Reducing Mindless Eating: Putting an End to the Crazy Cycle Presented By Sam Aspenson Viterbo Dietetic Student
Objectives Identify environmental situations where we mindlessly overeat. Review specific studies performed by Dr. Wansink and his colleagues. Discuss methods to help reduce mindless eating.
Everyone of us Overeats Why? Not because we re hungry, it s because of the cues around us Family Colors Names Friends Smells Lights Plates Numbers Distances Labels Glasses Distractions Serving Dishes Containers Sights
Food Decisions are Everywhere The average person believes they make ~15 food choices per day. We make over 200 decisions about food every day. Breakfast or no breakfast? Cereal or toast? All of it or half of it? Kitchen or on the go?
Why Do We Mindlessly Eat? We unknowingly look for cues to tell us we re full and we can stop eating It s not natural for us to ask ourselves if we re full after every bite we take If there is something on the table we keep eating until it s gone (this is a cue) If no one else is at the table we stop eating If the restaurant closes, it s a cue to stop eating.
We should all know what fills us up, but we still overeat. 12% - Overate because they had a bad day, were bored, or were sad. 51% - Overate because they were really hungry 37 % - Overate because the food was spectacular What happens if the person is not hungry and the food is terrible? Does this affect how much they eat?
Popcorn Study Free popcorn was given to a group of people at a movie theatre. These people had just eaten lunch within the past 20 minutes They were offered popcorn that was stale (5 days old) Popcorn was offered in large and medium size buckets.
Popcorn Findings Those who had the large buckets ate: average of 173 more calories. 53% more than those with medium buckets. Findings People eat more when you give them a bigger container. People eat more as environmental cues take over. These were all signals it was ok to keep eating.
Chocolate Brownie OR Grandma s Double Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Simply thinking that a meal will taste good can lead you to eat more. When we hear descriptive words we automatically assume/think the food is going to be good. We indulge because it s so good
We Believe our Eyes, Not Our Stomachs Most of us rely on the size or volume of food to tell us when we re full. People don t eat calories, they eat volume. Burger and smoothie studies (Dr. Barbara Rolls) Smoothies had the same ingredients and calories We believe our Eyes and not our stomachs. If we think we eat less than a typical meal volume, we ll think we re still hungry.
Volume trumps calories We eat the volume we want, not the calories Tip.the two cheapest things you can add to food are water and air.
When Do We Stop Eating Research has shown that we don t stop eating because our stomachs are full We stop for a combination, among other things, of : How much we chew How much we taste How much we swallow How much we think about the food How long we ve been eating
We Set Targets The faster we eat, the more we eat Takes 20 minutes for our body and brain to tell each other they are full. What can you eat quickly in 20 minutes? We decide how much to eat before we begin to put food in our mouths. We rely on the visual cues to tell us we re done.
Hidden Persuaders Refrigerators Cupboards Office Desk Simply seeing or smelling a food can cause us to overeat. We eat more of the visible See-foods because we think about them more.
Disassembling the Hidden Cues There are two strategies for avoiding temptations of the see-food diet Move the visible food If it can t be moved, then move around it. The more hassle it is to eat it, the less we will eat
Make Overeating a Hassle, not a habit Leave serving dishes in the kitchen or on a counter away from the table. Only put fruits and vegetables on the table Make the tempting foods less convenient. Put those foods in the basement or in a hardto-reach cupboard. Wrap the most tempting left-overs in aluminum foil and place in the back of the refrigerator or freezer.
Make Overeating a Hassle, not a habit Snack at the table and only on a clean plate This makes it less convenient to impulse snack
Eating Scripts We often follow eating scripts when we eat Some of these scripts we are aware of, but others we are not We encounter some food situations so frequently that we develop automatic patterns to control them We all have scripts that tell us when we should start and stop eating
Snack: Watch favorite movie, make popcorn. What are Eating Scripts Breakfast watch the news, refill breakfast bowl and eat until the news is over Dinner: Ate all of your food, but take another helping and keep eating until others are done
Change Gain-weight scripts into Lose-weight scripts Family and Friends Have a strong influence on what we eat We lose track of how much we eat We eat longer than usual We let them set the pace for how much and how fast we eat Eating is like shopping: the longer you stay at the table, the more you tend to eat.
What can you do? Try to be the last person eating Pace yourself with the slowest eater at the table Avoid the temptation of just one more helping by always leaving some food on your plate as if you re still eating Decide how much to eat before the meal comes instead of during the meal
Change Gain-weight scripts into Lose-weight scripts All-You-Can-Eat Television People who watch a lot of TV exercise less and they eat more Triple threat: Leads us to eat Leads you not to pay attention to how much you eat Leads you to eat for too long. Both children and adults snack more when watching TV (even when not physically hungry) It is a scripted, conditioned ritual Gives us something to do with our hands so we can focus on the program
The Basic Rule Distractions of every kind: Cause us to eat Forget how much we eat Make us eat longer All of this happens when we re not hungry
Create Distraction Free Scripts Rescript your diet danger zones Be the last one to start eating Serve triple helpings of the healthy foods and single helpings of the meat and potatoes Chew gum rather than raid the refrigerator after work Eat in one room only Dish yourself out a ration before eating with distractions Eating directly from the box, bag or serving bowl is a recipe for regret
Our bodies and minds fight against diets that drastically cut calories But they don t notice a 100-200 calorie difference We can cut out 100-200 calories per day without knowing if we make small changes in our environment This will decrease our weight by 30 lbs in a year
Food Trade-Offs I can eat X if I do Y. I can have dessert if I have worked out I can have chips if I only have a salad for dinner I can have a second soft drink if I take the stairs all day I can have dessert only if I go back and buy it after I ve finished eating all of my lunch (pause point) These are great because we don t have to deny ourselves the foods we love.
Food Policies Don t involve any trade-offs, they just eliminate one or two habits that have mindless taken over our lifestyle. Come in many different forms No second helpings on starch Never eat at my desk No desserts on weekdays Allow you to personalize them to your situation Pick the habits you can easily change
The Power of Three Three small changes is realistic By making three, 100 calorie changes you could lose 30 lbs in 1 year Even if you make 2 of those changes, you will lose weight It takes about 28 days to break an old habit and replace it with a good one We need to be held accountable otherwise we fall back into our old routines
In Conclusion Mindlessly losing weight shouldn t be a painful, sweaty sprint It should be slow and steady beginning with removing unwanted eating cues and rearranging our homes, offices and eating habits so they work for you and your family rather than against you.
Wansink, B. (2006). Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. New York, NY. Bantam Dell.