I’m certain that one of the reasons that people get and stay obese is that we tend to have only limited awareness of what we are eating. Given that the rest of the world encourages diminishing attention spans in general, it’s not surprising that we shove food in, chew, taste briefly and then start reading, chatting, viewing, surfing or whatever. Next thing you know, it’s time for a big dessert.
Well that’s what I realised in my own case. If I find myself eating something and not being aware of enjoying it, I may just choose to either stop doing anything else and pay it attention or discreetly spit it out.
Today’s invention is just one possible way for food to get, and hold, our attention so that we stop unconscious gorging. By being surprised by food with both high calorie and information content, we can eat more healthily.
Imagine a number of delicious chocolate ‘centres’ chosen from a range of different flavours. On a confectionery production line, these high-taste centres would be squirted out next to each other as usual, but in random order. The whole thing could then be enrobed as usual in chocolate.
This would create a bar in which the next taste encountered would be very hard to predict. Each mouthful would be a surprise and so the task of eating it would demand your attention.
You don’t like coffee or hazelnut praline paste? This acts as an extra interruption to the grazing. Spit that section out (somewhere appropriate) and you will realise that the ones you’ve eaten already were actually so tasty, you can save the rest for later. This approach makes eating the satisfying, interesting experience it’s supposed to be.
