A Simple Tip to Take Control of Mindless Eating
By: , SparkPeople Blogger
1/10/2011 12:03 PM : 56 comments : 29,063 Views
 






One of the 7 Secrets to a Strong Start is to focus on developing healthy habits, not losing weight. One habit that many people struggle with is mindless eating. The 10 Steps to Achieve a Healthy Lifestyle Mind Over Body plan can help you with tools to overcome emotional and mental attitudes about food. Before you begin adding those tools to your healthy eating toolbox, begin using this simple tip as you make food and snack choices each day.

You may not even be aware that you are a victim of mindless eating. See if any of these sound familiar.

You may be a mindless eater if you frequently:

  • Eat from a box or bag while working at your computer, watching TV or a movie

  • Graze on snacks all day long

  • Give in to cravings especially for sweet and salty things

  • Grab something to eat or drink when you are feeling sad, stressed, angry, lonely or bored
To begin taking control of mindless eating, use this simple tip. Before you eat or drink anything, stop and ask yourself why you have selected it to eat. Are you hungry or thirsty? Are you feeling stressed or emotional? Are you responding to old habits that need to be changed? If you are making a choice to eat because you have identified true hunger and a need for food, move forward with your selection. If you are eating in response to a craving, perhaps you want to try a distraction technique to help you make a healthier choice. If you find you are reaching for food as an emotional response, take the opportunity to try a technique that turns off your emotions without food. Old habits don't have to be hard to break and using the simple tip of stopping to think before you eat is the first step toward establishing new ones.

The Bottom Line

One of the keys to winning at weight loss is developing healthy eating habits. One of the first ways to move in the right direction toward those healthy habits is learning to make conscious choices about what you eat and drink. Thinking before you eat will help keep mindless eating to a minimum. It will also allow you to begin recognizing your thoughts and feelings about food and help you recognize the ways you are using it in response to hunger, cravings and emotions.

Take a few moments to list some of your mindless eating triggers. Will you be on the lookout for these as you begin thinking before you eat?

 


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