Mindless Eating Why we Eat more than we Think - Book Report/Review Example

Mindless Eating: A Mindful Review Being a young woman of the 21st century, I have always focused on what I eat, and have strived to maintain my weight in a range in which I have felt healthy and comfortable. Of course, society gives us many markers of what the “perfect” body is, or what we should eat and shouldn’t eat, but until I read Cornell Professor Brian Wansink’s eye-opening book, “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think,” I realized that much of the battle we fight in today’s society against weight gain, certain foods, and poor eating habits is the wrong battle. We fight against perceived “good” and “bad” foods, rather than focusing on the psychology of how and why we eat (Wansick). Society would be well served to heed Professor Wansick’s advice and change its focus from calories and fats to a more psychological approach to how and why the body craves food and how our minds and habit play into what, when, why, and how we eat. I have been on diets and similar plans before, and like most, found them to be limiting. I soon found myself craving the very foods I was depriving myself. I knew it had to do with deprivation and the body craving what it cannot have, but did not know the amount of psychological effort went into eating foods, regardless if one was on a diet or not. What surprised me most when reading this book (besides all the interesting information on how much our brains and subjective perceptions of what we eat influence how much and what we eat), was that we make about 250 decisions a day on what we eat. (Wansink, 23) That seems like a lot of time and energy to be using to simply eat lunch, but it is important for society to realize that eating is as much a psychological exercise, as much as it is a sensual exercise, built around satisfying primal urges for fuel for the human engine. Simply be “fooling the brain,” if you will, most people can cut down on the food they eat within a 100-to-200 calorie range per day, without even noticing it! It was surprising that we can best lose weight not be deprivation, but by doing simple math! Professor Wansink asserts that we should not deprive the body of the food we love, but simply eat almost imperceptively smaller helpings of the foods we love, or changing the content of similar foods (ie. by substituting a turkey burger for a beef burger-- or even better-- a bison burger for a beef burger), we save calories over the course of a year that leads to small weight loss, which adds up over time. Instead of chomping on that large popcorn at the movies, order a small popcorn-- thus not depriving yourself of the experience, but just eating less of whatever is in front to you! The mind and body are both satisfied, and you have consumed a couple of hundred calories less at the theater! Professor Wansink was the first to realize the benefits of “Eat This, Not That” approach to food: learning to make better choices of the formatting of foods we eat, rather than depriving ourselves of a certain food. (Mens Health) By not depriving ourselves of pizza, but by making healthier pizza choices, or eating one piece, instead of three, we contributer to good eating choices. It’s not the foods, but the amounts, seems to be one of his mantras. Since reading this book, I have become much more aware of the mindless times I eat, and I make sure that I give myself an opportunity to eat mindlessly, but healthier mindless eating! Instead of that whole pint of ice cream in front of the TV, I just take a scoop or two and eat it from the pint. I do order the small butter-less (or lightly buttered) popcorn at the movies, rather than the large refillable butter-laden tub. In these ways, I can indulge my desire to eat ice cream while watching a mystery on TV, or munch popcorn during a scary movie, without thinking, and at the same time, do not deny my body of what it is craving. I have begun to make better choices about the food I eat, without depriving my body of that physiological and psychological satisfaction! I also learned about the psychology of deprivation, and how it makes the body crave even more of what it cannot get. We have primal urges for the taste and texture of fats and carbohydrates, in our desire to survive and consume the most calories for future use. This has been learned over thousands of years as we have evolved from hunter-gatherers to more sedentary farmers/consumers. In the modern age, with sugar and fat and salt laced throughout most mass-produced foods, simply denying oneself those foods is pretty unrealistic. And most of us do not have the time or temerpment to eat only salads while denying oneself steaks and baked potatoes. Yes. We can “diet” (or “deprive”) ourselves of certain foods for shorter periods of