The Negative Effect of T.V. on Eating Pleasure

This past Sunday was a busy day. I’m sure you have busy days too. But what I experienced Sunday really brought what I teach my clients to life.

My day started off cleaning out our storeroom. I’ve been after my husband for a long time to do this, so I was so glad we began this adventure. We then had some errands to do, and eventually we dropped my daughter off at her friend’s house for a birthday party.

The party was for 2 hours and it was a distance from our home. We wanted to hang out in the area and just go back and pick her up at the end of the party. We found a nice park to walk around and it was beautiful.

We decided to find a place to eat dinner, as it would be too late to eat when we got home. So, we went into a local restaurant, seemed nice enough. I ordered food at the counter, my husband went to find a table. When I brought the food over, I noticed that our table was right under a television hanging on the wall. I looked around and realized my husband chose this table because it was the only table available.

As I began to eat my chopped salad filled with artichokes, hearts of palm, egg whites, sun dried tomatoes and mandarin oranges, I was feeling very out of touch with my eating experience. I quickly realized that the T.V. blasting above my head was taking away from the pleasure in my meal. I was frustrated and wondered why on earth this restaurant needs to have a T.V. on in the dining area. Yes, it’s casual dining, but really? Doesn’t the restaurant owner know anything about mindful eating?

Apparently not.

I concentrated on my inner satiety signals, wanting to be sure I didn’t miss comfortable satiety. I took a few more bites and told my husband I was finished. I packed up the rest to take home.

As we were driving home, I thought about this experience. I was looking forward to this delicious salad, but the distraction and noise from the T.V. took away from my pleasurable experience. What a shame. Had I not been aware of this, I would have probably gone home and looked for food, anything to achieve satisfaction.

A lesson learned. I won’t be going back to that eating establishment any time soon.

Your turn to take action: Have you had a similar eating experience? Please share below.