Eating to Live!

Mindless Eating

The first time I encountered the term, I was watching a television news magazine program and the narrator described the whole “mindless eating” concept.

The idea was born from a book by Brian Wansink PH.D., who led several experiments to see how people would eat enormous amounts of food without even thinking.

Of course, I eventually bought the book and read about three-quarters of it. The experiment that was most memorable was the movie/popcorn concept. People who were given large buckets of popcorn ate more than people who were simply given a small bag. The small bag group were allowed to have more if they wanted, but once their bags were empty, most didn’t take any more. But those who didn’t have the smaller sizes, which would have limited their intake, ultimately ate up to 30 percent more.

This book, which I read more than a year ago, comes back to me due to a reference in a book on CD I listened to in my car, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. Pollan explained the thinking behind supersizing, which encouraged people to eat more food simply by giving them more food.

According to Pollan, a representative of McDonald’s restaurants devised the idea that increasing serving sizes while charging just a bit more money would encourage people to eat more. McDonald's founder, Ray Krok argued that if people wanted more, they would simply buy two bags of fries or an extra burger, but he was finally convinced that people wouldn’t buy two bags of fries, but would simply stop eating once their small bag was empty. And after watching customers, it seemed to be true. But for a few cents more, people were sold twice the amount of fries and with the cheap cost of potatoes, the company’s profits increased along with our waistlines.

It was an ingenious marketing plan for the company; not so much for the American consumer. Mindless eating comes in all shapes and forms, according to Wansink. He related that an employee with a container of candy on her desk would eat more than if she had to walk across the room to another desk to get that same candy. I remember mindlessly eating practically a whole meal, just by spending time in the kitchen preparing dinner for the family. First you taste a bit of this and take a bite of that until almost as many calories as an entire meal have been consumed. And then, once the meal is on the table, you sit down and eat again.

How many foil-wrapped chocolate Easter eggs have you snagged from the candy dish as you walked by the coffee table? You know who you are.

This week has been outrageous and more than just normally busy. I won’t go into the entire fiasco, only to say that between Avon night with barbecued ham sandwiches and a restaurant review with superior food (read the review in the Tribune Chronicle “Ticket” published each Thursday), it is time to get back on track and keep this journey from getting off base. All in all, the rough weekend didn’t seem to hurt and we all know the important thing is to get back on track. I have the photos, but since they won’t all fit on this page, I’ll just leave it at that.

The good news is, my husband may open the greenhouse this weekend so I plan to finally get those vegetable seeds going for this season’s garden.

As far as the cat grass, my cats are totally oblivious that they should be doing something with it. So I gave the rapidly growing weeds a good trimming with scissors and nestled a few plastic Easter eggs within the “lawn.” Voila! An instant Easter centerpiece.

And speaking of cats, I lost one of my beloved pets last week. My oldest cat, Sir Paul, named for Beatle McCartney (yes, I was a fan in my younger years), died unexpectedly. We will miss him.

At breakfast this morning, I tried to get in all of the food groups. I started with a dry sautee of finely chopped leeks, red and green peppers and mushrooms. Then I tossed in two beaten eggs and scrambled them all together. Accompanied by two slices of homemade wheat bread, an orange and a cup of milk, I was fully satisfied until lunch.

Since I didn’t pack a lunch today, I opted for a six-inch Subway club on wheat bread with mustard and no cheese. I also munched on a bag of whole-grain Sun Chips and spent the afternoon washing it down with a diet Coke.

I believe my husband will be broiling a chicken tonight for a late dinner due to an evening meeting I have to attend for work. Along with the chicken, there were baked sweet potatoes, salad and fat-free milk. Later we'll be having strawberry short-cake.