Eat Out Eat Well

mindless eating

Why Your Mindless Bites Are Making Your Jeans Tighter

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Are your pants feeling a bit tight and you can’t figure out why?

It’s those mindless bites that will get you.  Each one of those “shove it in your mouth without thinking about it” bites is worth about 25 calories.  Do the math.  If you have four mindless bites a day above and beyond your daily calorie needs that means possibly gaining slightly less than a pound a month (it takes 3500  calories to gain a pound  — and yes, you need a deficit of 3500 calories to lose a pound).

Do You Do Any Of These?

  • Snag a piece of candy from the bowl on someone’s desk
  • Scoop the last bit of leftovers from the pot into your mouth
  • Taste the cookie dough batter then lick the beaters
  • Finish the crust off of your kid’s grilled cheese sandwich
  • Sample the bar food while having a drink
  • Taste the free “want to try” foods when you’re shopping
  • Have “just a taste” of your friend’s or spouse’s dessert
  • Eat the freebie cookies or candy that come with the check in restaurants

Twenty-five

Ouch!  Each bite adds up to — on average — 25 calories (sometimes more, sometimes less).

Be aware of what you’re eating – especially when you’re not really eating.  Most of us don’t have a clue how many calories – or even bites – we’ve shoved into our mouths at times other than meals.  Unfortunately, all of those calories that we eat when we’re not eating meals not only count but add up to those pounds gained — and you can’t figure out why you gained them.

What To Do

Keep track of when and where you’re most likely to indulge in the mindless bites you shove down the hatch while you’re walking, talking, socializing, working, and driving.

The most effective method is to try to write down what you eat.  That may be a pain but might serve as a real “heads-up” because a written record is hard to deny.  If you don’t want to write it down (I must admit I have trouble doing that) at least be aware of your mindless bites – and decide if you want to eliminate, control, or include them in your daily calories.

Awareness is a good thing — especially if it makes your jeans fit better.

These Calories Still Count

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It’s way too easy to forget those little clumps of calories that “jump” into your mouth and ultimately register on the scale.

These Calories Still Count . . .

  • the candy bar you bought at the gas station and ate in the car
  • the 3 tootsie rolls you snagged from the receptionist’s desk
  • the couple of samples of cheesecake you grabbed at Costco
  • the grilled cheese sandwich you finished off of your child’s plate
  • the cookie batter you tasted and licked from the bowl and beaters
  • the leftovers you finished because there was too small an amount to save
  • the toppings you added to your ice cream or the sauce or dressing you added to your salad or sandwich

Of Course They Count . . .

Obviously, calories do count, it’s just that all too frequently we neglect to add them – remember them – or acknowledge them (that would mean having to admit that you ate that candy bar).

FYI:  That’s why a food journal can help with managing your weight.  By writing down everything that you eat – not at the end of the day but when you eat it  – you’re forced to acknowledge all of the random food that you pop into your mouth.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest uses frozen yogurt to illustrate how mindlessly adding toppings adds a whopping amount of calories to what might be thought of as a healthy food.

“Let’s say you start with just 200 to 300 calories’ worth of frozen yogurt. (That’s a medium or regular at places like Red Mango, Pinkberry, or TCBY.)

But then the toppings call your name. Forget the chocolate chips (80 calories per scoop), the gummy bears (80), and the Oreo pieces (60). Even the ‘healthy’ toppings like granola (60 calories), nuts (100), and ‘yogurt’ chips (100) pile on the calories.” Your low(er) calorie treat ends up being a high calorie dessert.

A Lot Of People At The Dinner Table: You Might Eat 96% More

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Planning on eating with seven friends? You might eat 96% more! No joke. We tend to eat more and for a longer period of time when we’re with other people compared to when we eat alone.

Why?  Perhaps it’s because we mindlessly nibble while someone else talks. Or maybe it stems from the good manners learned in fifth grade about eating what’s put in front of you. Or perhaps we’re just having fun and enjoying great food. We do tend to stay at the table longer when we’re with others and the longer we stay at the table, the more we eat.

