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It Is OK To Dine Out If You Are Mindful! The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that more than 1.4 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight. Overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths. Every year, at least 2.8 million adults die because of overweight or obese. Moreover, overweight and obesity are responsible for 44 percent of the diabetes burden, 23 percent of the ischemic heart disease burden and between 7 and 14 percent of certain cancer burdens. Because of evolution in technology and changes in the economic situations, people adjust their lifestyles, too. They exercise less and tend not to perform as much physical activity as they do in the past. Instead, they spend most of their time sitting in front of television and computer. In most of the families, both husband and wife are working for longer hours. Hence, many of the working people prefer dining out. People, who dine out frequently, can have excess calorie intake that would cause weight gain as most of the food available are in large energy-rich portions. That is why health experts have been urging people to cut down the number of times dining out in order to avoid excessive food intake. But interestingly, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin suggested in the January 2012’s issue of the ‘Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior’ that people do not have to stop eating out to lose weight, even if they dine out frequently, as long as they are aware what they eat.
35 healthy women, who aged between 40 and 59, and frequently ate out, took part in the study. Reason why only women was recruited was that women have a tendency to gain weight around the time of the menopause, especially the waist that puts them in higher risk of getting cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The participants were divided into 2 groups of equal number: one was the intervention group while the other was the control group. Women in the intervention group participated in a 6-week Mindful Restaurant Eating program, which was designed to prevent weight gain by helping them learn how to lower their calorie and fat intake while eating out. On the other hand, women in the control group did not have any program but were still monitored in the same way. It was found that women in the intervention group lost significantly more weight. On average, each participant lost 1.7 kilos during 6 weeks. These participants also consumed fewer calories and less fat every day, scored higher on ‘diet-related self-efficacy’ and had fewer barriers to weight management while eating out than those in the control group. ‘Diet-related self-efficacy’ means the extent to which participants believed they could achieve what they wanted with their diet control. The findings also showed that the number of times that participants ate out did not significantly reduce from the start to the end of the intervention period. This indicated that the participants were able to successfully manage their weight while eating out frequently. Participants in the intervention group also reduced their daily energy intake by 297 calories after the end of the program. This explained why they lost weight. However, only some (about 124 calories) of the reduction in daily calorie intake could have come from eating less while eating out, suggesting that they also ate fewer calories at home. Results of the study implied that people could learn to manage their eating behavior and regulate their food intake even in a ‘high risk’ environment like a restaurant if they possessed right skills. Despite small sample size, the study was successful in promoting weight management. It highlighted the importance of developing creative solutions to preventing weight gain by learning skills to manage calorie intake in the high-risk restaurant environment. Researchers, however, suggested that further research is required with a larger sample and a longer follow-up period.
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