Mindless Eating - Why We Eat More Than We Think

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Brian Wansink is the author of the new book “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think“. He is the director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab.

In his book, Brian Wansink discusses some of the hundreds of food studies he has conducted over the years. His conclusions are that when we become more mindful of the choices we make, that we will be able to live and eat better.

All day, every day we are making choices about what, when and how much to eat. Most of these choices are made mindlessly. In his book, Wansink states that we make an average of 200 food choices per day! (It’s hard to imagine that we actually make that many choices a day. Maybe we should try counting our own choices.)

Mindlessly eating packs on more calories and pounds than planned snacks do. Multiple studies prove that we eat what’s there, whether or not we are hungry.

Think about your own habits. How often have you said to yourself “I can’t believe I ate the whole bag of cookies” … or the chips or the container of ice-cream, or that large platter of food at the restaurant?

Though not new, here are a few tips to end mindless eating:

Buying in bulk often results in eating more - As soon as you open a package of cookies, chips etc portion them out in baggies.
The longer you sit at a table the more likely you’ll eat more – Eat only in one place and leave as soon as you are finished eating.
The more choices we have, the more we eat – At a buffet only place two items on your plate at a time.
Don’t clear the bones – Studies show that when eating chicken wings people ate 30% more when the bones were continually cleared from the table
Low fat foods could be hurting us – According to a study people eat an average of 28% more calories while eating low-fat snacks.

Why do you want to eat?

Is your hunger physical or emotional?

If you felt a sudden burst of hunger it is more than likely emotional. Physical hunger is usually gradual.

There are cues all around us to eat. These include who we are with, smells, food packaging and serving sizes. Being aware of these cues may ward off mindless eating.

To my surprise even music can affect our eating behaviors. Listening to songs with a soft beat or classical music can cause you to eat slower (as a result you eat less). Listening to music with a fast beat or rap makes you eat faster (consequently you eat more).

Become aware of what and why you are eating - this will help you to overcome mindless eating.

You can be in control of what you eat by beginning to make conscious changes of what when and why you are eating.

According to Wansink there are five danger zones, He lists them as (1) Meal Stuffing, (2) Snack Grazing, (3) Restaurant Indulging, (4) Party Binging and (5) Desktop Dining.

Wansink’s goal is to raise consumer awareness of why and how we eat. By learning what situations trigger us to eat, we can gain better control over our food choices. The book discusses the psychology of eating and what motivates us to overeat.

While the book Mindless Eating helps us to become aware of why we eat, it is NOT a “weight loss diet program’. It can be used as a great resource tool in helping you to achieve and maintain your weight loss goal.

Remember losing weight permanently requires lifestyle changes. Lifestyle changes will put an end to mindless eating.

Technorati Tags: Mindless Eating, Emotional Eating, Brian Wansink