Welcome to mindful eating, a growing trend designed to address both the rising rates of obesity and the well-documented fact that most diets don't work (Katan 2009). A growing body of research reveals how this approach can support weight loss and improve health. Mindless Eating - In an ideal world, the natural cues of hunger, fullness and pleasure would guide us toward what the body needs, and our knowledge of nutrition would steer us toward our long-term health goals. In reality, what we eat is shaped by countless cues outside our conscious awareness, and even the best food plan can be derailed by stress. The result? Mindless eating: what, when and how much we eat runs counter to both the body's true needs and our own health goals. Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Laboratory, has made his career pointing out the mindless (and often mind-blowing) mistakes we make when choosing what, when and how much to eat. Wansink's research has shown that our food choices are typically influenced by many factors that we don't usually pay attention to, such as room temperature and lighting, how much the people we eat with consume, whether we are watching television, how visible snack foods are, the variety of food choices at a meal, and even the shape and size of plates or cups (Wansink 2004).In one of his best-known studies, Wansink gave moviegoers at a Philadelphia theater 14-day-old popcorn instead of a fresh batch (Wansink & Kim 2005). As rated by the participants themselves after the movie, this popcorn was nasty stuff: stale, soggy, verging on disgusting. But did the moviegoers storm the popcorn stand demanding refunds? No, they ate it up. And if they were given a large container instead of the medium size, they ate 34% more. The unsuspecting participants made their eating choices based on external cues (container size, the sound of others eating) and the expectation that the popcorn would taste good. They even ate about 60% as much popcorn as those who received a fresh batch. This may be an embarrassing finding for the popcorn eaters, but it's one to which few of us are immune.

Even eating “experts” are susceptible to the power of external cues, as demonstrated by another of Wansink's studies (Wansink, van Ittersum & Painter 2006). Eighty-five faculty, graduate students and staff at the University of Illinois department of food science and human nutrition were lured to a buffet-style ice cream social. Unbeknownst to them, half were given bowls nearly twice the size of the other bowls given to attendees. Did bigger bowls lead these nutritional experts to load up on extra ice cream? Yep. They served themselves and ate 31% more ice cream than those given small bowls. And if they were also using a larger serving spoon, they served themselves 57% more than those using small bowls and a smaller serving spoon. But most interesting, those with small bowls and those with large bowls estimated that they had served themselves the same number of ounces. The experts were unable to consciously adjust their estimates, because they were unaware that bowl and spoon size might be influencing their consumption. Why are we so easily influenced by external factors? According to Wansink, most of our eating decisions are automatic. To demonstrate this, Wansink asked people to guess how many food-related decisions they make each day (Wansink & Sobal 2007). Consider the question yourself. Do you have any idea? If you're like most people, you don't: participants guessed an average of 14.4 choices. In reality, when the participants carefully tracked their decisions, the average was 226.7. That's more than 200 choices that participants were unaware of initially. And without awareness, it is hard to listen to the body's wisdom or make conscious choices.

From Mindless to Mindful Eating According to Susan Albers, PsyD, author of Eat, Drink and Be Mindful (New Harbinger 2009), mindless eating is a major factor in weight gain and a saboteur of weight loss. In many cases, it's not the meals we eat that cause weight gain. It's the snacking, the mindless eating while watching television, when we're on autopilot and not really aware of what we're eating; And it's not just the environment or distractions that trigger automatic eating. Emotions play a big role. The majority of food decisions people make have nothing to do with hunger. They have to do with stress, anxiety, sadness or frustration; This is where mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness is the process of paying attention, both to inner cues (thoughts, emotions and sensations) and to your environment. When applied to eating, this can mean the difference between one more failed diet and lasting change you can live with. When clients address their mindless eating, they often naturally lose weight; Albers says.

Making Mindfulness the New Habit Mindfulness is a powerful tool for creating health, but it's not a quick solution. The mindful eater must learn to make conscious choices, again and again, that go against the loudest messages and the most convenient options in our society. This may seem daunting at first, but proponents of mindfulness argue that it is possible. “I'm optimistic and hopeful, because I see it everyday”, says Albers. “It would be nice if the environment made it easier to be a mindful eater”. Every day we're struggling against fast food, packaged food and the need to multitask. It's hard at first, but once you get the hang of mindful eating, it gets easier. The more you do it, the more natural it becomes, and mindful eating becomes the new habit.