Why do you eat what you eat?

Whether you're trying to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your current healthful weight, you’ll probably find it intriguing to keep a log of the reasons behind your decisions about what, when, where, and why you eat. Are you eating in response to internal sensations telling you that your body needs food, or in response to your emotions, situation, or a prescribed diet? Keeping a "cues" log for 1 full week would give you the most accurate picture of your eating habits, but even logging 2 days of meals and snacks should increase your cue awareness.

Each day, every time you eat a meal, snack, or beverage other than water, make a quick not of:

• When you eat. Many people eat at certain times whether they are hungry or not.

• What you eat, and how much. A cup of yogurt and a handful of nuts? And apple? 20oz cola?

• Where you eat. At home at the dining room table, watching TV, driving in the car, and so on.

• With whom you eat. Are you alone or with others? If with others, are they eating as well? Have they offered you food?

• Your emotions. Many people overeat when they are happy, especially when celebrating with others. Some people eat excessively when they are anxious, depressed, bored or frustrated. Still others eat as a way of denying feeling because they don't want to identify and deal with them. For some, food becomes a substitute for emotional fulfillment.

• Your sensations. What you see, hear, or smell. Are you eating because you walked past the kitchen and spied that batch of cookies, or smelled coffee roasting?

• Any diet restrictions. Are you choosing a particular food because it is allowed on your current diet plan? Or are you hungry, but drinking a diet soda to stay within a certain allowance of calories? Are you restricting yourself because you feel guilty about having eaten too much at another time?

• Your physiologic hunger. Rate your hunger on a scale from 1-5 as follows

o 1 = you feel full or even stuffed

o 2 = you feel satisfied but not uncommonly full

o 3 = neutral; you feel no discernible satiation nor hunger

o 4 = you feel hungry and want to eat

o 5 = you feel strong physiologic sensations of hunger and need to eat.

After keeping a log for 2 or more days, you might become aware of patterns you'd like to change. For example, maybe you notice that you often eat when you not actually hungry, but are worried about homework or personal relationships. Or maybe you notice that you can't walk past the snack bar without going in. This self-awareness may prompt you to take positive steps to change those patterns. For instance, instead of stifling your worries with food, sit down with a pen and paper and write down exactly what you ware worried about, including steps you can take to address your concerns. And the next time you approach the snack bar, before going in, check with your gut: are you truly hungry? If so, then purchase a healthful snack, maybe a yogurt, a piece of fruit, or a bag of peanuts. If you're not really hungry, then take a moment to acknowledge the strength of this visual cue--and then walk on by.

Janice Thompson & Melinda Moore. Nutrition: An Applied Approach. 2nd Edition. 86.