Savour The Moment

One question: when did you last take a proper lunch break? Or eat dinner without checking your phone? WH reveals how to stop on-the-go eating habits from super-sizing your waistline and damaging your health.

- Amy Molloy

Is your dinner table more of a laptop desk, the perfect place to spread the weekend papers or even an occasional overflow for your wardrobe? Stop to think about when you last sat down for mealtime. If you have your yoghurt on the way to work, scoffa sandwich over the keyboard or inhale a bowl of pasta on the couch while watching series, then you need to keep reading.

According to a survey of British eating habits, sixty percent of meals are consumed while watching TV. That’s if we allow ourselves to sit down long enough to watch an entire programme – the average person shovels down all three meals in a total of 23 minutes, according to the Conscious Food group, when we should be spending 20 minutes per meal for good digestion. That’s some serious fast food!

WATCHING THE CLOCK

The consequences are dire, says dietician Jennifer Nelson. Racing to prepare, cook and eat a meal puts unnecessary strain on our bodies. “The side effects of speed eating include bloating and gastrointestinal problems, such as nausea and diarrhoea, and you’re more likely to consume unwanted kilojoules and gain weight in the long term.”