{"id":296,"date":"2008-09-22T20:31:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-22T20:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading2\/?p=296"},"modified":"2008-09-22T20:31:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-22T20:31:00","slug":"mindless-eating-by-brian-wansink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/2008\/09\/mindless-eating-by-brian-wansink.html","title":{"rendered":"Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think<\/a> takes a psychological study approach to the subject of overeating, explaining the ways in which our minds trick us about how much we eat. The book was interesting when it stuck to the study results but got too close to being yet-another-diet-book at other times.<\/p>\n

The main thrust of the book was that we can eat 200 calories more or less in a day without even noticing. If we eat 200 calories more every day, we gain weight; less and we lose weight. So if you can “mindlessly” be on the lesser side, you can (slowly) lose weight pain free.<\/p>\n

The one thing the author didn’t address is that our caloric needs decrease as we get older, especially for sedentary people. So what is 200 calories less this year becomes the right amount next year and 200 calories too many the year after that. The truth is that we have to keep our eye on the scale and keep adjusting our strategies as bodies change.<\/p>\n

That said, some of his strategies are effective ones. For instance, eating more slowly and off smaller plates; standing farther away from the buffet; not keeping food in sight. One “mindless” strategy I’ve employed is to eliminate foods that are ubiquitous but that I don’t really care that much about. For me, that’s french fries, potato chips, and soda. Not that those things aren’t good or that I don’t ever, ever eat them, but I don’t tend to crave them or miss them. By switching from a Quarter Pounder meal with fries and a soda to a Quarter Pounder with a side salad and water, I consume about half the calories and enjoy my meal no less.<\/p>\n

For me, it’s all about finding a physical activity you enjoy and doing it regularly. Not only do I burn calories and up my metabolism, but I have extra reason to care how much I weigh. When I weigh more, my sports performance suffers and I get a quick, brutal reminder that overeating leads to underperforming. For people who really can’t bear exercise, this book provides some researched ideas into ways to keep their calorie intake as low as it needs to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think takes a psychological study approach to the subject of overeating, explaining the ways in which our minds trick us about how much we eat. The book was interesting when it stuck to the study results but got too close to being yet-another-diet-book at other times. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-fiction","category-psychology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dawnalguard.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}