Habitual Eating
Eating out of habit is something you may do without even realizing. It’s easy to develop the habit of eating while watching TV. After a pattern repeats often, that pattern becomes fixed in the brain. To break it, you must interrupt it or notice it to break it.
Researchers conducted a study of movie goers and popcorn eaters. Initially, popcorn was given to participants entering a movie theater. The popcorn handed out was either freshly popped or stale. Researchers also ran one more separate experiment giving participants stale or fresh popcorn before they went into a movie theater but this time they were asked to eat with their dominant or non-dominant hand.
The researchers found that people who ate with their non-dominant hand ate much less of the stale popcorn. This simple change resulted in a pattern interrupt — temporarily breaking their eating habit.
