by Susan Klatz Beal

Created on: December 16, 2011

The holidays are one time of the year when people tend to eat whatever they want, mindlessly ignoring what they are eating, how much they are eating, or how often they are eating. It should be no surprise then, that this is one time of the year when people gain weight easily. Mindless eating habits that cause people to become overweight are those that people continuously ignore and as people grow older, the habit of not thinking about what they are eating will cause the pounds to accumulate, often at an alarming rate.

• Not thinking about portion size

We live in a society of super sized everything. Fast food restaurants offer to super size everything from burgers (by doubling the amount of meat,) to drinks and French fries. Even a normal size portion of fast food items pack a huge calorie punch.

• Not thinking about balance

One of the biggest reasons that people are so overweight these days because of what they are eating. Fast paced lives cause people to want to be able to get something to eat as quickly as possible. This is especially true of working families with children. Parents feel compelled to feed their children quickly, so they resort to whatever they can throw together fast. Most of the time, those meals are horribly unbalanced because they lack adequate portions of fruit and vegetables.

• High calorie snack foods

People tend to snack a lot - even though they eat high calorie meals. Instead of looking to healthy options such as fresh fruit, a handful of nuts, or cut up vegetables, they look to candy bars, bags of chips, or microwave high fat, high calorie and sodium laden food snacks.

• Drinking empty calories

Instead of drinking zero calorie water, people today are drinking juice drinks that are laden with sugar, sports drinks that also contain sugar or high fructose corn syrup, and soft drinks that contain on average, about 10 teaspoons of sugar per 12 ounce can. These tasty drinks entice people to want to drink more. Two cans of full sugar soda contain almost as many calories as what people should eat for a meal. Diet soda may not have the calories, but it certainly entices people to eat more, whether because they actually feel more hungry or because they rationalize that they can.

The problem with the way people eat today is that they engage in mindless eating habits, and over time, these eating habits cause them to become overweight. People fail to plan meals ahead of time and make grocery lists according to those meal plans. They fail to make healthy foods such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, the main stay of their diets, and instead, they eat calorie laden foods without regard to portion size. Weight gain is inevitable in a scenario like this.

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