Eating at a table ‘helps keep weight down’

Eating around the table with friends or family members helps people to keep their weight down, according to the National Obesity Forum.

Dr David Haslam, chair of the forum, explained that this is because people engage in conversation, rather than just staring at a TV screen, and have less time to “stuff food” in their mouths.

Earlier in the year, a study presented at a conference in California suggested that serving up food in the kitchen rather than at the dining table also helps slimmers to shed excess weight.

Dr Haslam explained that there are a lot of reasons why people eat and hunger is just one of them.

He said that people sometimes eat because food looks nice, smells nice or simply because it is there, so he advised slimmers to hide treats so as to avoid this temptation.

“Keep the packet of biscuits somewhere else so you don’t see them and are not tempted to eat it; it makes a lot of sense doing that,” he said.

What tricks do you use to cut down your snacking habits?