How often do you think about food?

missysippy930

The news today had a story about this. They said the average person thinks about food 4 times per day.
I’m embarrassed to say I think about food incessantly, way more than 4 times. This confirms that thinking about it led to overindulging, and how I got to where I am. I know the tips like, do something else. Read, exercise, or anything but eat, but it doesn’t always work, and I’m still thinking about what I’m going to eat next. Sigh......

DinaGrimes

I think about it all the time. I'm Italian American, everything revolves around food. I need to learn a different way to think about food! As fuel and not what food pairs with the emotion, event, or whatever else it may be. Time to retrain my brain.

girlwithcurls2

All the time in the beginning. Now, 4+ years later, not so much. Probably more than 4 times a day, but not nearly as much, and not the same thoughts. Also, when I'm feeling like I "have the munchies," I'm much more inclined to either shift gears to distract myself, or just go find some lower calorie snack that I can munch, but won't throw off my goal for the day. It changes over time. It takes time though.

Duck_Puddle

I’m 7 years in and I still think about food all the time. I really like food and enjoy eating tasty things and enjoy dinner parties, holiday meals, eating out with friends, etc. Food will never be just a solid version of solyent green to me.

Rather than focusing my thoughts on what I’m specifically going to eat next, I browse for recipes, meal plan/day plan/week plan, match things up to grocery store flyers for what’s on sale/in season, think about menus for the next gathering, enter recipes and play around with ingredient swaps, etc.

So I guess I’ve turned my food thoughts into planning vs eating.

pinuplove

I don't think there's anything to be embarrassed about. 4 times a day? Seems unlikely to me.

I watch TV shows about food. Plan menus and grocery shop. Look up recipes on the internet. Goof about this place. And that's all in addition to actually, you know, preparing and eating food

lalalacroix

4 times a day sounds really unlikely to me. I think about food constantly regardless of which state of weight loss, gain or maintenance I am in.

cwolfman13

Depends on what "think about food" means. I'm hosting a Superbowl party Sunday so I've been thinking more about food the last couple of days in regards to what I'm going to make and have out for the game. I think about food more on weekends than weekdays because we plan our meals for the week on the weekend and go grocery shopping.

In regards to thinking about food and eating...pretty much when meal time rolls around or it's getting around snack time. I've pretty much always been a 3 squares a day and a couple of afternoon snacks kind of guy. Food has fortunately never been any kind of obsession or crutch for me.

claireychn074

All the time - I am a grazer so need three main meals and three snacks a day. Plus I eat when I’m at the gym. So yes, I think about food a lot more than four times a day.

AnnPT77

I don't see how 4 times a day is even plausible, as an average.

If I eat 3 meals a day, I'm obviously thinking about food at least 3 times. I probably have a snack, or think about what I'm going to have for an upcoming meal(s), or need to put groceries on my list, or need to grocery shop, besides. How can it be only 4 times a day, on average? Even people who have someone else cook for them (mom, restaurant, spouse, whatever), and that entity just shoves a plate in front of them, are thinking about food at every meal.

That population statistic fails a sniff test, as presented. At best, it might be an estimate based on asking people how many times a day people think about food when they're not actually actively planning, preparing or eating it, I think.

swirlybee

I think about food all the time. I'm thinking about food right now. That doesn't mean I want to eat food right now. I think about what I have to cook tonight, what I have to pack for everyone's lunches tomorrow, what I need to put on my grocery list, etc.

TamLam99

All day every day. I dream about crispy delicious bacon 😋

kami3006

It looks like that was a poll of 2000 people, not a study. So people were self-reporting. I can see people saying 4x per day when it's really much, much more.

aokoye

Self reporting does not invalidate data in general. For specific applications sure, but it's not black and white, good or bad.

That said, I can't imagine that the average person only thinks about food 4 times a day. Personally I don't think about food all the time. When I'm hungry, when I realize I need to go grocery shopping, etc yes. All the time? Definitely not.

kami3006

aokoye wrote: »

Self reporting does not invalidate data in general. For specific applications sure, but it's not black and white, good or bad.

That said, I can't imagine that the average person only thinks about food 4 times a day. Personally I don't think about food all the time. When I'm hungry, when I realize I need to go grocery shopping, etc yes. All the time? Definitely not.

I don't disagree with you on that. But, in this case, I think it's way off.

seltzermint555

I eat 3 meals per day and very rarely snack, but I think about food WAY more than 4 times per day. It's not constantly on my mind or anything...but I'm a big planner, so I think about what I will have for the next meal and the next day's meals and so on. If I see an ad for food or someone else mentions a specific food, then I think about whether I like it or not, how long it's been since I ate that food, etc. I cook/bake quite a bit (though my husband is the main cook in our household), so I think about that as a hobby and am always on the lookout for new ideas/recipes. I enjoy going out to restaurants and while I limit that mainly to weekends, it's not unusual at all for me to research new places or discuss favorites with friends and coworkers. I guess I have food on the brain quite a lot.

I do think since losing tons of weight and being on My Fitness Pal, I think about food even MORE than I did in the past. In the past, I didn't give it a ton of thought but often had sudden cravings (usually for a specific restaurant, cuisine, or fast food) and would just give in to the cravings. I didn't think very much about planning my meals because I just cooked/ate whatever sounded tasty and was 90% more likely to order takeout. Now, I think about food in a very different way. Even though I admit I still "entertain" myself with food at times, I think it's less likely that I will use it to soothe or self-medicate during bad times, so that's very positive.

JeromeBarry1

Way more than 4 times a day. Lately, I haven't been 'thinking about' in the sense of 'struggling to wait'.

StargazerB

I think about food all day long. But not in a bad way... I think about it when I'm hungry, when I'm meal planning, when I'm logging, when I'm packing kids' lunches, and I love to watch cooking shows, so I think about it then too.

apullum

I love food. I also do a lot of meal planning. I think about food maybe four times every couple hours.

nutmegoreo

When I'm hungry and when I'm bored. Today, probably twice total. Days when work is slow, or I'm sitting at home with little to do, it's much more often.