time, but eventually our diets will end, and we will go back to craving, and eating, what our brains and bodies tell us we need. It is no wonder so many people, when the fall off the diet wagon, fall hard and fast, gaining back most of the weight they lost, and more! Professor Wansink’s solution is not to deprive, but to eat! But eat sensibly, in essence fooling the body, in giving in to the craving, but consuming smaller amounts. It is essential that someone losing weight learn the techniques of smaller portions, smaller plates, substituting healthier, similar foods, for something they crave, rather than cutting it out of their diet completely. Once people learn that it’s all right to eat apple pie (just eat one smaller piece, slowly!), rather than eliminating it from their diet, or choosing healthier pizzas (topped with chicken and vegetables), rather than the all-meat monstrosity, or eating small portions of fries, instead of super-sizing, they will realize that they do not have to be deprived of food to lose weight. The key is to build new, healthier habits, removing those cues that made you overeat in the first place (Harvard Crimson). Eating is habitual (besides being necessary to life), and we all have triggers which start the brain on that road to craving certain foods. The key is not to fool your brain, but to satisfy its urges, albeit with healthier options, smaller portions, and when and where we eat. Simple things, like stopping eating in front of the TV (or if we must, eat healthier things, so the mouth and body feel rewarded-- they still are being satisfied, but eating healthier). Food companies have also seen the importance of psychological eating with the advent of the “100 calorie” packets of food, eliminating super-sizing options, and healthier food options at schools (New York Times). It is OK to eat chocolate, just not the whole bar-- having a couple of squares feeds that craving, and cuts the calories from that craving. Eat what you want, just smaller portions! Re-train yourself to “small-size” what you eat, rather than super-sizing it. Thus, someone dieting must identify the times and places (or people with whom)) he or she overeats, the types of unhealthy foods he or she eats, change amounts he or she eats, and substitute healthier choices when he or she does overeat mindlessly. There are many little tricks one can use to eat less, while feeling like he or she ate more. As Professor Wansink stated in his book, “The best diet is the one you don’t know you are on.” (Wansick, 267). As I read through this riveting book, I was constantly amazed at how much presentation, color, and size impact what we eat. (Wansink, in a related article in the Journal of Marketing, informs the reader how much the packaging sizes and volume influences how much we eat.) It became obvious that our taste resides in our head as much as in our taste buds; we often taste what we think we taste. As long as we think we are eating something, our brain will usually trick us into believing it, regardless of what we are actually eating! More specifically, the blind taste tests centered around wine and Jell-O amazed me at how much perception, rather than reality, plays into how we enjoy our food. The strength of the brain, and the central role it plays in our daily diet choices was simply overwhelming to me. I gained new insight into how difficult it truly is to lose weight, and that our habits regarding food are difficult to change. No longer will I see overweight people as undisciplined or lazy, as I may have in the past. I now see them as people struggling with controlling the brain’s perceptions and desires to be satisfied with the over 250 food choices we make every day. It is learned behavior to control the innate demands of the brain, and it is those that learn to control their eating choices and habits that get the benefit of a healthier lifestyle. Simply denying oneself foods the brain and body craves sets one up for future failure and weight gain. In a way, if we follow Professor Wansink’s advice, we give in to our brains, and eat what the body craves. I read somewhere, that “There are no bad foods, only bad amounts.” Professor Wansink quantified that maxim into his wonderfully insightful book, and gave us the tools to begin to win that battle by feeding the brain as much as the stomach when we eat. Works Cited “Eat This, Not That!” 27 February 2012. Mens Health Magazine. . “Seduced by Snacks? No, Not You.” 10 October 2011. New York TImes. Kim Severson. . Wansink, Brian. Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. New York: Bantam Dell, 2006. Wansink, Brian. "Can Package Size Accelerate Usage Volume?" Journal of Marketing Vol. 60:3 (1996): 1-14. “Why Do I Keep Supersizing Me?” 25 October 2006, The Harvard Crimson. Madeline K.B. Ross. . Read More