Mindless Eating: What to Do About It

My generation made time for meals. We were called (sometimes whistled) in for meals. We all sat around the kitchen table and used this time to share our experiences or problems and most of all to hear about family things (how do you think we knew the gossip?). While trying to seem interested in conversations going on around us, but wanting to get back to playing, what did we hear while at the table? Clean your plate. Don't waste food. What about the starving children? You can't have dessert until you eat everything on your plate. Eat your veggies!

Having come from that era, but with no time for old fashion sit-downs, what do we normally do now for meals? It is so much easier to drive thru a restaurant then cook, no dishes, no leftovers. And if there are any leftovers, they get thrown away anyway right? Growing up we never had leftovers because we ate everything on our plates.

And following in that same mentality what do still do? We associate food with activities. We eat popcorn while watching movies. Eat chips while watching television. Eat ice cream when we feel sad. Furthermore, what about when we celebrate? We drink! And what do we associate with family gatherings? Food! Albeit we do normally sit around a table but do we eat to get full or do we indulge for the pleasure that food brings?

Even as we have become more educated about healthy eating, breaking the habit formed with the association of food with activities or pleasure is hard to accomplish. And no matter what goals we set for ourselves and family; eating healthier or buying exercise equipment, the demands of our lives, our habits, our environment, our culture, and our beliefs contribute to mindless eating practices.

The pleasure we feel through food, whether through habit or need, contribute to mindless eating. But our parents never talked about the consequences of "cleaning off our plates, not wasting food and then the there were those starving KIDS". We now know that mindless eating practices result in poor energy, declining health and weight gain.

Is it too late for our generation? Some fervently deny that we can be changed while some suggest that through education we can. What is the saying "mind over matter" - with matter meaning more than merely physical substance in this case? Mindless eating, just what does that mean? It means eating food, and not just any ordinary foods, but foods we love and desire. Some we can't live without.

Can we be programmed to end the mindless eating habits formed in our youth? Can we curb the desires of our children? This question can only be answered from within. No one can make me stop my mindless eating. No one but myself that is.....