Losing Track

Friends and family can absolutely influence how much we eat. Sometimes we can get so involved in conversation that any monitoring of what pops into our mouths completely disappears.  Think about it — have you ever looked down at your plate and wondered where all the cookies went or how you managed to work your way through the mile high dish of pasta or the four pieces of pizza?  How many tastes did you take of everyone else’s meal and dessert?  Those tastes aren’t like invisible ink — the calories in them count, too.

Who Sets the Pace?

We tend to mimic our table companions. They eat fast, we eat fast.  They eat a lot, we eat a lot.  Ever wonder why some families or couples are either all overweight or all slim?  As Brian Wansink, PhD says in his book, Mindless Eating, “birds of a feather eat together.”

How Much More Do We Eat When We Eat With Others?

Wansink reports on a study that shows how strong the tendency is to increase how much we eat when we eat with others.

Compared to eating alone we average:

  • 35% more when eating with one other person
  • 75% more with four people at the table
  • 96% more with a group of seven or more

A Different Eating Pattern When We’re With Others

The pattern of eating more when we’re in larger groups is common in adults. One reason is something called “social facilitation,”  or the actions created by the stimuli that stem from the sight and sound of other people doing the same that that you’re doing. When you eat in groups social facilitation can help override the your brain’s normal signals of satiety.

Things To Think About

  • Who are eating with – and why?  If you just want to have a good time and don’t care about how much you eat, go ahead and eat with a big group.  The likelihood is that you won’t pay much attention to what or how much you eat.
  • If you want to be careful about what and how much you eat, think about eating lunch with your salad friends rather than the pepperoni pizza group.
  • You tend to adjust your eating pace to that of your companions.  Try sitting next to the slow eaters rather than the gobblers if you’re trying to control how much goes into your mouth.

Thinking About Chowing Down At A Barbecue This Weekend?

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Memorial Day Weekend – the “unofficial” start of summer weekends. Hometown parades with floats and kids in baseball uniforms.  Veterans handing out flags.  The lazy, hazy days of summer with lots of soda and popcorn and beer.  Also lots of barbecue and desserts – and lots of seemingly never ending caloric temptation — and bathing suits to get into!

Celebration and Remembrance

Just a bit of a reminder.  It’s wonderful to celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer.  But, there’s a reason for all of the parades and flags. In the states, Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who died in our nation’s service.  First observed on May 30th, 1868 when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery, in 1971 Congress extended it into a three-day holiday weekend.

Parades, Picnics, And Barbecues

Memorial Day is a day of national ceremonies and small town parades, but also of barbecues and picnics. For many of us Memorial Day also signals the start of a whole different set of thoughts:  how to avoid the glut of cheeseburgers and hot dogs; the mayonnaise laden potato and macaroni salad; the plates full of brownies and cookies; the dripping ice cream cones (sprinkles are mandatory); the freshly baked blueberry and peach pies; and the beer, wine, soda, and lemonade to wash everything down.

Gotta Have A Plan To Handle The Food . . .

Or you might never take off the bathing suit cover-up.  So, as you remember the people who gave service to their country, please honor yourself by choosing to eat what’s best for you.  Holidays and celebrations present food challenges.  A one-day splurge is a blip that doesn’t account for much.  A one-day splurge that opens the floodgate to mindless eating all summer long is something else.

