Mindful eating tips for the desk-bound

Mindful eating tips for the desk-bound

Well, January 1 came and went, and so did the first Monday of the new year. So, how are you doing on your 2014 resolutions, if you made any?

The San Francisco Chronicle recently spotlighted the common seasonal commitment of eating better. Included in the article are healthy recipes and expert tips to start where you might fall prey to mindless eating – at work, sitting at your desk, distracted by your computer.

From the piece:

“People are connected to a screen all the time now, and if you are not mindful of what you are eating, your brain doesn’t send the satiation message to your stomach, and you’ll overeat, guaranteed,” says Hilda Moscoso Carey, [RD,] a clinical dietitian at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco.

Many of her patients work in the gaming and social media industry, where leaving for lunch is culturally frowned upon, and employers keep workers in the building with daily catered lunches, fully stocked kitchens and open espresso bars.

Stanford dietician Jo Ann Hattner, who is studying the effects of eating on the go, said the consequences could be more than weight gain. She told the Chronicle, “We are multitasking our way to bloating, gas, indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome.”

By Emily Hite
Stanford University Medical Center

Photo by slgckgc

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* Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions – Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

**  The above story is adapted from materials provided by Stanford University School of Medicine

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