If you watch any television show while you eat you won’t notice how fast you are eating. In no time you will eat everything from your plate. If you put more food on the plate you will eat it. Overeating is a sure way to make sure you get fat. Eating frequently while watching TV won’t help you lose weight.
Overeating is really easy while watching TV. You gobble down all the food and then you feel the need to snack on something too. Some junk food or buttery pop corn sure is good and you reach for it. The action packed movie or super snazzy TV show will distract you, making you pay no attention to how much you eat.
The most serious problem is that children have. Children are hooked on the TV and love to eat while watching their favorite cartoons. Bad eating habits get formed that way. A link has been noticed between obese children and those that watch lots of television. The more overweight a child is the more time he spends watching TV. Basically the child is a small couch potato. All those bad eating habits make him gain weight and keep the child form losing weight. Also the traditional family dinner cannot take place under such circumstances. I guess if your child is hooked on playing video games you don’t have to worry about overeating because the game keeps their hand engaged. But they might be guilty of eating on the run to get back to the video game.
During the family dinner all the family should use the 30-60 dinner time to socialize and talk. That way the bonds in the family get stronger. The family becomes more united and everyone knows what each other does and what problems they have. A helping hand will be found from the members of the family.
The researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine from Houston have observed that in the families with obese children the children eat 50% of all the food in front of the TV. The children that had a normal weight ate only 35% of their food in front of the TV. Also the children that ate dinner with the rest of the family ate much more vegetables and drank less unhealthy soft drinks.
Sometimes the hunger can be so intense that you feel the desire to empty the fridge and eat it all. Eating too fast is unhealthy. If you stuff your face you will overeat for sure. When you are hungry make a conscious decision and eat small portions of food. Use a small plate. If you can use small forks, knifes and spoons. Don’t use the huge spoon use a tiny small one. Chew your food good. Your saliva must get mixed with what you eat to start and accelerate the digestive process. Chew 20-30 times the food before swallowing.
Help your children achieve good eating habits. You have to be the role model. So you must get healthy eating habits first and your children will copy you.
June 19, 2009
Diets & Nutrition