You know that feeling when you’ve had what seemed like a perfectly reasonable lunch, yet come dinnertime it’s like you have never seen food before? Or when your dinner was balanced and delicious but then you find yourself scrounging for snacks?
Here’s something that might surprise you: a recent meta-analysis suggests that scrolling through your phone, answering emails, or multitasking during lunch could be setting you up to overeat by up to 22% at dinner!
I know, I know. It sounds a little dramatic. But stick with me—this isn’t about demonizing your work-from-home lunch routine or making you feel guilty about eating while checking Instagram. It’s actually fascinating science that can help explain some pretty common eating patterns.
Oh, and as always, if you’re in a hurry you can always scroll to the What to Do With This Information section at the end!
What the Research Actually Found
The meta-analysis looked at 23 studies involving people eating while watching TV versus eating without distractions. The results were honestly pretty surprising.
Here’s what they discovered:
- During the distracted meal itself: People ate only slightly more (5-15% increase)
- At the next meal: People ate significantly more—up to 22% more food
So the real impact wasn’t happening while people were watching TV. It was showing up hours later at their next meal!
Why This Happens
Let’s get into the science for a minute, because understanding the “why” makes this so much more actionable.
When you eat while distracted, several things happen in your brain:
Your attention gets diverted away from eating. Instead of your brain focusing on the sensory experience of food—the taste, texture, smell, and physical sensations of eating—it’s busy processing whatever else you’re doing. This matters because these sensory signals are part of the way that your brain “registers” that you’ve eaten.
Memory encoding gets disrupted. Your brain relies on memories of recent meals to help regulate hunger and fullness. Have you ever tried to remember what you ate for lunch and drawn a blank – yeah, me neither!
Satiety signals get ignored. Your body sends signals when you’re getting full, but if your attention is elsewhere, these signals don’t get the processing power they need. Your brain essentially misses the memo that you’ve eaten enough (this impacts the current meal as well).
The result? Hours later, when your brain is trying to decide how hungry you should be, it’s working with incomplete information. In essence, your brain “forgets” you ate a substantial meal, so your hunger and fullness signals get wonky for the rest of the day.
How We Get Distracted
While these studies used tv as the highest level of distraction, it’s reasonable to hypothesize that other engaging distractions might work similarly. Here’s what I see happening in real life:
- Working through lunch: Answering emails, jumping on calls, or problem-solving while eating
- Social media scrolling: Getting sucked into Instagram or TikTok
- Childcare multitasking: Eating while helping taking care of kids, driving literally everywhere, or managing the general chaos of family life
All of these scenarios have something in common: your brain is mentally engaged in something other than eating.
What to do With This Information
Obviously you’re going to have to quit your job, get rid of your kids and eat all meals in 100% silence.
Or, if you want to join me in the real world let’s just make a slight tweak to our eating behavior: Give your brain enough information to “register” that you’ve eaten.
Here are some examples:
1. First 3 Bites
Pay attention to the first three bites. I like to eat them in a way where I can describe why it tastes so good! This engages you in the meal, and actually connects you more to the pleasure part of eating. But you do you! Just the phone down, close the laptop, take a few bites, and let your brain catch up to what you’re doing. After those bites, if you need to multitask, go ahead—you’ve already given your brain a head start on registering the meal.
2. Use Transition Moments
Create small rituals that signal “I’m eating now.” This could be taking a single big breath breaths before you start (In the Spark program, we call this Breath Before You Begin!), saying what you’re grateful for about the meal, or simply looking at your food for a moment before diving in. These brief pauses help shift your brain’s attention to eating.
3. Choose Your Distraction Battles
If you know you’re going to eat while working (because, life), try to pair meals with less mentally demanding tasks. Responding to simple emails? Fine. Writing a complex report or participating in a heated Zoom meeting? Maybe not the best time to eat.
The good news? Small adjustments can make a big difference. You don’t need to overhaul your entire routine or eat every meal in silence. Sometimes just being aware of the pattern and making tiny shifts—like taking those first focused bites—can help your body’s natural hunger and fullness signals work more effectively.
Your brain is already trying to help you eat the right amount for your body. Sometimes it just needs a little help remembering. Me too.
