9 Bad Eating Habits and How to Break Them

Nighttime snacking, emotional eating, junk-food binges — sound familiar? Break these common bad eating habits for quick weight loss results.

Medically Reviewed

It’s not just willpower, or a lack thereof, that makes us overeat and gain weight. Sometimes, it’s that sneaky bad habit you developed without even realizing it, like dashing out the door some mornings without breakfast, or munching chips in front of your favorite TV show. The next thing you know, one little bad habit can equal out to a lot of weight gain. The worst part is, you might not even realize what you’re doing to your diet.

Here, quick fixes for some of the most common bad eating and lifestyle habits that can cause you to pack on pounds.

The Bad Habit: Mindless Eating

Cornell University food psychologist Brian Wansink, PhD, discovered that the larger the plate or bowl you eat from, the more you unknowingly consume. In one recent study, Wansink found that moviegoers given extra-large containers of stale popcorn still ate 45 percent more than those snacking on fresh popcorn out of smaller containers holding the same amount.

The Fix: Eat from smaller dishes. Try swapping out your large dinner plate for a salad plate, and never eat straight from a container or package.

The Bad Habit: Nighttime Noshing

Diet folklore suggests that eating at night is almost never a good idea if you want to lose weight. Although many experts say this old adage is pure myth, a new animal study backs up the idea that it’s not only what you eat but also when you eat that counts. Researchers at Northwestern University found that mice given high-fat foods during the day (when these nocturnal animals should have been sleeping) gained significantly more weight than mice given the same diet at night.

The Fix: The diet take-away here? After dinner, teach yourself to think of the kitchen as being closed for the night, and brush your teeth — you’ll want to eat less with a newly cleaned mouth. If a craving hits, wait 10 minutes. If you’re still truly hungry, reach for something small like string cheese or a piece of fruit.

The Bad Habit: Endless Snacking

Here’s a bad habit many are guilty of: snacking round-the-clock, often on high-calorie foods that are full of empty carbs. A recent study at the University of North Carolina found that it isn’t just a problem for adults: kids are snacking more and more often on unhealthy junk food including salty chips, soda, and candy.

The Fix: Keep only healthy snacks within reach, such as hummus, carrots and cucumber slices, air-popped popcorn, yogurt, and almonds, says Jessica Crandall, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Don’t stock your desk or pantry with potato chips or cookies you know you can’t resist.

The Bad Habit: Skipping Breakfast

You know that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, but with so many other tasks competing for your attention, you may decide you don’t have time to eat. When you skip meals, your metabolism begins to slow, Crandall explains, plus, breakfast gives you that boost of energy you need to take on your day. Without this fuel, chances are, you’ll just overeat later. A new study of Chinese schoolchildren found that those who skipped breakfast gained significantly more weight over a two-year period than those who ate a morning meal.

The Fix: Have ready healthy breakfast foods you can consume on the run, Crandall says. If you’re rushed, try easy items such as whole fruit, yogurt, homemade cereal bars, and smoothies.

The Bad Habit: Emotional Eating

You had a bad day at the office, and when you get home, you open the refrigerator and eat — not a good diet strategy. “You put food in your mouth as a coping mechanism,” Crandall says. A number of studies confirm that emotions, both positive and negative, can cause people to eat more than they should, an easy weight-loss stumbling block.

The Fix: Find a new stress-buster, Crandall says. “If you’re stressed out at work, when you get home, take a walk instead of eating or call a friend who will be empathetic,” she suggests. “You can vent and take some of the stress off your shoulders.” Choose any activity you like as long as it keeps you out of the kitchen.

The Bad Habit: Eating Too Quickly

Wolfing down your food, whether you’re snacking or eating a meal, doesn’t give your brain time to catch up with your stomach. Your brain doesn’t signal that you’re full until about 15 to 20 minutes after you’ve started eating. If you gulp down your meal in 10 minutes or less, you could end up eating way more than you need. In a study of 3,200 men and women, Japanese researchers found that eating too quickly was strongly associated with being overweight.

