Eating while doing other things may be a recipe for weight gain
Some call it “multi-tasking”; the French call it “vagabond eating”; in America, it’s a growing trend. However it’s perceived, eating a meal or snacking mindlessly while at work in front of your computer, while driving, watching TV, shopping with a friend, or talking on the phone, the Task-Snacking eating style puts you at risk for overeating and becoming overweight or obese. Ever meander through the mall while munching; if so, you’re task-snaking. Do you watch TV, flip through a magazine, or study while eating? These are more task-snacking behaviors. As a matter of fact, doing other things while you’re eating has become so common in our culture, it’s become normal.
How might Task-Snacking, specifically, work against your waistline when you eat at your desk while working, or you munch while watching TV, or you snack while driving? In other words, how may eating in a not-too-conscious, not-too-mindful way, be a recipe for weight gain? Understanding what happens when you eat while Task-Snacking provides a clue.
Because the brain can only attend to one topic at a time, when you do multiple tasks simultaneously, the mind constantly shifts its attention. If you were to undergo a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan—a powerful, non-invasive imaging technique that accurately images the cellular function of the human body—while Task-Snacking, it would show lights blinking on and off in selected areas of the brain associated with the various tasks you’re doing. To cope with your Task-Snacking, when you eat while the mind is not focused on your food, the mind disengages from the body. In response, the digestive process is impaired, making food not nearly as nutritious as it could be. In turn, this can trigger hunger and malnutrition and the drive to eat more so you will feel satisfied via the nutrients both your mind and body need for optimal health—and that you’re not metabolizing. In this way, Task-Snacking can create a vicious cycle of poor digestion, inadequate nutrition, and overeating to compensate; to try to get the vitamins and minerals you’re not metabolizing.
Task-Snacking works on yet another level: when the mind is not paying full attention to the sensation of food, such as its taste, scent, texture, and visual presentation (more about eating to satisfy the senses in the chapter on the eating style of “Sensory Disregard”), then eating, itself, becomes less satisfying. And a key way to compensate for getting less pleasure or gratification from food is to continue to eat…more and more. The bottom line? Mindless Task-Snacking is likely to lead to eating more and enjoying it less.
Sure, it’s obvious that if you’re a Task-Snacking couch potato or mouse potato, it’s likely you’re not moving much, and that lack of exercise is a key contributor to weight gain. But how might Task-Snacking, specifically, work against your waistline when you eat at your desk while working, or you munch while watching TV, or you snack while driving? In other words, how may eating in a not-too-conscious, not-too-mindful way, be a recipe for weight gain? Understanding what happens when you eat while Task-Snacking provides a clue.
Because the brain can only attend to one topic at a time, when you do multiple tasks simultaneously, the mind constantly shifts its attention. If you were to undergo a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan—a powerful, non-invasive imaging technique that accurately images the cellular function of the human body—while Task-Snacking, it would show lights blinking on and off in selected areas of the brain associated with the various tasks you’re doing. To cope with your Task-Snacking, when you eat while the mind is not focused on your food, the mind disengages from the body. In response, the digestive process is impaired, making food not nearly as nutritious as it could be. In turn, this can trigger hunger and malnutrition and the drive to eat more so you will feel satisfied via the nutrients both your mind and body need for optimal health—and that you’re not metabolizing. In this way, Task-Snacking can create a vicious cycle of poor digestion, inadequate nutrition, and overeating to compensate; to try to get the vitamins and minerals you’re not metabolizing.
Task-Snacking works on yet another level: when the mind is not paying full attention to the sensation of food, such as its taste, scent, texture, and visual presentation (more about eating to satisfy the senses in the chapter on the eating style of “Sensory Disregard”), then eating, itself, becomes less satisfying. And a key way to compensate for getting less pleasure or gratification from food is to continue to eat…more and more. The bottom line? Mindless Task-Snacking is likely to lead to eating more and enjoying it less.
Deborah Kesten, MPH, was the nutritionist on Dean Ornish, MD’s first clinical trial for reversing heart disease through lifestyle changes—without drugs or surgery, and Director of Nutrition on similar research in cardiovascular clinics in Europe. With a specialty in preventing and reversing overweight and heart disease, she is the award-winning author of The Enlightened Diet: 7 Weight Loss Solutions That Nourish Body, Nourishing the Soul Body, Mind, and Soul; and The Healing Secrets of Food. Call her at 415.810.7874 to learn more about her health and healing coaching, or visit her at to learn more about her Programs for wellness, weight loss, coaching, and books.
Comments are closed.