Ever wondered why you put on weight when you think you are eating healthy?

There are several reasons for that which we will be discussing  at a later date. Today we focus on MINDLESS EATING. What is it?

 It is when your fingers transport things into your mouth and you swallow without truly being aware of your actions. Is it possible? Yes we do it all the time. As humans research shows we make around 200 eating decisions a day. Are you aware you do this? No. Take a look at this. John is fat he doesn’t know why. He eats sensibly, not as much as other people he sees shoving food down their throats, goes to the gym have his greens but he still tips the scale.

John is asked to keep a food diary of all the food he consumes in a week. He does this and list his breakfast of cereal and two toasts, lunch of jacket potatoes and tuna bake and dinner of roast chicken, and salad. All well and good and calorie intake per day shows a healthy 2500 ideal for a guy. So what is the problem? 

On investigating in detail without his knowledge John is followed to see what exactly crossed into his mouth. What John fails to record is on the way to work he stopped to get a newspaper and added a mars duo bar to it and munches as he drives, the six choc  biscuits he unconsciously picks from the open tin on the staff table each time he passes it on his way out.  After his workout in the gym he goes to the pub with his mate  for a well deserved rest where he downs 3 pints of larger and two packets of crisp and handful of nuts. After dinner which he has mayonnaise smoothed ofer his tuna bake whilst watching TV he has a slice of chocolate cake along with his daughter and  washes it all down with two glasses of wine.

Total calorie intake 4870, almost twice the recommended daily amount. Is john really aware of his actions? No. They really don’t register as he was not thinking about it as he snacked away and promptly forgot about it. When confronted he was actually shocked at this behaviour and was not really conscious of how much he really ate.

We do that all the time. Take a chip or two off someone’s plate, finish leftovers from the kids plate, munch on a biscuit or two offered by a friend whilst gossiping, grab a bad of crisp on the way out of the store. Ever wondered why stores line the pathway to the payment tills with high calorie fat chocolates and sweeties?  If you have resisted them whilst shopping surely you can’t resist  them when queuing and them looking at you and calling your name, whispering pick me up. Yep. We pick things up we never went in to buy.

The only way around this is to make a conscious effort to be aware of what you put in your mouth and when.  That way you can honestly tell whether you are over eating or not.

Mindless eating causes weigh gain. No argument.

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