My Journey to Eat Without Distractions

For the most part as a nutritionist I aim to practice what I preach. This means I eat my vegetables, even if they’re not my favorite; I get in my exercise, I drink lots of water, I aim to balance my meals, I don’t “diet”, I stick to quality ingredients, etc… but if I’m being truly honest with you there is one thing I’ve been lacking in: Eating without distractions. For years I’ve learned that the ideal way to eat is with no distractions present. It makes total sense too. Think about those times you find yourself picking at food just cause it’s in front of you, or snacking away while watching TV and suddenly ending up with a bag of nothing left! All these instances happen because we choose to eat in the presence of distractions.

I will be the first to admit. I am not good at eating without distractions. I am not perfect and to be honest, I multitask way more than anyone should, but I’m working on it. One of my bad habits: eating with distractions. Whether I’m checking my emails, watching TV, texting, on my computer, getting work done, etc… something is usually happening when I’m eating.

You may be wondering what exactly is wrong with this bad habit? We all watch TV or check emails while we eat right? Problem is when we distract ourselves from the food in front of us we aren’t paying attention to our hunger signals, nor what we’re actually eating. This means we often eat more than we need without acknowledging how much we are actually eating. Our body doesn’t think we are eating that much so we don’t realize we’re full and we start to put on weight. Sound familiar? How many of you are subject to eating in the car on the way to work or the gym? Are you really paying attention to what you’re eating? Do you feel satisfied when you finish? What about at night while watching TV? Were you even hungry when you started to snack or did you just want to munch?

The first step I have taken in eating without distractions is recognizing whether or not I am actually hungry. There are so many times when we will eat simply because we have programmed ourselves to do so. Think about it, if you had never eaten a snack at the movies would you ever really get one? Or our we so accustomed to eating something while watching a movie that we habitually want one just because? Same thing goes for nighttime snacking or eating in the car. If you do it enough, the habit will form but the same thing will happen vice versa. Cut out your nighttime snack for a week and see what happens. You may realize you’re just not hungry and don’t need the snack, or maybe your starving and need to increase your dinner portion. Either way when we disassociate the habit from the food we will no longer crave it. Tweet it. Maybe you insist you need your nighttime snack. You swear you’re hungry for it and can’t go to bed without it. Fine. But next time you reach for it I want you to turn off the TV, shut down the computer, and put whatever you’re eating on a plate. Sit at your kitchen table and eat your snack until you’re satisfied. The intrigue of it may just wear off.

Are you guilty of eating with distractions??? When do you tend to fall suspect to mindless snacking?