Most of us who need to deal with excess weight will readily admit that poor eating habits are behind the problem. Mindless eating even when we’re not hungry can add an untold amount of extra calories without us realizing it. However, by putting some simple strategies in place, you can not only recognize when you’re eating down the wrong path but also learn how to manage those habits and change your mindless eating into something much more productive. As health experts in the Express blog explain,
“It could be that it’s time to eat or simply that you’re faced with food. Maybe you’re bored or using food as a form of procrastination. Perhaps you’re celebrating or eating in secret to fill an emotional void: Whatever your habits there’s a good chance you’re eating for reasons other than hunger.”
Learning why you’re eating is just as important as what you’re eating, and without that knowledge you’ll always have a problem with managing your eating habits.
Are You an Environmental Eater?
Those who are environmental eaters have a tendency to eat whenever food is in their presence whether they’re hungry or not. This is why many stores make such a large amount of money by putting snack foods right at eye view at the checkout. It encourages impulse buying. The problem is that more often than not your food choices won’t be healthy ones. By recognizing this part of yourself you can implement a plan to keep those enticing foods completely out of sight. Foods that could be most tempting to you should be kept in opaque containers well out of sight and you can reduce many of your temptations.
Are You a Social Eater?
You could be a social eater; however, this will cause you trouble only when you’re around other people, which for most of us is a lot of the time. Meetings, celebrations, and evenings out with friends and family could prove to be a major temptation. Try spacing your social events out over a longer period of time so that you’re not exposed to too much eating at one time. If a friend asks you out, consider suggesting something that involves more activity in lieu of more eating. Taking a walk together, a day at the beach or some other outdoor activity might just do the trick. Another suggestion offered by Health Eating for the Huffington Post is,
“The next time you eat with a friend or a group, slow down, put your fork down between bites and monitor the effect. Taking the lead on speed can help you and your dining companions avert overeating, and feel more satisfied with smaller portions.”
In this case, you have to change your views of eating as a form of entertainment and use it instead as you would with any other part of your life. Once you change your view of food the easier this habit will be to break.
There are many reasons why people may choose to engage in mindless eating. In most cases, they do not even realize that they are consuming countless surplus calories at all, often forgetting that they had anything to eat at all. Changing your eating habits is not always an easy thing to do but with a little insight and understanding of the psychological triggers of eating you can be successful.
As Everyday Health tells us,
“It’s not just willpower, or a lack thereof, that makes us overeat and gain weight. Sometimes, it’s that sneaky bad habit you developed without even realizing it… The next thing you know, one little bad habit can equal out to a lot of weight gain.”
The sooner you come to grips with your eating habits and create solutions to address the problem the sooner you’ll see results in your weight loss efforts.