How many times a day, on average, do you think you make decisions about eating food and drinking beverages?  Years ago, a Cornell University researcher asked that question to 139 people. They estimated 15 times a day. But the researcher concluded that it was more like 226! I’m not sure how he figured that, but if we have 60,000 thoughts every day, surely a mere 226 could be decisions to eat or drink, or not.  The important question is how do you make those decisions?  Are they semi-conscious? Do you  find yourself stuffing food in your mouth and wondering how it gets there?  Do you habitually grab the barrel of pretzels and down a bunch of them while watching TV at night, not really thinking about what you’re doing, and barely tasting the food? Or do you first notice that you’re hungry and then think about what you really want to eat before going to get some food?  Awareness is the first step to changing your relationship with food and eating, and losing weight. Mindless eating is the opposite of that. Learning how to eat mindfully takes practice and time. But there are ways to make it easier. What if you simply changed certain environmental factors surrounding your eating so that you essentially were required to be more aware of your choices?  Tune in to learn six ways to  disconnect you from your unproductive eating habits so you can pause and make  intelligent decisions about what and how much to eat that will move you in the direction of your weight goals.