers used to come in numerous sizes, from a tiny 4-ounce fruit glass to a 2 1/2-inch Old Fashioned to a 5 1/2-inch water glass. For our diet, small and skinny is best. A short fat glass holds a lot more liquid than you think.

So on your next trip searching for “treasures,” hunt for the vintage dinnerware that will encourage you to eat less. At the same time, you’ll cover several miles walking through the flea market. That’s plenty of exercise. As an added bonus, you can brag that you’re helping to solve global warming, pollution and trash accumulation because you’re recycling old dishes.