Bad snacking/eating habits

[Inez]

OK, I was just about to post some suggestions in the thread on assimilating the family into low carb meals -- I'm getting pretty good at cooking low carb meals the whole family really likes -- when my younger child, who's snacking in front of the TV, reaches for the remote and knocks over her glass of milk, spilling it all over the hardwood floor, the stereo speakers, the dvd player and the panelling on the breakfast bar. So now that I'm done cleaning all that up, I'm going to rant about bad snacking habits like eating in front of the TV. Our house is one of the kind with the kitchen and family room all in one, which I really dislike because it seems to encourage eating in front of the TV. I like older houses where the kitchen and eating areas are separate from the living room and/or family room. We have sit down meals every night with the TV off, and I really dislike eating while you're doing something else like watching TV or reading or using the computer, but it just seems to be such a standard modern behavior to be eating or drinking constantly whatever you're doing. My teenager tells me that most of her teachers let the kids eat at will in their classrooms -- such a thing never happened decades ago when I was in school! I absolutely refuse to let the kids eat in my car and they think I'm really mean about that, but I don't like the mess and I can't understand why they can't wait twenty minutes till we get home to eat. Anyway, I feel like I'm fighting an uphill battle on this one because most of modern American culture seems to enable this constant snacking. My kids really aren't as bad as some I've seen who never have sitdown family meals, and I know it's something that gives them pleasure, so I'm not real strict about it, but sometimes it really gets on my nerves.

[meewolfie]

Inez - I agree with you and have to roll my eyes when my co-worker tells me that his family has something like seven TVs in a house where he lives with his family of four.

At the most basic level, its a conditioning issue (ask me how I know!). Eating is a primary reinforcer and watching TV (or anything else - reading a book, driving in a car) becomes intimately associated with that reinforcer - and then becomes a cue for expecting the reinforcement.

The two behaviors become contingent on each other such that mindless eating occurs when the other behavior is "cued". I turn on the TV, I need a snack. I get in my car, I need a snack. Instead of eating being reserved as a behavior to be enjoyed as an act unto itself, it becomes a habit that is quite easily incorporated and masked by all of these other activities. And thus, hundreds, if not thousands, of additional calories are added to the individuals daily totals.

Mary

[111john111]

There's no doubt on it. Bad snacking is creating many social problems as well.

[laughingW]

I would do the same as you, Inez, if I still had kids at home.

This is such a rant of mine also - that culturally, we both disrespect regular meals, and then fill in with constant eating. As for me and mine, we make time for regular good meals. None of that skipping or eating on the run. And then we don't eat between meals. I rant while we do this, how much more freeing it is to be constantly well fed and never about to crash and thus driven to the nearest convenience store.

Funny, I was just reading my Mother's Day gift from my grown-up DD, Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Refreshingly Updated.

She makes a good point about how we can teach others and uphold better ways in our own households. She uses the example of younger, ignorant people visiting Grandma, who (in this fiction :) ) does everything perfectly. Grandma educates just by saying, this is how we do things in our house.

[maxlharris]

Hrm. OP hasn't been on since June of last year. First respondent since September of 2007. Always amusing when a multi year dead thread comes back to life. It's like a vampire.

[TWS]

It's like a vampire.

Except with a vampire you know how to kill it.

TWS