Eating Habits Influence Weight Gain More than Food Choices

Rebecca Lewis April 28, 2016

When it comes to weight gain, the type of food you eat does have a lesser impact than your eating habits. That is the latest finding by the researchers from Autonomous University of Madrid. They found that people who sit in front of the television while eating or those who didn’t plan how much they will eat are more likely to gain weight compared to those who don’t engage in these eating behaviours.

The study involved 1,600 people ages 18 to 60 who were surveyed about their weight and typical eating habits. Researchers followed the participants for three and a half years. The findings revealed that people who said they ate while watching TV at least two times a week, or didn’t plan how much to eat before they sat down to a meal, were more likely to gain weight, compared with people who didn’t report engaging in these unhealthy eating behaviours.

However, those behaviours that are typically thought of as unhealthy — including eating pre-cooked or canned foods, buying snacks from a vending machine, and eating at fast food restaurants more than once a week — were not linked to weight gain.

The study emphasises the importance of mindful eating. The two habits which were mostly related to weight gain - watching TV while eating and not planning ahead - were strongly tied to weight gain. Being aware of what we are eating and how much is essential to keeping track of our weight.

Researchers also found that people engaged in five or more of these “unhealthy” eating behaviours, they were more likely to gain weight than were people who engaged in zero to two of these behaviours. This finding suggests that “interventions designed to address several [unhealthy eating behaviours] together could be more efficient” than those that target just one unhealthy eating behaviour.

But the study was not without its limitations. There are a number of other factors that the study wasn’t able to account for, such as stress which usually leads people to overeat.

Source of this article:

The Way You Eat -- Not The Food Itself -- Could Influence Weight Gain