No More Mindless Eating - Tips To Help You Eat Mindfully In Menopause

In his readable book, Mindless Eating, Professor Brian Wansink probes the psychological reasons behind why we tend to eat too much, and choose the wrong kinds of food.

Research for the book showed that you make 200 or more decisions about food during the day, and the choices you make are based on all sorts of factors, from the shape and colour of the package, to what the person sitting next to you is eating.

Eating on auto-pilot becomes a habit, and can make food the comforter you turn to when you have a bout of emotional eating.

All the info in Mindless Eating is based on scientific research, and once you read the book, it all adds up. The big question is - what can you do about it?

Here are some pointers, that will set you thinking - and might even save you from too much mindless eating...

Tips to Help You Eat Mindfully In Menopause

• Turn away from that TV. The more you watch, the more you eat, and each mouthful goes in without a second thought.
• Put your balloon-shaped wineglasses and your BIG dessert bowls at the back of the cupboard. The larger the container, the more you're likely to fill it - and the more you'll consume. So obvious, we never even think about it...but it's true.
• Let your mind, not your eyes, tell you how much to eat. Eat a healthy food serving size and stop when you are no longer hungry - if you're not sure, wait a while.
• Your guts need 20 minutes to 'know' whether they need more food. Don't go on shovelling food down until you've cleaned the plate, like Mum always told you.
• Store tempting foods out of sight. If your eyes are greeted by a slab of chocolate gateau every time you open the fridge door, guess what...you'll eat it, and sooner rather than later. Cover that cake, and tuck it away at the back of the shelf, behind the hummus and the carrot sticks.
• Make healthy foods oh-so-easy to eat. Wash, peel and chop your veggies when you bring them home - you'll grab a handful far more often if they're there, ready for snacking.
• Don't leave high-fat foods like salted nuts or potato chips on view in a bowl, where you can help yourself on the way past. Making unhealthy food readily available in large quantities is the easiest way to succumb to mindless eating.

These simple techniques can make a big difference to the number of calories you consume each day

Over the weeks, months and years those calories can add up to substantial menopausal weight gain - and all for the sake of food you ate while your mind was elsewhere. But once you start to recognise your mindless eating habits, it's much easier to make a change.

Go to Beat Menopause Weight Gain Home Page. Or go back to the top of Mindless Eating.