Tools for Intentional Living – Dr. J. Nickens

Eating as you move between places can seem like not eating at all.

Are you tricking yourself by eating in transit?

Have you noticed that when you’re engaged in an activity at home or at work you sometimes get up to get a snack and eat it all on your way back to where you were? 

Walking around your home or office can be another form of distraction that prevents you from being thoughtful and intentional about your eating (See Tip #2 posted on 3/15/10).  When you put your recorded TV show on pause, or save your word documents half-way through, and go to the kitchen to get a snack  you may pick up  four cookies but arrive back at your TV with only two cookies, having eaten the other two on the way.  So when you sit down again, with only the two remaining cookies in your hand, you can “lose” count.  Eating as you walk from the kitchen back to another area of the house may also be a way of hiding your eating if a partner or friend is waiting at the TV or in the backyard to resume the activity that was paused.  Arriving with only two cookies lets you  look more thoughtful about your eating than you actually are.

To help monitor and manage your eating, try resisting eating on the run… or even “on the walk.”