Mindless Eating Leads to Extra Calories and Weight Gain

Learn to Recognize What Triggers Mindless Eating & Tips to Stop It

By: Dave Kraybill, Executive Director, Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation

Did you ever eat the last muffin from a breakfast meeting that’s been in the lunchroom since 8:30 AM, is going stale and wasn’t your favorite flavor? How about non-stop picking at the cheese tray, pepperoni puffs and taco dip at a party even though you just came from dinner? Or did you ever polish off those last seven spoonfuls of cold mashed potatoes in the bowl after dinner because…well just because? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you are not alone.

So why do we overeat when we are full or when the food doesn’t even taste good? Cornell food psychology professor and author of “Mindless Eating,” Brian Wansink explains, “Most overeat because there are signals and cues around us that tell us to eat. It is not in our nature to pause after every bite and contemplate whether we are full. The human stomach isn’t sensitive enough to notice small caloric differences, and it often doesn’t register how much has been eaten until 20 minutes or more. So people tend to rely on their eyes, ears and noses to tell them when to stop eating. And the end result is often overeating.”

It is a fact that the calories you consume really do matter. If you eat more calories than you burn you will gain weight. It’s not always easy to know the amount of calories that you should be eating. It depends on your age, gender, activity level and metabolism. So how do you find out what your ideal calorie intake level is? Go to www.mypyramid.gov and plug in the answers to the questions the web site asks. You will get a general guideline or range to your ideal caloric intake.

Once you know your calorie level you can see how quickly the calories you consume add up on a daily basis and how easy it is to overeat. According to Professor Wansink’s research, an individual can make up to 200 decisions a day about food. That’s a lot. If you understand how your environment really is affecting you, you can try and make the correct decisions every time you think about eating food – or at least make mindful decisions instead of mindless ones!

Just to give you an example how mindless eating can add unwanted calories to your day and ultimately contribute to weight gain, remember that stale muffin you ate at 3:00 p.m.? By eating it, you just added almost 500 extra calories to your day. Or how about that bag of buttered microwave popcorn you ate at night while watching TV – 480 calories! Not to mention the 8 or 9 chocolate candies you popped in your mouth during the day when you passed the office candy dish. That would add up to 230 calories. So, your day of mindless eating unknowingly netted you an extra 1,210 calories. Wow – and don’t think that salad at lunch cancelled all that out. In fact, if you tossed on some sunflower seeds you’re looking at another 262 calories.

So how does one avoid mindless eating? Try these tips:
1) Be aware of the size and shape of containers, it’s the amount of food that counts, not what it looks like. If you need popcorn during your TV time, put a serving size in a bowl instead of the bag.
2) Serve food on smaller plates and bowls - - empty plates and bowls can cue some people to stop eating.
3) Use nutrition labels, paying attention to the serving size listed. Consider the facts; do not guess at how many calories you are eating.
4) Look past the packaging. Research has shown that a food’s package or the language on a menu can lead you to actually like a food better, increasing your chance of overeating.
5) Keep visual reminders of how much you are eating – keep wrappers, empty containers, bones and other reminders of how much you have eaten nearby.
6) Think about eating a healthier meal as a whole; don’t just focus on separate parts of the meal.
7) Control your purchases, don’t let signs that read “10 for $5” lead you to buy more than you need.