The Fix: To slow down your eating, physically put your fork down between bites, take smaller bites, and be sure to chew each bite thoroughly. Also, drinking water throughout your meal will help you slow down and feel fuller as you go.

The Bad Habit: Not Getting Enough Sleep

Could not getting enough sleep ruin your weight-loss efforts? Yes, according to a recent analysis by researchers in Tokyo. They found that men and women who slept five hours or less a night were more likely to gain weight than those who slept seven hours or more.

The Fix: Establish a routine for yourself, and try to go to bed and wake up at about the same times every day, even on weekends. Keep the bedroom dark and comfortable, and avoid TV or computers for at least an hour before bed. If you need extra motivation to shut off the lights early, remember that the better you sleep, the better the number when you step on the scale in the morning.

The Bad Habit: Vegging Out With Video Games

If you’re watching TV, sitting in front of a computer, or playing video games, it’s not only mindless snacking in front of the screen that you have to worry about. A new study found that teens who played video games for just one hour ate more the rest of the day, which resulted in weight gain. The researchers weren’t sure why playing video games caused the boys to eat more, but said it’s possible that sitting in front of a computer all day could have a similar effect on adults and lead to snacking.

The Fix: Take frequent breaks when you’re in front of the computer — get up and walk around the room or office every 15 to 30 minutes. When the workday or your favorite TV show ends, remember to carefully monitor what you consume to you don’t overstuff yourself.

The Bad Habit: Eating Junk Food

You know junk food doesn’t help your waistline, but the effect may be worse than you think. Several animal studies have found that rat’s brains find high-fat, high-sugar foods to be addictive — much like cocaine or heroin. Another study found that eating comfort food actually triggers feelings of happiness in humans.

The Fix: The solution isn’t to eliminate your favorite indulgences from your diet — that will only make you crave them more, Crandall says. The key to weight-loss success is to identify what you really want, and indulge in your favorite foods in moderation as special treats, not every day.

Improving Your Eating Habits | Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity

When it comes to eating, many of us have developed habits. Some are good (“I always eat fruit as a dessert”), and some are not so good (“I always have a sugary drink after work as a reward”).  Even if you’ve had the same eating pattern for years, it’s not too late to make improvements.

Making sudden, radical changes, such as eating nothing but cabbage soup, can lead to short term weight loss. However, such radical changes are neither healthy nor a good idea and won’t be successful in the long run. Permanently improving your eating habits requires a thoughtful approach in which you reflect, replace, and reinforce.

• REFLECT on all of your specific eating habits, both bad and good; and, your common triggers for unhealthy eating.
• REPLACE your unhealthy eating habits with healthier ones.
• REINFORCE your new, healthier eating habits.

Reflect:

