“I spend my days running around looking after the kids. At night I’m so tired, I don’t even sit down to a proper meal. I really need to lose some weight — can you help?”
This is a very common complaint. For many mums who spend their days looking after the family, it’s usually the unconscious eating that creates the problem.
Do you pick at food when preparing and clearing up meals for the family?
For example:
½ piece toast with peanut butter
¼ cup orange juice
5 chips
½ mini chicken drumstick
2 small jelly lollies
1 small (4cm) piece banana cake
1 small piece cheese
1 small piece roast pumpkin
1 small roast potato
1 tablespoon ice cream
= 1900kj
It’s so easy to unconsciously pick from plates but each time you do, the kilojoules add up, as the above list shows.
That spare piece of toast, the dregs of orange juice at breakfast, a corner of banana cake mid-morning, a few chips, the remaining chicken drumstick at lunch, a couple of lollies, a small piece of cheese, a couple of jelly lollies and on and on it goes until after dinner, when you’re clearing the plates.
It’s time to stack the dishwasher so it’s just as easy to pop the leftover roast potato and pumpkin into your mouth rather than throw it in the bin and lick the ice cream spoon rather than rinse it.
At the end of the day you’ve added 1900kj to your daily energy intake but “haven’t eaten a thing”!
Over a week this amounts to an unnecessary 13,300kj.
What people don’t realise either is the quick “no meal” cheese on toast with a well-deserved glass of wine, cup of tea and a biscuit is higher in energy and kilojoules than sitting down to a proper meal. You can whip it up in minutes but you’re also whipping up over 2000kj and next to no fibre.
A grilled steak with steamed broccoli, carrot and an apple will give you seven times more fibre and numerous nutrients for 900kj less.
One kilogram represents approximately 32,000kj of energy from food. If you are managing to maintain a steady weight but want to lose some, to lose a healthy average of 500g a week you have to create a deficit of 16000kj worth of food in the week.
Type of eating in kilojoules
Unconscious eating: 13,300
Quick evening meals: 6300
Total: 19,600
Over the week, you’ve added an extra 19,600kj — 3600kj more than you needed to lose weight. The bottom line is stop picking and make time to sit down to a good meal at the end of the day.
Diet advice for the day
If the garbage bin is stowed away under the sink, take it out ready to receive any leftovers immediately after the dinner plates are cleared. It will reduce the temptation to eat them off the plate.
For further information about food and nutrition, visit Judy Davie’s website at www.thefoodcoach.com.au
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