Mindless Eating

Mindless eating is consuming food without awareness.

Some examples of this are:

• Trance-lke eating, which is eating while absorbed in another activity.
  Like when zoned out in front of the TV, or while reading a book,
  or while surfing the internet, or chatting with friends etc.
  This sometimes involves standing in front of the refrigerator
  with the door open, not really knowing what we're looking for.
  
  
• Munching while distracted like driving the car or doing work at our desks.
  
  
• Eating when we aren't really hungry.
  
  
• Eating in repetitive or habitual ways,
  like at the same times every day no matter what;
  or snacking during a favorite TV show, no matter what.
  
  
• Grazing on food, or picking at food.
  
  
• Using food to comfort or soothe ourselves
  when we are stressed, bored, or anxious.
  
  
• Eating portions that are too large for our individual bodies.
  
  
• Eating without really tasting food.

Most of us know we shouldn't do this, and we usually intend to avoid it,
but still we find ourselves sometimes engaging in that behavior.
Some of this compulsion is from our automatic habits and unconscious behaviors.

Eating is such a routine task that it can be done with little or no thought or effort.
When mindless eating only happens occasionally, it might not be a problem,
but when we eat mindlessly on a daily basis,
the weight can begin to pile on.