Several studies have shown that dining or eating while watching TV can increase the risk of obesity, especially in kids. Sitting in front of the TV for long hours can slow down your metabolic rate or your body's ability to burn calories.
Multitasking as you eat
A study published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition noted that watching TV as you eat can lead you not to pay attention to fullness cues. Doing so can lead to overeating.
Watching TV (or using your smartphone) while eating suppresses your brain from creating a memory of your food intake. As you weren't aware of your meal because of an external distraction, your brain has no evidence of eating. This might lead to overeating because your brain didn't get a chance of creating memories.
Watching Television, or Mobile screen, before, during, and after any meal increases your sympathetic dominance of the autonomic nervous system and impairs the parasympathetic nervous system, which is essential for digestion and absorption.
That's because both eating food and watching TV can offer a quick hit of dopamine, the pleasure chemical, says Sophie Mort, Ph. D, a clinical psychologist and guide for the app dedicated to cultivating sustainable happiness Happy Not Perfect. (So yeah, we do it literally because it feels good.)
But it's best to avoid this practice. Screen time—watching TV or playing on a tablet while eating—adversely impacts the development of normal eating habits in a natural interactive environment. “Moreover, screen time while eating increases children's risk of obesity, as they tend to eat more while they are watching TV.
Fog eating occurs when a person eats despite not being hungry. They may or may not realize they are snacking on autopilot and may not even remember what they ate. This is a classic sign of mindless eating; too much of this habit can affect your physical health and your relationship with food.
Distracted eating can have a big impact on your health. Eating in front of the TV (and while scrolling on our phones) is super common, but it might be more harmful to your health than you realize.
Here is why you should not watch tv while eating
1. If you eat while watching tv, the brain is distracted and sends out the wrong signals to the body and does not process the taste or satisfaction. 3. Watching TV while eating reduces the metabolic rate at which you should ideally digest the food and gain energy.
The best idea is to gradually reduce your child's exposure to the screen. You can start feeding them without the phone and hand it over to them after a while. Or, you may take the phone away before the meal is over so that they finish the meal without it.
It's clear from the survey's findings that “zombie eating” is an almost universal practice in today's culture; 91% of respondents reported watching television while eating a meal or snack, and 49% say they watch TV while eating on a regular basis.
Essentially, eating and drinking is fine but consider the noise and smell created. Basically if it's hot or noisy, don't bring it in. Cinemas do, unfortunately, stock a lot of food that goes 'crunch' when you eat it and give you drinks with straws, because apparently the noisiest foods have the highest profit margins.
Your phone is actually 10 times dirtier than your toilet, and probably even more so if your phone is in the bathroom, too. With that in mind, it's probably best not to reach for your phone while eating or cooking to help stop the spread of germs that could make you sick.
Each hour spent watching television or movies could lead to a 39% higher risk. "Children may be more prone to overeating while distracted in front of screens," said Dr. Nagata. "Binge-watching television may lead to binge-eating behaviors because of overconsumption and a loss of control," he added.
Not only do we underappreciated our food when we eat in front of screens, but it also can lead us to miss signals from our body on when we are full. Our attention is directed toward the screen in front of us and not toward our body telling us that it is satiated. This causes an obvious consequence of overeating.
Screen viewing can distract children away from feeling physiologic satiety, leading to mindless eating and becoming overweight [11,15].
And, eating in front of a screen can lead children and adults to take in excess calories and promote obesity. Too much sedentary media time can also displace healthy physical activity and play.
Too much screen time can lead to obesity, sleep problems, chronic neck and back problems, depression, anxiety and lower test scores in children. Children should limit screen time to 1 to 2 hours per day.
If you aren't mindful of what's going into your mouth, you don't process that information. That means it doesn't get stored in your memory bank. And without a memory of having eaten, you are more likely to eat again sooner than you might have if you ate mindfully.
Emotional eating is eating as a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions, such as stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness and loneliness.
I have found them extremely useful and hope you do too! The four types of eating are Fuel, Fun, Fog, and Storm. Fuel Eating is when you are eating foods that support your body and its needs.
This increases the risk of obesity because of the excess calories that are consumed. But eating while distracted by screens also leads to obesity as it prevents children from listening to the signals that tell them when they're full. Over time, mealtime distraction can reduce sensitivity to hunger and fullness cues.