You Skip Breakfast
People who miss their morning meal are 4.5 times more likely to be
obese, according to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Researchers suggest that forgoing meals slows down your metabolism, makes you hungry, switches your body into
fat-storage mode, and ups the odds that you’ll overdo it at your next
meal. You don’t need to start the day
with anything fancy. If you ate a 500-calorie breakfast that included cereal
and milk or oatmeal and a banana every day for three weeks, you would feel less hungry when lunchtime rolled around compared to those who skipped the meal.
You Watch Too Much TV
People who watch TV for more than two hours a day are more likely to be
overweight, according to a study from the USDA. Close to 60 percent of
Americans fall into that category, and researchers found they tend to consume
larger amounts of high-calorie snack foods, pizza, and sugary soft drinks.
They also help themselves to higher-calorie dinners than those who watch less
than an hour of TV a day.
You Don't Catch Your Z's
When you can’t tear yourself away from a late-night rerun of Law &
Order, you won’t just be tired the next day. People ate 221 more
calories from snack foods the day after getting 5.5 hours of sleep compared to
when they snoozed for 8.5 hours, according to a study from the University of
Chicago. At that rate, you could pack on almost a pound after two weeks of
sleep deprivation. Skimping on sleep lowers levels of the fullness hormone
leptin while increasing levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, a combination
that revs up your appetite. What’s more, lack of rest stimulates areas of the
brain that associate food with pleasure.
You’re Bombarded by Food Porn
If you’ve spent even five minutes perusing recipes on the internet, you understand that
looking at food makes you want to eat. Viewing images of delicious dishes
lights up the brain’s reward centers and can make those with active mental
responses to food overeat. Food porn also drives up levels of the hunger
hormone ghrelin, even if you just ate a regular meal.
Your friend just ordered a steak, and you feel silly going with a salad
for dinner, so you chime in with “make that two.” Sound familiar? People tend
to mimic each other’s eating behaviors, even down to taking bites of food at
roughly the same time as their dining companions.
You Drink Too Much
Alcohol is a big contributor to overeating. Scientists say
that drinking increases levels of ghrelin, so don’t be surprised if you shovel in more dinner after downing a
glass of wine. Having a drink with dinner may also leave you hungry after a
meal that would typically fill you up.
You Inhale Your Food
Grabbing a bite before rushing into a meeting may ward off an afternoon junk food craving, but if you scarf it down, it might not
satisfy you the way it should. When you eat too fast, your stomach doesn’t have
time to release the hormones that tell your brain that you are full and that
you should set down your fork. For
example, the longer you spend eating a
bowl of ice cream, the more satisfied you will feel afterwards.
You're burned out at work
An overbearing boss or heavy workload could impact your eating habits. Those who feel burned out at work are more likely to experience emotional or uncontrolled eating compared to those who are satisfied with their jobs.
You're Addicted to Diet Soda
The can says “diet,” but your favorite zero-calorie beverage may
actually help you pack on pounds. Blame sugar substitutes, which mess with the brain’s ability to control how much you
need to eat. The brain uses a learned relationship between sweetened foods or
beverages and the calories that they provide to help regulate food intake. Routinely drinking diet soda throws off the
brain’s sweet sensors, but your body’s not getting the calories it expects.
Once confused, the brain stops associating sweets with having calories and your
control around sweet-tasting foods starts to weaken:)
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