Tag Archive for: meal satisfaction

Ditch the Distractions—The Downside to Distracted Eating

Do you find yourself scarfing down breakfast on your drive to work, or sitting down in front of the TV to enjoy your dinner?

If the answer is yes—you’re probably a victim of distracted eating! With the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, it can seem nearly impossible to sit down in silence with no distractions for a proper meal.

However, there have been several studies looking at the impacts of distracted eating. From overeating to not remembering what and how much you ate—the consequences to what seems insignificant can be serious.

To help ditch the distractions, it’s time to look toward mindfulness.

What Distracted Eating Looks Like

Engaging in distracted eating is the norm of our society today.

Do any of these circumstances sound familiar?

  • Eating breakfast in the car on the way to work
  • Eating lunch while seated in your cubical or desk
  • Scrolling through your phone while eating your mid-day snack
  • Watching a television show or movie during dinner time

These are all prime examples of what is known as “distracted eating”.

I myself have fallen into the trap of distracted eating…I’ll share this story on my Live Training today. Access it HERE or HERE at 12:15 pm EST.

 

Definition of Distracted Eating

The “intentional consumption of a meal while engaged in a secondary activity to the extent that the significance or memory of the meal is diminished or forgotten completely.” (Reference: https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com)

With the hustle and bustle  and fast paced environment many of us live in—taking time to sit down and properly enjoy a meal is often thrown to the wayside. And, our society praises busyness, hustle culture and being “productive” at all hours of the day no matter what. Even when people seem to have time in their routine for a proper meal—the distractions still seem to pop up like scrolling through Instagram or Facebook or watching TV.

What the Studies Show

Many studies have looked at the impact of eating while distracted. The concluding results are as follows.

Those who eat distracted are more likely to…

  • Eat faster, and more food than intended.
  • Can’t remember what or how much you ate.
  • Snack on more foods later on or plate more food than you’d usually eat.
  • Feel significantly less full at the end of a meal.

These kinds of results make total sense because along with your hunger and fullness cues—attention and memory also play a role in the eating experience.

Your memory of what you ate and how much you ate will likely be impacted if you are eating while distracted. This usually results in eating more at your next meal or snacking because you have left your previous meal unsatisfied.

Although eating while distracted could mean overeating and feeling less satisfied after a meal—it also takes away from the enjoyment and pleasure the eating experience usually brings.

It’s time to ditch the distractions and focus on the meal in front of you. And while I get that eating without any distraction is possibly impractical—it’s all about taking baby steps in the right direction.

 

Tips to Reduce Distracted Eating

(1) Put your phone or computer in another room while you’re eating.

(2) If engaging in conversation, put your fork down periodically as a reminder to focus on the food in your mouth.

(3) Eat your meals at a table versus in the den or at your desk.

(4) Plan time for your meals—this will ensure you have plenty of time to enjoy the eating experience.

(5) Check in with your hunger and fullness throughout the meal to minimize autopilot eating.

How will you reduce distraction at your next meal? Let me know in the comments below!

How Can You Tell When You’re Feeling Satisfied?

This week’s Intuitive Eating Wednesday Question comes from Kristy, a member in my online community.

 

She asks:

 

“How can you tell when you’re satisfied??”

 

A short straight to the point question. But often so difficult for someone to figure out.

 

Kristy is referring here to when she is eating a meal, how does she determine when she is satisfied enough to stop eating.

 

If you’re someone who has dieted for quite some time, then likely you’re also struggling with not being able to hear your fullness signals. The mere act of dieting causes your signals to atrophy.

 

Why?

 

Because you aren’t using them. You are stopping your meal when the diet plan tells you that you have had enough. You are pushing the plate away when it’s empty. You are putting your fork down based on a limit imposed on you by an outside source. This means, it’s a source external from your internal signals that truly guide your eating.

 

Remember, you were born an intuitive eater. You were born knowing when you were hungry to start eating, and when you felt satisfied to stop eating. You didn’t need to ask this question, because it was just a feeling you had. And, you TRUSTED it, because you knew no other way but to trust your body.

 

All these years and oh so many diets later, you no longer feel those signals. And, you don’t have that trust in yourself either.

 

Which makes it so difficult to know when you’re truly satisfied enough to stop eating.

 

Okay, so you get this. But now what?

 

I’m not going to tell you how to feel your signals. This is something you need to relearn. And it IS POSSIBLE, with the right support, as you travel down your intuitive eating journey.

 

But before you do, you must do these 5 things:

 

  1. Make the commitment to never diet again.

 

  1. Re-affirm this commitment to never diet again.

 

  1. Stay strong in this commitment even though you are surrounded by diet culture and its harmful messages (and family and friends that might be dieting and want some company).

 

  1. Move away from determining success on your journey based on a number on a scale.

 

  1. Re-affirm your commitment to never diet again

 

You see, if there’s any part of you that is still holding on to “maybe that will help me lose a few pounds”, then you will turn intuitive eating into the hunger-fullness diet (aka ‘The Intuitive Eating Diet’).

 

I’ve seen this happen way too many times. So, check in with yourself and ask yourself if you’re truly ready to leave your dieting habit and the scale behind.

 

Let me know in the comments below.

 

 

How to Get Pleasure in Your Meals

The room is dark, the noise is loud. There is a buffet of luscious food awaiting. I walk over to the buffet, pick up a plate and can’t help but wonder “what is in front of me?” It looks like quinoa salad, or is it couscous? That must be a lentil patty, or is it a tuna croquette?

 

I take food, sit down at the table, and begin eating. All my friends at the table are saying what I am thinking, “anyone know what this is that we are eating?” I take a few bites, put my fork down and decide I have had enough.

 

Have you ever stopped to think about how important your senses are to the pleasure and satisfaction you get from your meals?

 

If you’re a chronic dieter, you’ve probably been eating what you think you should be eating, and not what you truly want to eat. And I might suggest that more often than not, you finish a meal and don’t say “wow, that was amazing!”. And, if you do, you likely have tremendous guilt that you enjoyed what you ate, and food is not meant for enjoyment.

 

One of the most beautiful benefits of being an intuitive eater is recapturing the pleasure in eating. The ability to use all of your senses during a meal to truly appreciate the food that is in front of you is something that you have lost in all your years of dieting. But, you can reclaim it on your path towards being an intuitive eater.

 

Here are 3 ways to get the most pleasure in your meals:

 

  1. Before you begin eating: take a moment to observe the food in front of you and appreciate it. Think about where it came from, send gratitude to the people involved in preparing the food for you and observe the various colors, textures and aroma of the different foods on your plate.

 

  1. During the meal: Pay attention to all aspects of the food. Notice the taste on your tongue, the texture in your mouth, the sound as you chew and how the flavor changes as you eat the bite.

 

  1. At the end of the meal: notice how your belly feels, satisfied and content? Full or overfull? Stuffed? Perhaps your having indigestion or acid reflux. Take note and decide if this is a food that feels good in your body, and if it’s something you will want to eat again.

 

 

Learning to slow down and be mindful when you eat is an important part of your intuitive eating journey. It takes practice and patience, but it is worth the lessons learned.

 

I was not able to see the food I was eating at the party I was at, and I did not enjoy it. So, I honored myself and stopped eating. It’s a good thing I honored my hunger before leaving my house for the party and had a snack.

 

Your turn to take action: Try these tips above and comment below how it enhanced the pleasure of your meals.