What do you eat when you’re all by yourself? I just wrote a story for Forbes.com about how women choose less-than-healthy food–think a bowl of Fruit Loops, or a cup of Ramen noodles smothered in ketchup–when they’re dining solo. After all, no one’s there to judge, right?
Except, as the brilliant Brian Wansink points out, eating alone is a big reason people put on weight. Not only are you more likely to opt for junk, Wansink, who’s the director of Cornell University Food and Brand Lab and author of Mindless Eating, says, “When people are alone, they may be more prone to have an “eating bout,” which is a single episode where you eat three times more than you normally would. It’s not so much a dysfunction as something that almost everyone has done at one time or another. You’re not paying attention, or there’s no one else to give you social cues to stop eating, and you end up overdoing it.”
So how do you stay on the straight and narrow when you’re dining solo? The experts I spoke with advised choosing your food with care. Instead of slapping together a bunch of random items and calling it dinner, why not make yourself a proper meal? If you’re really, really in the mood for Fruit Loops, go for it–just make sure you’ve only served yourself a single portion before you dig in.
-Camille
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I am a huge closet ice cream person (no longer! OUT of the closet now…) But a friend recently shared that she actually–and intentionally–eats HEALTHIER when she’s eating alone. During solo meals, she goes vegan (it usually works out to breakfast and most lunches, she said). It’s a great way to maintain a semi-vegan lifestyle, and not be restricted while dining out.