Good Habits: How to eat properly

Teaching you how to eat might seem like an odd topic for The Office Diet – but don’t worry, you’ve not stumbled onto a parenting blog, and there won’t be any child-sized cutlery here.

Most people have some bad habits when it comes to eating – especially when they’re busy. Paying attention to the process of putting food into your mouth can really help when it comes to forming habits that will see you losing weight effortlessly and easily.

Bad eating habits

Here are some bad eating habits that you’ll want to break:

• Eating whilst standing up. This is a dieting no-no – you won’t register that you’ve eaten, and it won’t satisfy you. (Plus, most standing-up eating is bits and pieces out of the fridge, or “little tastes” while cooking…)
• Eating too fast. Digestion begins in the mouth, when you chew your food. Bolting it down is likely to give you stomach-ache. Plus, since it takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to register a feeling of fullness, you’re more likely to overeat if you go too quickly.
• Eating while watching television. This is a bad habit to get into (I should know, it’s one of mine…) because you’ll start associating “watching TV” with “having a snack” – even when you’ve just eaten a meal.
• Eating at your desk. Take a proper lunch-break and get away from work – for the sake of your mind as well as your body.

Good eating habits

The best way to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a new one. Don’t try to transform your eating into a model of perfection (especially if you currently eat on the run, snack constantly and never sit down at a table). Try to work one of these tips in every few days:

• Eat with a knife and fork. Shovelling food in with a fork or spoon on its own means you’re likely to eat too fast.
• Put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls, until you’ve chewed and swallowed. Apparently, this is one of Paul McKenna’s tips – and it is definitely a good way to prevent yourself from shovelling food non-stop into your mouth.
• Sit at a table to eat. Even if you’re on your own, get into the habit of making meal time an occasion. Turn off the television and sit down at a table to really enjoy and savour your food.
• Concentrate on eating. While you’re eating, don’t get distracted with that latest page-turner of a novel, or a magazine of new gadgets. It’s all to easy to stuff food in without really noticing that you’ve eaten it … and you’ll end up feeling unsatisfied and wanting more.
• Eat with your partner or friend. The best way to eat is with another person: you can chat whilst eating, which helps to make your meal last longer, and makes it more of a break in your busy day. Sharing food together is a great way to get closer to a friend.

Good luck breaking those bad eating habits and getting those good ones started. If you want more tips and advice from The Office Diet, make sure you’re getting our RSS feed straight to your feed reader – or pop your email address in below to get the latest post delivered to your inbox each day:

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