Eating Habits

Eating Habits:

Food is one of life’s great pleasures, but it must be given the attention and respect it deserves. Do not graze and snack all day, guzzle junk food straight from the packet or nibble food directly from the fridge, Sit down to eat, relax and enjoy your meal, instead of rushing and devouring good as you are walking down as fast as possible before containing with the next activity. This kind of consumption invariably results in you overeating without even savouring the food – what a pity you haven’t taken the time to take pleasure in the meal. In addition, the extra kilojoules you are unaware of consuming are causing you to gain weight.

You are not even enjoying the food. Most of the time, you are scarcely aware that you have eaten, because you are not focusing your attention on the food. This is mindless eating, and mindless eating piles on the kilos. If you don’t know or care what you are putting in your mouth, you are not in control of your eating. And that, as we have seen, will not help you reach and maintain a healthy weight.

Remember the days when the family would congregate at the end of the day to share the evening meal and discuss the day’s events? Some families do not have set mealtimes – everyone just grabs something from the fridge and heads off to work, school or a social event. This is not nutritionally bad it also impacts family life because we are missing out on the daily contact.

NEVER EAT STANDING:- Always sit down at a table to eat, even if you are only having a snack. Never eat standing up; if you sit down you will focus more on your food and are more likely to notice what  and how much you are eating, yet almost everywhere you look in the street you can see people walking around with ice creams or packets of chips. Typically these people do not see such items as ‘food’. So they are oblivious to the kilojoules that they are consuming as they rush about their business. It’s easy to munch through copious kilojoules in the kitchen while preparing meals, serving the family or tidying up; I have to exercise self-control to not pick while I clear the table. If, however, you stop and sit down every time you eat, you are actually aware of what you put into your mouth.