52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 21

Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Ph. D. explores the psychology of why we eat what we eat. This was a quick read that reinforced a lot of beliefs that I already held.

It was interesting to see how buying in bulk can affect the amount we eat and that children can be influenced in their food choices from a very young age and that having a good cook in your family generally equals healthier eating.

Some quotes that I took away from this book are:

While most Americans stop eating when they're full, those in leaner cultures stop eating when they're no longer hungry.

We are all tricked by our environment. Even if we "know it" in our head, most of the time we have too much on our mind to remember it and act on it. That's why it's easier to change our environment than our minds.

In most households, decisions about what to eat are determined by what foods the grocery shopper - the nutritional gatekeeper - brings into the house. Although they don't always realize it, gatekeeper's powerfully shape what foods get eaten inside and outside the house.

I am definitely the nutritional gatekeeper. I have always been of the opinion that if it is in the house, you will eat it. Therefore I only buy what we need for meals and healthy snacks. No more. No less.

Not only do they {children} develop prenatal munchie preferences, children start learning what they like and don't like before they're 4 months old. They do this by picking up on signals a parent or caretaker unconsciously gives about whether food is tasty or not.

No food company is in the business of making us fat, they're in business to sell us food. If we want fattening food to mindlessly eat, companies will fix it.

And vice versa if we want healthy food. We need to take more personal responsibility with our food choices.

We can turn food in our life from being a temptation or a regret to something we guiltlessly enjoy. We can move from mindless overeating to mindless better eating.

I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to better understand why you eat the way they do and how you can be a positive influence on your household.