Be Mindful…Or Risk Being Overfull!

How does mindful eating influence how much we eat?

Although it is tempting to believe that our food intake is the result of a series of conscious choices, new research suggests that much of our diet—especially portion size—is influenced by subconscious forces, especially our attentiveness during meals. When distracted, we are far more likely to shift into auto-pilot and overeat.

What happens when we’re distracted?

Being distracted at a meal not only increases the the caloric intake at that sitting, but has an even more profound influence on overeating during the next meal. It’s not clear why this happens, but it appears that the calories eaten while we are distracted somehow aren’t satiating, tricking the body into thinking more food is required by the time the next meal rolls around.

One of the clever methods used in the research studies to distract people from how much they were eating was to serve soup in a specially rigged soup bowl that slowly refilled itself through a hidden tube. Another was to place pistachios on a desk and periodically removing the shells. A third was to darken the room in which the meal was served, to decrease awareness of the food. These distractions led to greater intake of food.

Distracted people, being unaware of their intake, consistently ate more than those who ate more mindfully—especially high-calorie foods.

How many of these distractions have you experienced?

In real life, no one removes discarded pistachio shells for us or surreptitiously refills our soup bowls. But most people have plenty of other ways they distract themselves while eating. Are any of these familiar?

• Eating while watching TV
• Eating while using the computer
• Eating while reading
• Eating while driving
• Snacking at the movies (a time-honored tradition for sure, but did you ever wonder how that bucket of popcorn magically disappeared by the end of the movie?)

The trick is to avoid multi-tasking while eating, and focus your attention on the food you’re eating. Not only are you likely to eat less, but most people find that they actually enjoy what they are eating more—often much more.

It’s unfortunate that eating is often not considered important enough to merit our full attention. Now we have the science to confirm common sense: that eating deserves our full attention, especially at meal time.

Mindful eating is a terrific way to accomplish two seemingly incompatible goals—to cut calories while making eating even more pleasurable!

For further reading:

 Original Research: Eating Attentively

Book:  Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung