5 Ways To Keep Eating On The Go From Making You Fat

Where did you eat your breakfast this morning? In the car? Walking to the train? At your desk? Hectic schedules leave many of us noshing on the go, but new research published in the August 2015 Journal of Health Psychology shows that this unhealthy habit can be adding major inches to your waistline.

The small study, conducted by researchers at the University of Surrey in the U.K., examined 60 women (both dieters and non-dieters) eating a cereal bar in three different scenarios: while watching an episode of “Friends,” while walking down a hallway, and while having a conversation with a friend. Afterward, the women completed a questionnaire and a taste test of four different foods (chocolate, carrot sticks, grapes, and crisps), and how much they ate was recorded.

The results: Dieters who consumed the cereal bar when walking ate more of the snacks, including five times more chocolate.

“This may be because walking is a powerful form of distraction which disrupts our ability to process the impact eating has on our hunger,” says Jane Ogden, professor of health psychology at the University of Surrey and lead author of the study. “Or it may be because walking, even just around a corridor, can be regarded as a form of exercise which justifies overeating later on as a form of reward.”Read more