This column was originally published in the May issue of the Cumberland Times-News Health Journal. It was prepared  as part of Allegany College of Maryland’s (ACM) Integrative Health Core Curriculum Project (IHCCP).  A collaborative initiative between ACM faculty and health professionals from five Community Partner agencies (Western Maryland Health System, Archway, Allegany County Health Department, Family Crisis Resource Center, and HRDC Aging Services), the Project’s goal is to introduce evidenced-based mind/body medicine approaches into academic education and community health/mental health practice. This article is the second in a series on mindful eating.

HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND???

Oh, how many times have I been asked that question! And, quite honestly, it’s one I pose to myself rather regularly.

But now, after taking Brian Wansink’s Mindless Quiz (www.MindlessEating.com.), I finally have an answer….and there is good news and bad.

The good news is that despite last month’s disclosure of high crimes and misdemeanors committed on or about Easter Sunday 2010, I am not a “Majorly Mindless” bite size bunny eater.   In other words, I am not yet certifiable.

The bad news is I am (drum roll) a “Mostly Mindless” bite size bunny eater.  (To which my youngest responded when I shared this bit o’ bad news: “It may be bad, Mom, but believe me, it is NOT news”.)

You see “mindfulness” – the art of being completely in touch with and aware of the present moment – is about as far from a synonym for Snyder as you can get. Anyone who knows me – or my kids - can attest to that.

A few examples come to mind, if you will pardon the play on words…

I once drove to Pittsburgh to catch a flight to Savannah, Georgia…but neglected to notice a minor detail….like my plane was scheduled to take off from BWI. Duh.

Then there was the time I flew to Boston right after 9/11. Although I forgot my wallet with ID and credit cards, by golly, I wasn’t going to be caught dead without those handy dandy little coupon scissors tucked away in my bag! Now that was an interesting flight…a woman with no ID, no money, and a concealed weapon on her way to Boston for a spirituality conference.

And then there was the time I brought home the AYSO concession stand cash after a busy night at the soccer field. After plopping the brown bag down on the stove, I proceeded to turn on a burner to heat up water for tea. Five minutes later instead of a hot kettle of water, I found a burning bag of buckos.  Seems that I had hit the wrong burner knob.

Never one to learn from my mistakes, I repeated this act of mindlessness last summer – this time when I set the plastic guinea pig cage on the stove and turned on the burner rather than the oven. Only the sickening smell of melting plastic managed to prevent our precious piggies from becoming tasty morsels A La Peru.

Conclusions: 1) the Mostly Mindless category from The Mindless Quiz seems to have the ring of truth, and 2) I need help.

But what does that have to do with eating and health and nutrition, you might ask? Well, quite a lot if you read food psychologist’s Brian Wansink’s book Mindless Eating (Bantam Books, 2006).

Director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, Dr. Wansink is on a Mindless Eating Mission. His research reveals just howl blissfully unaware we are of what influences how much we eat. Which is exactly why mindless eating is so dangerous to our health – and why 95 of all people on a diet who lose weight gain it back.

Dr. Wansink reports that the average person makes 200 food decisions a day – but puts real thought into only 10% of them. So what influences our choices? Well, it’s not hunger! Much of the time it is environmental cues or how we perceive a situation. Take the study his Lab did with moviegoers who were given free popcorn in return for participating in a study.

Each person was given either a medium size bucket of popcorn or a large, bigger- than –your-head size bucket. But unknown to these folks, the popcorn used in this study was five day old stale popcorn. Despite the fact that the participants were munching on food with the taste of Styrofoam packing pellets, most persisted in consuming the freebies.

Guess who ate the most? The ones with the big buckets. They ate an average of 173 more calories of popcorn – and we know for a fact, taste was not a factor in this decision. When asked if they thought that the larger container influenced how much they ate, most disagreed insisting that couldn’t happen to them!

As Dr. Wansink says quite succinctly –“Give them a lot and they eat a lot.” Even five day old stale popcorn.

But that was just one of many fascinating – and often humorous studies – I found in the book, each demonstrating the impact of environmental cues on our eating and on our weight.

However, what really grabbed my attention (not easy to do when you are a member of the Mostly Mindless category) were the tips on how we can “mindlessly lose”- instead of gain- up to 20 pounds in 1 year.  Here’s a few I like.

Think 20% - More or Less .Dr. Wansink’s research found that most people can eat 20% less and not notice the difference – but they will notice 30%. So next time you load your plate, dish out 20% less and see what happens. (If you feel the need to feed, try increasing the veggies by 20%)

See it Before You Eat it – The Cornell Lab found that when people preplate all their food for a meal, they eat about 14% less than first taking smaller amounts and returning for seconds.

See it While You Eat it – Whether you are eating wings, gnawing on ribs, or drinking beer, keep the bones and bottles before you. You will eat less when you see what you have already eaten. Maybe up to 28% less according to one study which compared college students eating wings at a table that was bussed regularly vs. students whose pile of chicken bones remained on the table throughout the meal.

So I suggest you check out the cool ideas –and fascinating studies- from Dr. Wansink’s website and his book. Maybe even live dangerously and take the Mindless Test!  With Dr. Wansink’s guidance, I honestly think there’s hope for the mindless…..even the Majorly or Mostly Mindless.

To paraphrase JRR Tolkien, “All who wander (mindlessly) are not lost.” Maybe we just need an updated map. Join me over the next months in charting some new territory!

Cherie Snyder is a professor at Allegany College of Maryland and directs the Human Services and Integrative Health programs. She also serves on the faculty of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, DC. She can be reached at 301 784 5556 or 5557.

.