Be aware of your eating habits

If there was ever a secret to losing weight, its having an increased awareness of one’s eating habits. Weight gain occurs because one consumes more calories than one burns. Inculcating the correct eating habits is of paramount importance to healthy and sustainable weight loss.

The challenge is that most people are in denial about their eating habits. They know what unhealthy eating is. They know when others do it. They just don’t see it when they do it.

8 in 10 Americans Say They Are in Control of Their Eating Habits

Glaxo Smith and Kline recently conducted an interesting survey to gauge how Americans perceive their eating habits. The results did not come as a surprise. The gist of the findings are as follows;

• 79% (8 in 10) were satisfied with the state of their personal eating habits
• 67% (2 in 3) admitted to practicing poor eating habits on at least a weekly basis. These include among others, skipping meals or eating when they are not hungry
• 75% surveyed said that Americans have an unhealthy relationship with food
• 52% believed that an immediate family member had an unhealthy relationship with food
• 44% were concerned about their spouse’s eating habits

The results of the survey showed the contradictory behaviour with regards to eating habits. Everyone thinks that he or she eats well while thinking that almost everyone else has a problem. Everyone thinks that he or she is in control but at the same time think that everyone else is not.

The Obesity Epidemic in America

2 out of 3 Americans are currently overweight or obese. By 2030, this could balloon to 9 out of 10. That looks like an epidemic spiraling out of control. This may not be limited to Americans as most developing and developed countries have increasing obesity rates.

Judging from the perception of the people surveyed, it does not look like the 9 out of 10 obesity rate prophesied for 2030 is very far-fetched. This survey hits the nail on the head for the obesity epidemic. Everyone is aware of what is going on around them. They can even tell when someone else is eating unhealthy. They just do not believe that they are the ones with unhealthy eating habits.

Denial About Eating Habits

Anyone who wants to lose weight needs to have a higher level of awareness about their eating habits. People have very short-term memory when it comes to their own eating habits.

Other research has shown that people do tend to underestimate their calories consumption. The GSK survey further validates that people are mostly in denial about their bad eating habits.

People who exercise may also be guilty of this. People who exercise think that exercising will set everything straight. An occasional binge here and there could be compensated by doing more in the gym the next day. The bottom line is that when the calories consumed exceed the demand for energy, the excess calories will be stored as fat. This could be happening to a lot of people who are exercising vigorously and yet are not able to achieve their weight goals.

Increase Awareness of Your Eating Habits with a Food Diary

The GSK survey shows that most people already know what they should do to cultivate healthy eating habits. They are aware when others eat unhealthy.

You could increase the awareness of your eating habits by keeping a food journal. Other know it as a food log or a food diary. Everyone shudders at hearing about a food journal. Keeping a food journal may only need to be a temporary measure until you have raised your level of awareness of your eating habits. It’s just a means for you to look at your eating habits in retrospect.

Keeping a food diary for a longer period would help you enforce and inculcate positive eating habits.

Food diaries have been shown to increase the success of a weight loss initiative simply because it increases awareness of one’s eating habits. Everyone at every aspect of fitness would derive some form of benefit from the added insight obtained from keeping a food diary.

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