Mind Your Waistline

Siobhan Julian says mindless eating has a lot to answer for when it comes to gaining weight

Have you ever seen that weight loss programme on TV where participants are faced with a week's worth of their food intake and are staggered to discover what they have managed to put away? (You know the one with the  screen shamefully scrolling through bags of crisps, packets of biscuits, take-aways, chip butties, energy drinks and endless cups of sugary tea). Think this couldn't be you? Think again. While you may not be scoffing quite as much as the TV dieters, you could be eating a lot more than you think. According to nutritonist Siobhan Julian, many of us are guilty of unconscious or mindless eating which may contribute to those extra pounds around the waistline: 

What is mindless eating?

If pushed, most of us can recall much of what we ate yesterday but few among us remember everything. Frequently, there are small indulgences that barely register:

• A tin of sweets does the rounds at the office and you help yourself to one (or three)
• Mid-morning, instead of a cup of black tea or coffee, you opt for a latte
• At home, you're hungry while preparing dinner and reach for the sliced pan
• After dinner, you pick at the food your toddler has abandoned on her plate.

Before you know it, there's an extra 600 calories consumed in a day that you struggle to remember eating. It's not the foods necessarily that are the problem (although the sweets aren't providing too much in the way of nutrients); it's more the fact that we're oblivious to what we are consuming. Hectic lifestyles and eating on the go are all contributing to this mindless eating.

The overeating window of opportunity

Then there is the speed at which we eat; we are in such a hurry to finish eating that we don't properly taste what's in our mouths. Instead of chewing slowly and savouring the taste of our food, our minds and fingers are elsewhere and we're busy loading up our knives and forks for the next mouthful. Eating quickly leads to weight gain for another very important reason: because it takes approximately 20 minutes for our stomachs to send a signal to our brain that we are full, it is all too easy to overeat during this time. Eating slowly gives our brains and stomachs a chance to catch up and greatly reduces this overeating window of opportunity. If you think you want extra helpings, consider waiting 20 minutes. If you still feel hungry, go ahead but the chances are you'll already feel satiated.

Siobhan's Top Advice for Weight Loss

To lose weight, you need to understand what you are eating. As a dietician, I recommend that all my clients keep a food diary for a full week. This requires a little bit of dedication but it is more than worth the effort as the results are usually illuminating. Keep a notebook at hand and after a day or two, it becomes second nature to jot down when you eat. Documenting everything you eat allows you to understand the pitfalls of your diet and identify areas that you can change - many bad habits are quick and painless to rectify.

The Best Diet You've Never Heard Of!

After more than a dozen years in clinical practice, it's probably no surprise to learn that my advice to clients is to forget the Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet, Cambridge Diet, Lipotrim, Cabbage Soup, Scarsdale Diet and all the other quick fix fads. The best diet plan out there is one which the World Health Organisation and the health services of virtually all governments the world over recommend, but which is rarely mentioned in the media - it's the Food Pyramid diet. The principles are simple, sensible, sustainable and easy to follow. Not only is it the best way to achieve a healthy weight but it also ensures that your body gets the right balance of nutrients it needs.

Click here to view my guide to keeping a food diary and following the Food Pyramid Diet.

Slow Down! Eat slowly, chew your food and you will be amazed at how much less food it takes to satisfy your hunger. Portion size is a major factor in weight gain. Eating slowly and consciously can dramatically reduce your portion size.

Make Time the Main Ingredient in Your Meals

Enjoy your food. Give it the attention it deserves. Put down your book, mute your phone, switch off your computer and unplug the TV. Sit down at a table and make time for your meal, noting the tastes and flavours and really enjoying your food.

Drink Up! Although there is no conclusive scientific proof for this, some experts believe that we can confuse the signals for thirst and hunger. In any event, low fluid intake can cause all sorts of problems so it's a good idea to drink lots. But be careful what you drink. Tea hydrates but coffee doesn't. Milk and fresh juices are great while alcohol and carbonated drinks won't hydrate you and are often loaded with hidden calories. To put it in context, two units of alcohol are the equivalent of one king size bar of chocolate. The best drink for hydration is water.

Don't skip your meals. This is the ultimate false economy for dieters and invariably fails to deliver long term weight loss. Skipping meals causes a dip in blood sugar which leads to cravings, making it all to easy to overcompensate at the next meal, as has been proven time and again in scientific studies. It may also interfere with the body's metabolism affecting how quickly calories are burned in future.

Switching to a healthy snack three days a week could make a difference of 21lb over a year!

Be a smart snacker. Snacks are an important part of the diet, helping to stabilise your blood sugar and ward off cravings. But how you snack makes a world of difference and calorific snacks are often the route to weight gain. Weigh this one up for size: if you substitute a healthy snack like a low fat yogurt for three chocolate biscuits just three days a week, over the course of a year, it amounts to a difference of 21 pounds! That's a stone and a half in weight that you could do without.

Remember!

It is important to remember that there is a very big difference between mindful or conscious eating and obsessive eating. If you find that you are compulsively recording or analysing all of the food you consume, you may be suffering from an eating disorder and should seek immediate help from your GP or nutritionist