Mindless Eating Book Review
Who is the author? Why should we trust them?
Brian Wansink is a famous writer of multiple books, and most of his books are very popular among the keen book readers especially among the health conscious people as Marketing nutrition and Mindless eating. He has also written other books like Asking Questions and Consumer Panel.
Evidence about the capability of the writer is that he was appointed in 2007 as Executive Director of USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and he remained on this post for two long years. Wansink he worked hard to increase the Dietary Guideline, and due to his efforts, a dietary guideline was increased up to 44%. In the admiration of the efforts done by Wansink for the betterment of Dietary Guideline, he was named Person of the Week by ABC News.
Being a nutritional scientist Brian Wansink has spent his career to figuring out the hidden cues that determine our eating habits. To prevent overeating, Wansink introduced smaller 100 calories package. Furthermore, the resulted produced by Wansink's research are still reported, translated, presented and used in advance research. More interestingly, there are some television documentaries available on the YouTube that is equally popular among the viewer from all over the world.
One of the most noticeable things about the writer is that he has he was awarded for his academic research because his academic research found as effective as many readers impressed by his writing and changed their eating behavior. In the admiration of his quality research, his writing materials were published in world's best nutrition, marketing, obesity, and marketing journals. Author's observation and research on eating behavior and psychological aspects behind the ways to change eating behavior have been presented in his work. The author had conducted research at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.
He has been the lead author of more than 100 academic articles and books regarding eating behavior. The book is based on the award-winning research. Brian Wanskin's research on changing eating behavior was published in world's top nutrition, medical, marketing and obesity journals. Moreover, findings have been translated, reported, presented and featured in the documentary. All the finding presented in the book is based on a series of research Brain had conducted in labs, homes, restaurants, Movie Theater, malls and diners. By the aforementioned evidence, it can be stated that Brian Wansink is an authentic writer with strong writing and research background.
What are the main points? How are they presented (i.e.: research, direct quotes, etc.)?
In the book Eating Mindless, the author Brian Wansink has described the eating habits of people in very different and interesting manners. In the book, he has explained that mindlessly we consume more food than our dietary requirements that create complications for our health. This book is very helpful for us to understand the psychology behind our food consumption habits. The author has explained a range of diverse factors that affect out eating habits. The book shows that psychological factors influence our food quantity and calories and in the result of it, our weight increases that bring many diseases to our body.
Similarly, the author has explained that environmental cues, portion size, high taste expectation, attractive marketing advertisements and other factors influence our dietary habits mindlessly and we consume more food than our nutritional requirements. In presences of these factors unknowingly we consume more calories which cause obesity. Moreover, he has also explained that the size of the pan, the color of the room and company affect our food.
Through this book, the writer has emphasized on the fact to change the bad dietary habits by understanding the relations between the mind and health. He stated that "a healthy body makes a healthy mind," subsequently, Wansink's explains through his research that how we could utilize our mind to develop a healthy body.
Wansink has said that the normal think we used to reduce our weight is dieting as we stop eating or reduce our diet. This is very difficult and less effective because due with deprivation diet the rate of our metabolism also decreases thus there are more possibilities to regain weight quickly. Further, he stated that "Our bodies and brains fight against mindful deprivation" thus the writer discourages the concept of deprivation dieting.
In response to it, the writer has given a solution to reduce the weight, and he said that "There's only one thing that's strong enough to defeat the tyranny of the moment. Habit." Through these words he means to say that we are unhealthy because of our bad habits; therefore, to control out diet, we need to change our eating habits.
I agree with the fact that is described by the writer that we eat more mindlessly as he stated that we eat more not because of our hunger but because of the options available. He further explains his idea by saying that "big dishes and bid spoons are big trouble" as he believes that when we eat in a small dish, we feel that we take more food. But now the trend has changed as people use huge dishes. Therefore, they do not feel that they are eating more than their requirements.
Wansink has stated that "when we see more food, we tend to eat more." In this way, he tries to explain that if we continuously see food, unwillingly we tend to try it as we are conscious about the taste of something new and subsequently when we see something tasty, even we are not hungry, but we feel mouthwatering that lead to eating more food than the requirement.
Likewise, Wansink has stated that the attractive promotions of the food products on the television or the posters also appeals our hunger and invoke us to taste the delicious looking food. Therefore, he stated that there is need to change the habit by realizing that "All glitters are not gold." Following this, he said that another reason of mindless overeating is that most of us found it hard to track their day to day calories. Therefore, he said that a person who is well aware of the calories and effects of food, do not eat mindlessly.
The write has stated that it is hard for us to reduce our calories with taking less diet, therefore; he suggested that change comes slowly. He said that the best way to reduce the calories is to reduce 100 calories from the diet because this is a small portion to reduce and through this way, there will be no burden on the metabolism.
Furthermore, the writer Wansink has supported his advice of reducing calories as he said that "Consuming ~10 fewer calories per day amounts to 1 pound of weight loss over a year". Following this way, he said that when a person will 100-200 fewer calories than mindlessly he will reduce 10-20 pounds per year. The statistical figures discussed by the writer are really interesting and at the same time, it is an easy way to reduce weight.
