Eating while walking may distract the brain, so it does not
remember eating and have a strong desire for more.
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| Eating on the go triggers a desire for consuming food later in the day. |
A recent
study has shown that eating on the go
could mean eating more calories later.
Researchers
from Surrey University found that eating
while walking could offer to overeat,
compared to eating during other forms of distraction such as watching TV or
talking to a friend.
They did an
experiment on three groups of 20 women who ate a cereal bar while walking along
the corridor, watching TV and chatting with a friend.
After the
experiment, these women were asked to complete a questionnaire and taste four
different bowls of snacks, including chocolate, carrots, grapes and crackers.
How much they ate was evaluated after they left the room.
The result
stated that those who ate the most later if they had eaten the cereal bar while
walking, specifically they ate five times more chocolate.
“Eating on the go triggers a desire for consuming food later in the day,”
said lead author Professor Jane Ogden.
“Walking may
trigger more distraction which disrupts the ability of manage the impact of
eating on our hunger. Or walking, even just around the corridor, can be
considered as a form of exercise which justifies overeating later as a reward.”
This doesn’t
mean that those eating in front of the television or at the desks are off the
hook. Any kind of mindless eating
can result in weight gain because we
cannot recognize the amount of consumed foods.
The results
were published in the Journal of Health Psychology.
