WE BARELY NOTICE THEM BUT YES!! THEY ARE BAD EATING HABITS.

Eating is very vital for the survival of our bodies but many things we do as we eat or how we eat often turn into habits and affect the quality and quantity of nutrients that we obtain from the food we eat. Here’s some of those habits;-

•       Drinking liquids as you eat- Drinking liquids like water or juice while you are eating enlarges the size or capacity of your stomach, consequently you eat a lot and this slows the normal digestion process. The liquids taken in may also dilute the stomach acid responsible for the digestion process reducing its efficiency to break down food.

Liquids should be drunk at least 10 to 20 minutes before or after having a meal.

•       Talking while eating- While you talk and eat, air is swallowed up with the food which would also affect sufficient digestion of foods, may end up causing body discomfort and your body absorbing smaller amounts of nutrients than it needs from the food being eaten.

Eating should not be interrupted by other activities and so, eat the food first then you can go ahead and talk.

•         Mixing food and entertainment- This encourages you to eat mindlessly and you most probably won’t notice that you are eating much more than required by your body.

You should make eating a separate activity, giving it maximum concentration.

•       Eating on the run- Are you the type that’s always in a hurry, so you just grab a snack from the food shop and eat in your car? These convenience foods (foods that are bought already prepared like cookies, cakes, crisps) usually have a high amount of calories in them which decreases the quality of good health.

Plan and make time especially to prepare and eat healthy meals.

•         Skipping breakfast- Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, skipping it makes you hungry throughout the day, you will then tend to eat more snacks between the other meals (lunch and supper) consumed. These snacks are normally high calorie and high fat foods that are detrimental to health when consumed regularly.

Ensure to have a heavy and healthy breakfast everyday including vegetables and fruits to get you through the day.

•       Eating food quickly- This habit may damage or injure parts of the digestive system due to the heat and friction involved, disrupting the efficiency with which the food is broken down.

Plan your time giving your meal moments enough time to eat comfortably.

•        Eating without an appropriate idea- Just eating any food when you are hungry without assessing what you are eating could be equivalent to poisoning yourself.

Take time to think about what you are about to eat and don’t forget to check the nutritional facts on the packaging of the food products to know the quality of the food you are eating.

•       Eating more in a bad mood- When people are in bad moods, they tend to use food as a stress reliever, not minding the amounts of food taken in, they therefore eat much more than required by their bodies.

Find alternative means of ridding your stress like watch a movie, talk to someone or even sleep.

• Eating before going to bed- This decreases the quality and length of sleep especially spicy foods, fatty foods and taking caffeine.

Have meals at the right time giving an appreciable time space between eating and sleep say about an hour.

Working towards halting these habits will be worth the effort, the level of your body health will improve because you will be able to extract the right quality from the food and control the quantity of nutrients you take in, in accordance with what your body needs.