One Hand on the Fork, One Hand on the Remote
To tell you the truth, some nights I want nothing more than to come home, whip up my dinner and curl up in front of the TV with a DVR-ed episode of The Office.
I know, I know, I know. Eating in front of the TV earns me a slap on the wrist, as does every lunch I eat in front of the computer. Being conscious of this means it’s become more of a once a week habit, versus once upon a graduate school life, when I did it every night. Even though I know that there’s ton of research that shows that eating while distracted contributes to overeating, I’ve tried to do some damage control by portion controlling BEFORE I sit down to eat.
But recently, I came across a journal article by Suzanne Higgs PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Birmingham, that made me think even harder about basking in the occasional TV glow during my meals. Higgs set up an experiment where she had a group of volunteers eat lunch one day in front of the television, and one day away from it. Higgs guessed that eating in front of the TV would interfere with the sujbect’s memories, leaving them more vulnerable to bigger snacks at their next eating episode.
Was she right? You bet. Volunteers were offered cookies several hours after they had finished lunch. Regardless of hunger and satiety (which they had rated before and after lunch), the volunteers in Higgs’ study ate 20% more cookies at their snack when they had consumed their meal in front of the TV.
Which indicates that not only may we set ourselves up to overeat at the distracted-meal-in-question, but we may be prone to overconsume at the NEXT eating epsidoe as well. Oh boy.
I started paying attention on the nights when I watched TV and ate dinner, versus the nights I sat at the table, paid attention to my meal, ate slowly and stopped when I was full. (I did the same comparing lunch in front of my computer, versus taking a break for lunch and eating it away from the glow of the monitor.) Sure enough, I found that an hour or so after eating my distracted-meals, I was usually craving “something sweet.” I wasn’t hungry, but I wasn’t satisfied. I believe Higgs is on to something here, and it’s made me recommit to minimizing my own episodes of distracted eating.
I’m putting this challenge out to eat one of you. If you eat a meal in front of the TV or computer, or even while reading the paper or emails, or driving in the car, or heaven help us, talking on the phone… I’m challenging you to stop. Turn it off – whether it’s the computer, the TV, the news, the Simpsons, the car, the blackberry – and pay attention to what you’re eating. If you work in an office with no break room, take advantage of the warmer days to have a quick picnic outside!
Listen, I love food, and I know many of you out there do too. Let’s do ourselves a favor and pay attention to that thing we claim to love so much. If you accept this challenge, and find that you have a positive result from it, please share your experience in the comments below.
But don’t post while eating you’re sandwich, please.