• Create a list of your eating and drinking habits. Keep a food and beverage diary for a few days. Write down everything you eat and drink, including sugary drinks and alcohol. Write down the time of day you ate or drank the item. This will help you uncover your habits. For example, you might discover that you always seek a sweet snack to get you through the mid-afternoon energy slump. Use this diary [PDF-105KB] to help. It’s good to note how you were feeling when you decided to eat, especially if you were eating when not hungry. Were you tired? Stressed out?
• Highlight the habits on your list that may be leading you to overeat. Common eating habits that can lead to weight gain are:
  • Eating too fast
  • Always cleaning your plate
  • Eating when not hungry
  • Eating while standing up (may lead to eating mindlessly or too quickly)
  • Always eating dessert
  • Skipping meals (or maybe just breakfast)
• Look at the unhealthy eating habits you’ve highlighted. Be sure you’ve identified all the triggers that cause you to engage in those habits. Identify a few you’d like to work on improving first. Don’t forget to pat yourself on the back for the things you’re doing right. Maybe you usually eat fruit for dessert, or you drink low-fat or fat-free milk. These are good habits! Recognizing your successes will help encourage you to make more changes.
• Create a list of “cues” by reviewing your food diary to become more aware of when and where you’re “triggered” to eat for reasons other than hunger. Note how you are typically feeling at those times. Often an environmental “cue”, or a particular emotional state, is what encourages eating for non-hunger reasons. Common triggers for eating when not hungry are:
  • Opening up the cabinet and seeing your favorite snack food.
  • Sitting at home watching television.
  • Before or after a stressful meeting or situation at work.
  • Coming home after work and having no idea what’s for dinner.
  • Having someone offer you a dish they made “just for you!”
  • Walking past a candy dish on the counter.
  • Sitting in the break room beside the vending machine.
  • Seeing a plate of doughnuts at the morning staff meeting.
  • Swinging through your favorite drive-through every morning.
  • Feeling bored or tired and thinking food might offer a pick-me-up.
• Circle the “cues” on your list that you face on a daily or weekly basis. While the Thanksgiving holiday may be a trigger to overeat, for now focus on cues you face more often. Eventually you want a plan for as many eating cues as you can.
• Ask yourself these questions for each “cue” you’ve circled:
  • Is there anything I can do to avoid the cue or situation? This option works best for cues that don’t involve others. For example, could you choose a different route to work to avoid stopping at a fast food restaurant on the way? Is there another place in the break room where you can sit so you’re not next to the vending machine?
  • For things I can’t avoid, can I do something differently that would be healthier? Obviously, you can’t avoid all situations that trigger your unhealthy eating habits, like staff meetings at work. In these situations, evaluate your options. Could you suggest or bring healthier snacks or beverages? Could you offer to take notes to distract your attention? Could you sit farther away from the food so it won’t be as easy to grab something? Could you plan ahead and eat a healthy snack before the meeting?

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Replace:

• Replace unhealthy habits with new, healthy ones. For example, in reflecting upon your eating habits, you may realize that you eat too fast when you eat alone. So, make a commitment to share a lunch each week with a colleague, or have a neighbor over for dinner one night a week. Another strategy is to put your fork down between bites. Also, minimize distractions, such as watching the news while you eat. Such distractions keep you from paying attention to how quickly and how much you’re eating.
• Eat more slowly. If you eat too quickly, you may “clean your plate” instead of paying attention to whether your hunger is satisfied.
• Eat only when you’re truly hungry instead of when you are tired, anxious, or feeling an emotion besides hunger. If you find yourself eating when you are experiencing an emotion besides hunger, such as boredom or anxiety, try to find a non-eating activity to do instead. You may find a quick walk or phone call with a friend helps you feel better.
• Plan meals ahead of time to ensure that you eat a healthy well-balanced meal.

Reinforce:

• Reinforce your new, healthy habits and be patient with yourself. Habits take time to develop. It doesn’t happen overnight. When you do find yourself engaging in an unhealthy habit, stop as quickly as possible and ask yourself: Why do I do this? When did I start doing this? What changes do I need to make? Be careful not to berate yourself or think that one mistake “blows” a whole day’s worth of healthy habits. You can do it! It just takes one day at a time!

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10 Bad Eating Habits You Might Not Know About

November 11, 2021

Food

Everyone knows that fast food and the lack of vegetables in the diet have a bad effect on the body. But other seemingly innocuous eating habits can also lead to health problems. Together with the national project “Demography” we tell you what to pay attention to and how to reconsider your relationship with food.

1. Refuse breakfast

Skipping breakfast once is unlikely to affect health, unlike regular fasting in the morning. Late first meals can increase cortisol levels (making you irritable) and also increase the risk of headaches, especially in people with migraines. Not the best state for productive work or a relaxing weekend.

In addition, there is a possibility that over time this habit will lead to metabolic disorders, in particular, it will affect the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels. In the long run, this may result in diabetes or obesity.

If you don’t feel hungry at all when you wake up, just drink a glass of water or hot tea. And breakfast, such as porridge, scrambled eggs or cottage cheese, take it with you to work. Try adding vegetables, fruits, or berries to your first meal to maximize your body’s nutritional intake. It is important to observe one condition: eat breakfast as soon as possible, and not delay until lunch.

