I can’t help but snack and nibble whenever I work from my makeshift kitchen table office or when I’m relaxing on the couch.  It takes a lot of self control for me NOT to keep grabbing some nuts, fruit, or anything else I can snack on.  It would be so much easier if the kitchen was far away, or at least out of sight.  Then it dawned on me.  

Is Open Plan Living Making Us Fat ? 

Having an “open concept” kitchen and family room is all the rage in home design.  It’s great for entertaining and family gatherings, and can make the space feel large and grand.  But when you think of it, is having all this easy access to food promoting us to eat just because? 

If we are always congregating in the kitchen, eating quickly at the breakfast bar, leaving food out on the counters… are we setting ourselves up for over eating ?  Are we eating because the food is there, or are we eating because our bodies are actually hungry?

I keep hearing more and more talk about “mindful eating” and”healthy eating behaviours”.  I consider mindless eating to be when we eat out of habit, or we eat more than we need to because we simply aren’t listening to our bodies.  We are eating food because it is in front of us and we aren’t thinking about food as fuel per se.  

We tend to eat out of habit quite: we eat during our work breaks, eating while watching tv, while attending sporting events, going to the movies, studying, surfing the internet, etc, but are we actually hungry?  With busy work days, many people are eating at their desks rather than differentiating their work space from their eating space.  All this does is save time, but is it actually a good thing?  Clearly no, on so many levels!  If we can’t leave our workstations for more than 10-15 minutes in order to re-fuel ourselves, this is just plain sad!  But if we sit at our desks and eat our snacks and our lunches, we are most definitely part taking in mindless eating, not paying attention to when our bodies are full, and not taking the time to enjoy the satiating satisfaction that food brings us. 

I’ve realised that family dinner time around the dining room table with no distractions is now a thing of the past.  

At my place, we have a lovely kitchen table, but we always eat at the coffee table from the comfort of our couch with the television.  Not only do we eat like zombies, but we don’t interact, and I personally always eat past the point of fullness.  I often catch myself eating BECAUSE I’m watching tv, not because I’m hungry.  How silly does that sound!? I feel like a fool even writing this!

If we had to trek up 2 flights of stairs and miss 5-10minutes of our favourite show, would we still reach for those snacks ? 

If the kitchen wasn’t visible from the couch, would we still reach for snacks ? 

Would we still go for seconds if the kitchen wasn’t right there ? 

Is an open concept kitchen making us fat ? 

Better posture.  Better Life.