TV May Play A Role In Overeating or Eating At Night
Here at Green Mountain at Fox Run, clearly we do not advocate trying diets, in the sense of a diet being a restrictive pattern of eating. However, I will occasionally joke about people going on a TV diet.
When night eating, overeating, or eating when not hungry is a habit, it may be worth looking at the role your TV plays in these patterns.
4 Ways Multitasking May Affect Eating Habits
In teaching about mindful eating, I encourage people to consider how multitasking affects their eating. Sometimes this distracted eating can create problems such as:
1Lack of Enjoyment
Not enjoying what you are eating and wanting more food as a result.
2Eating The Wrong Food
For example, having dry salty crackers, when you really wanted a sweet juicy pear. You may continue to eat, looking for that missing flavor or texture, not because you are still hungry.
3Missed Satiety Cues
Missing the mark when you are full and overeating as a result.
Binge Eating Overtakes Other Eating Disorders
Developing an association between the activity and eating, triggering habit-based cravings each time you are engaged in the activity in the future. This is where TV watching and snacking comes in.
When you consider this, it’s easy to see how TV watching can be linked to overeating and/or binge eating.
Go On A TV Diet By Finding Other Activities To Enjoy
Rather than focusing on trying to eat less while watching TV, how about focusing on watching less TV instead? Going on a TV diet doesn’t mean you need to replace TV-watching with working out, but you may find that without the tube on, you’re more likely to be up and doing other things around the house rather than just sitting.
Try mixing up your evening activities. Let us know if less TV makes a difference in how you feed yourself.
Learn More About Our Binge Eating Program