Did you ever eat a whole quart or more of ice cream while watching one of your favorite TV shows even though a small scoop would have been enough to satisfy your need for a delicious treat?
When you don’t pay attention to the food you’re eating and don’t notice how much food you have consumed, then you most likely have a habit of mindless eating.
Mindless eaters don’t pay attention to food as much as they should, which is why it’s often typical for them to eat a piece of cake even when it’s stale and doesn’t really taste that good.
On the other hand, a mindful eater is aware of everything they eat and they use this awareness to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Free Report: Why You Can't Shift Your Belly FatDo You Have A Habit of Mindless Eating?
One of the best examples of mindless eating is popcorn at the movie theater. Namely, the taste of the popcorn (according to an experiment that is mentioned in the book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, written by food psychologist Brian Wansink) doesn’t even matter to people who are in the theater. Even if it’s stale, they’ll eat it because they aren’t paying attention to the food, they’re paying attention to the movie.
There is no attention paid to the portion being consumed or the fact that a half a cup of popcorn is all that is really needed for a snack, and the movie portion is more like 4 cups. As long as the movie projectors are still running, we’ll be munching on the snack.
Since all of your attention will be directed towards the movie, you won’t notice how much of it or how fast you’re eating or even realize that you’ve been full for some time.
The food psychologist mentioned above, Brian Wansink, notes that there is a huge difference between eating until you’re full and eating until the plate is empty. The latter means that you’re probably eating mindlessly.
Another example is eating in front of the television where you hardly pay attention to the food, what you are eating, or how much of it you ate. Also eating while driving is likely to cause mindless eating. You can’t really devote attention to the food because it’s devoted to the road.
How Does a Habit of Mindless Eating Start?
Mindless eating is a habit that people develop early on in their lives. For example, many kids fall into the trap of eating this way due to the size of the bowl from which they eat their cereal. Namely, if you give a kid a 16-ounce cereal bowl, they will pour much more cereal in it than if you gave the same kid an 8-ounce bowl.
How To Break The Habit of Mindless Eating
Essentially, there are a few rules that you should follow if you’re trying to eat mindfully:
- You should eat with the intention of caring for your well-being
- Always pay attention to the effects the food you’re consuming has on your body
- You should only choose to eat foods that you will truly enjoy
- Start to recognize your trigger foods (the foods that are most likely to make you overeat)
- You should always ask yourself if you’re still hungry before taking the next bite
- Pay attention to each bite. A lack of attention results in your mind not registering how much food you ate, which can result in you thinking you need more food to feel satisfied
- Be prepared to hit roadblocks while becoming a mindful eater, as there is an adjustment period whenever you’re changing any eating habits, but you shouldn’t give up even if you fail several times.
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