The writer has made this book as interesting for the readers as he made them think about their diet habits. Interestingly, when I read about the "Mindless eating habits" I just surprise to realize that whatever he is saying is based on the reality and the more interesting thing is that we never consider these little factors. What I strongly agree with the fact that our health is directly connected with our mind and so changing eating habits is the best way to control our health.
The overall, discussion in the book revolves around the subject of extra calories that we all intake unknowingly. Moreover, through this book the writer succeed to motivate us to think about our eating behavior and transform them in a positive way by adopting healthy eating habits.
What is the author's overall thesis? What are they trying to accomplish with the book?
The main purpose of the author behind writing this thesis was to make people aware of the effect of the food they consume. Being a food psychologist, the author knows about the bad eating habits of people and its bad impact on their health. What the author wants from this book is to make people realize about their mindless food consumption and encourage them to develop good eating habits.
According to the research at the lab, it was discovered that how small changes in our food consumption on the consistent basis can lead us to weight gain. People normally underestimate their daily food decisions unknowingly. Therefore they consume 200 to 300 extra calories per day, which eventually caused weight gain.
The author has presented a different concept to help people in weight loss. Although small changes in our routine diet on continuous basis leads us to weight loss without any frustration. Normally when people go on a diet to lose weight, they felt starving after a specific time. Sometimes even if people manage to lose weight with a diet plan, they witness to regain their weight. The reason behind this issue is that people cut off a lot of calories from their routine diet, which also causes slowing down their metabolic rate. When they start consuming normal calories, they will gain weight because of their slow metabolic rate. This weight regains caused frustration among people. Having knowledge about food psychology Brain gives us the solution to coping up with this weight issues.
Wansink has told us that how easy it is to trick our mind to lose weight. He told us that if we cut 100 calories from our daily food consumption, we can lose 1 pound per month. The interesting fact about this technique is that by cutting off 100 calories, we won't feel starving. Because the change is so minor that our mind can not be recognized that we eat less. In this way, we can get rid of our excess weight without dieting or any exercise and that to unknowingly. Being associated with food psychology, Brian wants all the people to develop healthy food habits so that they can enjoy a good life.
Overall, I appreciated that efforts made by the writer to provide very important information through this book. The writer has presented material in good manners as the writer has supported his arguments with strong evidence and makes the book understandable to every reader.
One interesting thing about the book is that it is written in an understandable manner. Therefore, readers do not feel hesitation to understand the idea that is given by the writer. It is precisely right to say that the book fulfills all the requirements of effective communication with the evidence that some readers have changed their eating behavior after reading this book.
What does the author do well? Is there anything missing from the argument?
The author did well in creating awareness about the mindless eating and its negative effects on our health. He wanted to set a new healthier food consumption habits on the people. People were having serious health issues all around the world. Obesity was one of the major reasons behind all the health issues. People weren't able to enjoy their life to their fullest because of their excess weight. Brian wants people to have happier and healthier life. People were unaware of their bad food habits, and they were consuming more food than their needs.
More food means more calories and eventually weight gain. People were doing this without even realizing. Through this book Brian makes people realize what they are doing to themselves unknowingly. He not only speeded awareness regarding the consumption of excessive calories but also provide them a solution to cope up with the issue. The author introduced an efficient way to maintain good health through good food habits.
The author had achieved his goals as a lot of people get benefitted from his suggested technique. National Action against Obesity also cited this book as being a hero in America's fight against obesity in 2006. After reading this book, people become conscious of their daily food decision. Moreover by adopting his plan of weight loss number of people lose their weight without getting frustrated and feeling starve. By losing weight without any extra effort, people started enjoying good health and happy life.
The author warns us to be cautious about the health halo. Brian makes us realize that if the food is tasty doesn't mean that eat unlimited amount either add a lot of extras to our meal. The author suggested small and moderate changes in a daily food routine to weight loss. Brain said that weight loss shouldn't be agonizing.
Making use of the tips and suggestions presented in the book is very helpful in making the diet easier. This book is not for those people who wanted to lose weight rapidly because it is about making small changes in daily food consumption on the continuous basis to lose weight. This book has created awareness among the people regarding their diet habits. People realized the importance of daily food decision which we unknowingly make.
If asked, would you recommend this book to others? Why or why not?
I will recommend this book to my friends and relatives because I believe that it is a revolutionary book that has the power to change the eating behavior of the readers. The most concerning thing about this book is that the writer has not just talked about the facts, but he has also supported his arguments with strong evidence.
Another reason to recommend this book to others is that this book is about the subject that is important for every human being because health is the more important thing for all and a healthy person can enjoy his life at best.
Secondly, this is not merely an interesting book, but after thoroughly reading this book analyzing the career of the writer and his life achievement, I can strong say that this is an authentic book that is based on the facts. Following this, I would recommend this book because it helps us to realize that what we are doing with our health by mindless overeating that creates health complications for us. More importantly, I believe that this book has enough power to make our mind and to change our habits to eat healthily and to live healthily.
In the end, I would appreciate the writer Brian Wansink on his incredible efforts to awake us about the most important factor of everyone's life and motivate us in a very positive way to think about our health. Likewise, the ways that are described by the writer to control over eating and to reduce our calories are very easy, and everyone can practice them without any hesitation.