Ok – I have a bottle of ketchup, several tablespoons of old coffee grinds, half a stick of butter, some fresh sprigs of rosemary, and a banana peel.
You have 10 minutes to get all of it off my kitchen table and into your belly.
Ready.
Set.
Go!
Ok, hold on for one second. I don’t really want you to do that. That’s not what today’s post is all about.
No, I am not going to challenge you to eat massive quantities of food in a short period of time like on Man versus Food and competitive eating tournaments. (Although, that would be damn entertaining to watch. Just don’t puke on my floor. Or Me. Or my dog.)
This eating challenge I am referring to is very simple, and you may learn something in the process.
Here’s The Eating Challenge:
For the next week, for every meal you consume, I want you to eat without any distractions. No television. No sitting in front of the computer reading articles or checking Facebook.
Sit at the dinner table (wait, do people still have those?) and focus on your food. Focus on what you’re eating. Be present.
I took this challenge myself last week. I noticed that when I eat in front of the computer, after finishing I thought to myself, “What was even in that?”
Because my focus was on the monitor, I wasn’t even aware of the taste of my food. Heck, I barely remembered eating it. And then I got to thinking . . .
That is why a lot of people overeat. Their attention is elsewhere when it should be on their food. Since they are distracted they just keep eating.
Think about it – you can’t watch a movie when some moron beside you keeps asking, “Why did he do that? What’s going on? Why did she just toss her hair? Is that your foot touching me?” You can’t give your undivided attention to the movie you are watching because of the (annoying) distraction leaning over into your chair asking stupid questions.
The same thing goes for eating and watching TV or checking the computer at the same time – you can’t fully focus on both. More often than not we just watch the screen and keep putting food into our mouths.
Yes, this is nothing new and I’m sure you’ve heard it before. But there’s a good reason to take this challenge for the next week.
Not only will you pay attention to your food, but you might even realize what watching TV and eating at the same time may do – your mind may associate watching TV with eating. Therefore, every time you watch TV you may think you need a snack.
Do yourself a favor and eat all of your meals free from distraction. Turn off the TV and get away from the computer. Sit down at the table, focus on your food, and have a conversation with someone.
You may be surprised at what you discover.
Give this a try for the next week and then report back to me. And hey, if you’re still up for the eating challenge, I’ve got some fresh coffee grounds from this morning.
UPDATE – check out Take This Eating Challenge Part 2.