Brian Wansink looks at eating problems from a different angle in his book “Mindless Eating: why we eat more than we think.” He looks at the effects of subliminal messages contained in the media, packaging and advertising, and how these factors affect what and how we eat.

The author has a Ph.D. from Stanford University and is the director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, so he is well-qualified to inform us of the effects of a variety of things regarding our decisions on our eating habits. Because food is visual, it is enticing us to eat, and this leaves us open to these kinds of influences.

We are unknowingly influenced in our eating habits by different stimuli around us every day. Things like packaging that influences the quantities we eat; movies which make us eat the popcorn faster; “hidden persuaders” that are put in the food at restaurants and supermarkets that make us eat more. “Mindless Eating” shows the way to use these subliminal messages to lose weight instead of gaining it.

Brian Wansink uses actual case studies to demonstrate his views; studies that have shown people who over-eat because of how they perceive the food – that it is expensive, never ending or healthy. There are also different environmental factors that influence our eating habits, but the author points out that we are still responsible for the food choices we make and the behaviours we employ around food. He teaches how we can use these influences and make better food choices.

Once he has shown what the influences are and how they affect our eating habits, he then sets out how we can change our thinking and make the environment work in our favor. He presents this section of the book with an entertaining humor, but manages to convey the important message that helps people understand more about their eating and food choice habits.

Habit is a key word in this wonderfully instructive book. It shows how many of the poor food choices we make are done so out of habit. Habits like – you go to the movies and so you buy popcorn; you watch the game on TV and so you eat chips or hotdogs; you order a coffee and automatically have a donut too. Once you are aware of these automatic habits, it is easy to change them and create a healthier habit.

Eating really has very little to do with the level of hunger. Our eating patterns are influenced by outside forces that we can bring under our control, once we are made aware of them. That is what “Mindless Eating: why we eat more than we think” does; it makes us aware.

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