General Tips For Mindful Eating All Summer Long

  • Before you grab some tasty morsel, ask yourself if you’re really hungry.  Odds are, with a tempting display of food in front of you, you may not be hungry but you just want to eat what’s in front of you for reasons not dictated by your stomach.
  • A good question to ask yourself is:  do I really need to stand in front of the picnic table, kitchen table, or barbecue?  The further away from the food you are the less likely you are to eat it.
  • If you know that the barbecued ribs, the blueberry pie, or your cousin’s potato salad is your downfall, either build it into your food for the day or steer clear.  For most of us swearing that you’ll only take a taste is a promise doomed to fail.
  • If you’re asked to bring something to a party, picnic, or barbecue, bring food you can eat with abandon – fruit, salad with dressing on the side, berries and angel food cake for dessert (no fat in angel food cake).  That way you know you’ll always have some “go to” food.
  • Don’t show up absolutely starving.  How can you resist when your blood sugar is in the basement and your stomach is singing a chorus?
  • Really eyeball the food choices so you know what’s available.  Then make a calculated decision about what you are going to eat.
  • Take the food you have decided to eat, sit down, enjoy it without guilt, and be done with it.  No going back for seconds.
  • If you’re full, stop eating and clear your plate right away.  If it hangs around in front of you, inevitably you’ll keep picking at it.
  • Give yourself permission to eat – and enjoy — the special dessert or a burger or ribs.  If you don’t, you’ll probably be miserable and there’s some chance that you’ll get home and gobble down everything in sight – because you made yourself miserable by not eating the good stuff in the first place!  Eat what you want and enjoy it (no seconds and no first portions that are the equivalent of firsts, seconds and thirds built into one).
  • If hanging around the food gets to be too much, go for a walk, a swim, or engage someone in an animated conversation.    It’s pretty hard to shove food into you mouth when you’re talking away.

Multi-tasking = Distraction = Mindless Eating

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Do You Work Or Watch TV While You’re Eating?

Where do you have your breakfast?  In the car or train while you’re going to work?  Maybe while you’re walking down the street juggling that plastic topped paper cup of coffee, a muffin, your books and papers, your open jacket flapping in the breeze.

Where do you eat lunch:  at your desk; standing in front of the kitchen sink; in front of the computer – or maybe with your open laptop competing for lap space which then gets blessed with drips and a chunk of tomato that’s oozed out from your sandwich?

A poll of more than 1500 people (Wansink, Mindless Eating), found that:

  • 91% usually watch TV when eating meals at home alone
  • 62% are frequently too busy to sit down and eat
  • 35% eat lunch at their desk
  • 26% often eat while they drive

Distraction Vs. Weight

When you multi-task you’re distracted and distraction is the enemy of weight management (and tasting your food).  Any kind of distraction can lead to:

  • eating too much — a procrastination method used by many
  • forgetting –  or not being aware — of what you’re eating
  • not knowing how much (the quantity) you’re eating;
  • why you’re eating – of even if you’re really hungry.

Mindless Eating

When you’re distracted your focus is not on your food but rather on about a hundred different things.  That’s the classic recipe for mindless eating.

What Can You Do?

Everyone is busy.  Everyone eats.  Putting the two together can lead to mindless eating and creeping weight gain (and maybe indigestion).  How about making your own personal set of eating rules?

In good conscience I can’t really suggest eating without doing other things.  That’s the classic recommendation but I frequently eat while I work.  While that “rule” won’t work for me maybe it will for you.

Create Your Own FoodMAP

If you’re like me, perhaps you can set a rule that you’re going to serve yourself a set portion of food and that’s all you’ll eat. No seconds and no squeezing so much on your plate that you essentially have seconds without getting up for more.

Perhaps you set a snacking rule – one snack only and not before 3PM — or not before you finish whatever project you’re working on.  Just do it mindfully so the whole afternoon doesn’t turn into one long episode of coffee drips and food crumbs all over your keyboard.  Once relieved from unrelenting snacking you may figure out why you haven’t been hungry at dinnertime (which you would eat anyway – while checking your emails — because it’s time for dinner).

Perhaps you want to turn over a new leaf and solely concentrate on your meals.  The choice is yours.  The challenge is to do what is right for you, your body, and your lifestyle.  Create your own FoodMAP.  Just try to make mindful choices that work for you.

What’s your plan?