How many times during the day do you eat food that you don’t really want?

How often do you eat without really noticing what you’re eating?

How often do you eat something that you don’t really like just because it’s there and because you feel it wants finishing off?

Research has suggested that many people squander as much as two-thirds of their daily calories. If they just cut out this mindless habit based eating it could be a complete solution to surplus weight problems.

Try the rule that you:

SHOULD NEVER EAT A SINGLE CALORIE UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT AND NEED IT.

It should help you to stick to your diet because when you cut out the calories you don’t want, you don’t always have to resist those you really yearn for.

Answer the following questions truthfully!

Do you have an extra slice of toast just so that you can finish off that last teaspoonful of marmalade - after all you don’t want to put that sticky jar back in the cupboard, do you?

Do you eat in front of the television or whilst reading a book unaware of what you’re really eating?

Those of you with young babies, is it one spoonful for baby and one for mum, or finishing the last couple of spoonfuls yourself rather than throw it away? When you cut off the crusts for baby do you end up eating them yourself?

When you go out for a meal at a nice restaurant or pub do you ask for skimmed milk with your coffee or do you just stir in the cream that they’ve served? Asking for milk could save you 50 calories per cup!

Do you carry on eating the food at a restaurant even though you’re full because you know you’ll have to pay for it anyway?

Do you serve a larger portion of cereals for breakfast just because you’ve nearly reached the end of the packet and it’s not worth putting the almost empty packet back on the shelf?

Do you put spread on your toast before you grill the cheese on top? All you’re doing is eating extra calories - try it without the spread, we bet you won’t notice any difference in the taste.

Do you take the time to skim the fat off casseroles and stews and drain the fat from mince?

When trying out a new recipe do you carry on finishing it off because it never occurs to you to stop even though it tastes pretty awful?

When gathering up those little bits of pastry left over from trimming the family pie do you make them into a little jam tart because you hae wasting the raw pastry, then eat it yourself - probably about 200 calories!

What about when you have a cold, do you drink those glucose drinks? All you’ll be doing is drinking calories (which is what they contain) and they won’t do anything to cure your cold.

Do you finish off all that extra big supper you served yourself, just because you were feeling really hungry whilst you were cooking it? Don’t allow that peak hunger time compulsion to commit you to eating all you have cooked.

The list is endless. We’re quite sure you must know many more ways of eating calories without thinking about it.

So try to remember what you are eating and whether you’re eating it because you really need to or whether it’s just a habit.

Be aware of what you are eating and don’t become a calorie squanderer.