Mindless eating and obesity

It seems like once a week I read that the cause of our obesity epidemic is the presence of too much food in our environment.

The assumption is that human beings have been programmed to eat whatever is readily available. Therefore, if more food is available, the more we all are going to eat.

Now a book titled “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think” reports on a variety of experiments which demonstrates that this does happen (at least for some people).

I haven’t read the book yet (I’m on a waiting list at our local library) but I have read a few reviews. Here are the some of the food-eating behaviors reviewers have reported on:

* People eat more if the evidence of how much you have eaten is removed (e.g., candy wrappers).
* People eat more if the food is served in a larger bowl.
* People will eat more of a “low-fat” food than if the same food is not labeled as such.
* People eat more if the portion size is greater.

OK, I believe all these things happen (with some people). But, I don’t agree that we are genetically programmed to eat this way.

Instead, it’s my contention that many people are overly influenced by external cues (e.g., size of bowls, food portion sizes) because they’ve never learned how to pay attention to their internal cues.

Once I read this book, I’ll report on it further in this blog.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of Finally, the Straight Scoop About Weight, Nutrition and Fitness