2. Snack frequently

Image: EZ-Stock Studio / Shutterstock

Eating too many snacks can increase your daily calorie intake or, on the contrary, dull your hunger and make you refuse a full lunch or dinner: because of this, the body will not receive enough nutrients. Therefore, it is better not to snack during the day, but to distribute the daily calorie intake between the main meals.

At the same time, snacking is not necessarily evil. They will save on the road or other situation when it is not possible to eat fully. However, it is important to choose the right products. For example, fast carbohydrates like a chocolate bar, cookies or a pack of chips will immediately give strength and energy, but the effect will not last long – soon the body will want to eat again. It is better to give preference to complex carbohydrates or proteins, such as a protein or cereal bar, nuts, kefir, yogurt, hummus with carrots or cucumber. Fruits and dried fruits are also a good option. Although they are fast carbohydrates, they contain useful fiber, vitamins and minerals.

3. Look in the refrigerator at night and have dinner before bed

The desire to eat at night can arise from poor nutrition during the day or non-compliance with the regime: going to bed late provokes an increase in cortisol levels – this causes a feeling of hunger. But frequent nightly visits to the refrigerator and late dinners will not bring health benefits. On the contrary, they can cause a number of problems with the digestive system, including acid reflux.

In addition, with a high probability, the food eaten in the evening will turn into adipose tissue, and the next morning, instead of cheerfulness, a person will feel tired – after all, at night the body was forced to digest what it received and spend excess energy, and not rest. Waking up on the first alarm call in this case is almost impossible.

To stop inappropriate visits to the refrigerator, you can eat dinner 2-3 hours before bed and choose foods that will provide long-term satiety, such as meat, legumes, seafood, vegetables, tofu. If hunger then still makes itself felt, you can drink a glass of kefir or unsweetened yogurt or eat a few walnuts. These products will not only saturate, but also help improve sleep.

Breaking bad eating habits is not easy. But it’s real! To facilitate the task, the national project “Demography” and Rospotrebnadzor created the “Healthy Eating” portal. It contains expert articles, diet tips and reviews of products with useful properties – you can quickly find information on a topic of interest using the search bar.

There is also a Healthy Recipes section on the portal: it contains many ideas of tasty and healthy dishes for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They can be sorted by ingredients, preparation time and calories.

Find out more

4. Drink little water

Water is essential for the body to function properly, including digestion. Each person has his own fluid rate: to determine how much you need to drink during the day for good health, you can only empirically.

However, sometimes this is not easy. It happens that the brain confuses thirst and hunger: instead of signaling that it’s time to drink a glass of water, it suggests eating something.

To avoid such situations, try to take a couple of sips of water every time you want to eat. And try to replace it with sweet drinks, strong tea and coffee. If you don’t like the taste of water, add some mint, pieces of cucumber, or juicy fruits like lemon or orange to it.

5. Always eat to the end

This habit may have started in childhood if you were not allowed to leave the table until you had swallowed every last crumb. But this approach cannot be called useful: because of overeating, discomfort in the stomach may occur, and the digestive system will have to work harder. In addition, an excessive portion size will increase the amount of calories consumed, which can lead to weight gain.

If you already feel full, it is best to put the leftovers in the refrigerator and return to them at the next meal. And if the situation happened in a cafe or restaurant, you can ask the waiter to pack the dish in a container – and you will take it home with you.

6. Have a belly feast

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Overeating on holidays, weekends or vacations is bad for the same reasons. The digestive system, which is not accustomed to the load, is forced to intensively digest too large a volume of substances. This will be especially noticeable if on other days you follow proper nutrition and do not exceed the calorie intake. In particular, due to the overcrowding of the stomach, food can crawl up the digestive tract – nausea or even vomiting will appear.

A few rules will help you not to overload your body on holidays or in a hotel with a buffet:

• Do not put a lot of food on your plate at once. It is better to take a supplement later than to immediately consume an excessive amount of food.
• Listen to the signals your brain gives you and stop when you feel full.
• To notice fullness in time, eat slowly and enjoy the flavors.
• Choose special foods that are not in your regular diet.
• Remind yourself that you can eat most of what is on the table on any other day. For example, New Year’s Eve dinner is not the last chance to enjoy Olivier.

