Not wanting to think about eating...

An involuntary meal can help the waist get longer and longer all over the world. Much of nutrition research has focused on controlling weight and helping people improve their relationship with food. How can you eat more consciously?

Meaningless nutrition

A scientific study found that people who received larger food bags, larger restaurant meals and larger plates and bowls ate on average 30% more than people who received smaller meals. However, more than 70 per cent of people believed that they ate as much as usual, and 94 per cent firmly believed that they were not affected by the size of the package, portion or plate. The results of this study show that external factors can lead people to become thoughtless.

Similarly, a recent meta-analysis showed that eating in a distracting mode, such as watching TV or playing computer games, leads to an increase in sharp eating. It is possible that distraction distracts from the perception of food attributes such as taste, texture and appearance, delaying the appearance of a feeling of 'enough to eat', which causes a person to stop eating. Distracted eating can disrupt the memory of a recent meal, as well as lead to an increase in the number of subsequent snacks. Conversely, redirecting attention to food while eating has led to a decrease in the number of subsequent meals in nonfat young women. This suggests that attention to what we eat, i.e. a careful diet, can be useful in reducing the incidental over nutrition.

Reasonable eating

Skill is a conscious attention to the present without condemnation. It reflects an old Buddhist meditation practice. Reasonable eating simply means being attentive and attentive while eating. It means: focusing attention on the sensory characteristics of food, such as taste, smell and texture, recognizing subjective reactions to food consumption, such as sympathies and dislikes, and attention to the inner signs of hunger and satiety. Intelligent nutrition encourages the body to follow its inner wisdom and to choose food that is both pleasurable, pleasurable and nutritious.

Intelligent in mind

An increasing number of studies are examining the impact of silence on a range of health and lifestyle issues, including eating habits (e.g. irregular, emotional) and weight management. A review of 21 studies on measures to change obesity-related eating habits found that 86% of the studies reported improvements in eating, eating and body weight. A further review focusing on weight loss found that six out of eight short-term intervention studies documented significant weight loss in people with conscious eating habits. There is also promising work suggesting that a careful diet can help prevent unintentional or thoughtless overeating in people of healthy weight. Sensible nutrition has also proven effective in managing diabetes mellitus on its own. However, longer-term research is needed to understand whether the effects are permanent. It has been suggested that a smart diet increases awareness of hunger and satiety, interrupts habitual and stress-related eating habits, and improves control over food intake. Further work is needed to understand the psychological, behavioral and biological mechanisms underlying this process and to identify the most effective interventions throughout the process.

As food choices are complex and may be beyond the conscious mind, some scientists believe that awareness and education are not sufficient to change unconscious eating habits. However, people can take advantage of the following suggestions to help them better eat consciously.

Advice on eating more conscious

Before you open your fridge or closet, take a deep breath and ask yourself how you feel. Are you really hungry? Or are you thirsty? Stress? Is it boring? Think for a minute and distinguish between your needs and desires.

If you don't need to eat, do something else, like take a little walk.

If you don't eat on the way, it's hard to know how much you eat. Have a seat.

Don't eat right out of the bag/box. Serve the food - you can see and estimate what and how much you eat.

Use smaller plates that can help you control your portion.

Remove any distractions. Turn off the TV and anything on the screen, such as computers, phones, etc.

Set the timer, give yourself 20 minutes to eat.

Eat quietly for five minutes and think about what it took to prepare this dish, from sunshine to the farmer, to the shop, to the cook.

Try to eat with a non-dominant hand or sticks for slow food.

Take small bites and chew well, paying particular attention to the smell, taste and texture of the food. Try to get 30 chewing gum from each bite.

Try to take the dishes off after each bite. Do not pick them up again until you have swallowed what's already in your mouth.

Try not to eat the whole plate. When you feel saturated, take care of the leftovers. Ask the doggie bag to pick it up at the restaurant.