7. Eat sweet and salty foods

Excess salt in food can lead to high blood pressure and the development of cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, the norm of salt for an adult is very small: WHO recommends no more than 5 grams per day – a little less than a teaspoon.

The negative effects of salt consumption are related to its sodium content. In normal amounts, this element helps the body maintain water balance, but in excess leads to fluid retention and an increase in cell volume. In addition, excess sodium can interfere with potassium absorption. And this is fraught with metabolic disorders and malfunctions of the heart.

You can reduce salt intake by reducing the amount of snacks, fast food and other processed foods in the diet. It is also important not to oversalt the dishes during the cooking process.

Love for sweets, on the other hand, can lead to weight gain and the development of type 2 diabetes. WHO recommends that no more than 10% of simple carbohydrates be included in the diet. To reduce the amount of sugar in the body, you can abandon the daily consumption of desserts and replace sweets with dried fruits: these are also simple carbohydrates, but they contain vitamins and minerals that are good for health. In addition, you should give up sugary drinks and do not add any sugar (including cane) or syrups to tea or coffee.

8. Stress-eating

Snacks and fast food help to get a little distraction from the troubles in life or overload at work, and sweets also increase serotonin levels. But their consumption will not be caused by hunger, but by emotions: extra calories and, probably, a lot of salt and sugar will enter the body.

You can overcome stress with the help of dark chocolate. It is desirable that the percentage of cocoa in it be very large. To achieve the effect, the slice does not need to be swallowed quickly, it is better to slowly dissolve it in the mouth. You should also pay attention to bananas, spinach, pumpkin seeds and other foods rich in magnesium – it has a positive effect on the nervous system.

Or try alternative ways to deal with stress, such as taking a walk outside or doing some light exercise. During physical activity, endorphins are released, which help improve mood and well-being.

9. Eating on the go

When attention is not focused on food intake, the body may not be aware of its volume and then get hungry faster. Therefore, having lunch at your desk or eating a sandwich while driving instead of a full breakfast is not a good idea. It’s the same story with TV meals and snacks on popcorn and chips at the movies. Another problem will arise here: due to the duration of the film or series, the time of consumption of food may increase – the food will enter the body for an hour, or even more.

All this can have a bad effect on the state of the gastrointestinal tract. When you quickly swallow food, excess air enters along with it – this leads to bloating or burping.

To avoid such troubles, try to set aside time – 10-15 minutes is enough – for a calm, mindful meal. If you want to watch a movie with snacks, do not take a whole pack with you – pour a portion into a plate in advance. Or invite friends over – having company can help control the constant urge to snack. And to completely refuse food in front of the TV, occupy your hands with something, such as knitting or an anti-stress toy.

10. Choose foods just because they are “healthy”

Illustration: Nicoleta Ionescu / Shutterstock

Foods in the health food section are really healthy, but they are not always better than their “bad” counterparts. For example, gluten-free pasta or bread is necessary for people with celiac disease, that is, gluten intolerance, and this substance will not cause harm to a healthy person. And sweets with fructose are the same sweets, only created for people with diabetes: it does not make sense to replace regular chocolates with them.

Of course, you don’t have to skip these departments if you like the taste of “healthy” foods. In addition, there you can find interesting ingredients that will help diversify the diet. For example, plant-based milk, tofu cheese, or cereal without added sugar (including fructose).

Making the right diet starts with buying groceries. You can learn to understand which of them should be put in the basket, and which ones are better left on the supermarket shelf, in the free “School of Healthy Eating” from Rospotrebnadzor and the Demography national project. This is a selection of lectures from scientists, PhDs and nutritionists.

Experts tell you what role proteins, fats and carbohydrates play in the body, how to adjust the diet depending on the season and what popular opinions about products are just myths. And before watching the lectures, you can take a test and check how well you already understand proper nutrition.

Start eating right

6 habits that you need to immediately give up if you are already 30

• Lifestyle

Everyday habits shape our lifestyle. And if it turns out to be unhealthy, then failures and frequent breakdowns in the body are inevitable. While there is still an opportunity and the bad habit has not spoiled your life, give it up, doctors advise.

April 19, 2022

Source:

Getty Images

The body of a person who is already 30 years old is different from a 20-year-old. Mistakes that we unwittingly made in childhood and early adolescence – we ate sweet things, drank soda instead of breakfast, and ate half-baked dinner, often did not affect our health and well-being.

As children, we burn off all the extra energy we consume, and as adults, we noticeably reduce physical activity and have much more stressors in life.

Therefore, if your 30th birthday has already passed, you should carefully analyze what eating habits it is better to forget once and for all in order to live a long, happy and healthy life.

Treat yourself to tasty treats often

“One croissant and a chocolate bar will not make me diabetic, I can please myself!” So say those who are sure that you need to love yourself and pamper yourself often – especially at a time when the world is changing literally before our eyes.

But a bucket of ice cream for a TV series, a piece of cake in a cafe with friends, a chocolate bar at the computer, which every day cheer you up, can also raise blood sugar levels to the level of prediabetes.

Look for patterns in the big picture. So one of the best ways to spot unhealthy eating habits is to keep track of everything you drink and eat, down to the gum. You can fix it as you like: in your smartphone or in a notepad. You can catch bad habits that you want to get rid of after just two days of closely observing what you eat.

Read also

Drink sugary drinks

Large studies and meta-analyses show an association between soda and other sugary drinks and weight gain and an increased risk of various diseases. Those pops that are sold labeled “sugar free” are also harmful. Sweeteners can cause quite serious illnesses.

Nutritionists admit that the love of soda, which began in adolescence, is very difficult to “treat”. You need to start gradually – drink water more often, and be aware of the extra calories that are also hidden in packaged juices and alcohol.

Mindlessly eating calories

If you like to eat while watching a movie, or at the computer while working, this is unconscious eating. You suddenly realize in horror that you quietly ate a huge chocolate bar or a pack of cookies. And most importantly, they didn’t even understand how it happened and didn’t even enjoy the delicious food. Also, we often mindlessly eat when we are under stress – console ourselves – and do not notice how we constantly overeat.

“Engagement” in the process – mindful eating – will help to cope with this habit. To start, choose one meal a day, such as on the weekend, when you have free time. Turn off the TV, put away your smartphone, computer, books and magazines and just eat – immerse yourself in this process completely, have fun, savor the taste of food, and do not swallow huge pieces, enjoy, stretch your meal as soon as possible.

Gradually make it a habit to have lunch, breakfast and dinner always – you will eat much less. Soon, you yourself will be surprised how you will understand that the daily diet and the number of calories have been sharply reduced, but you do not feel hungry.

Skip meals

Fasting or depriving yourself of dinner and breakfast (for example, switching to interval meals) can have unpleasant consequences for the body. In the long run, there will be no effect – you will lose weight only due to water. Losing weight by starving is unlikely to succeed.

The brain will turn on the survival mode, lower the metabolic rate and will “cling” to every calorie — even weight gain can become a side effect of not eating.

See also

Fight the desire to eat

If you are too strict with yourself and categorically forbid eating what you want, then breakdowns are inevitable – you will not resist a delicious bun in a cafe or a chocolate bar on sale.

There is only one way to allow yourself to eat what you want – to follow the principles of proper nutrition, eat enough protein foods and enjoy what seems harmful to you, getting the maximum pleasure from this treat – savoring every bite of it. And then there will be no overeating.

Make spontaneous decisions

How often have you noticed that you eat when the feeling of hunger is already unbearable? This approach to nutrition is very dangerous. In the “hungry lion” state, it’s impossible to choose healthy food that still needs to be cooked. You pounce on fast food or take out dumplings or other convenience foods from the freezer, which contain a lot of preservatives, sugar and fast carbohydrates, instantly swallow a huge portion and then suffer from guilt – why did I eat so much?

The antidote to this unhealthy habit is planning.