Despite Gookie Dough selling a product which isn't one of your five-a-day, we're all for a healthy diet. It's important to remember that our product needs to be consumed within a balanced diet and in moderation. Yes, it is tempting to eat four monster tubs straight out but it's not ideal. Today, we're discussing several habits of unsuccessful 'dieters' and how you can break them. 

(Image credit: Unsplash, Estée Janssens) 

Do these situations sound familiar?

1. Your meals come out of a carton, bag or over the deli counter 
2. You never eat alone, the TV/internet/phone or magazine is always there
3. You can't walk away from free food even if you aren't hungry, including all you can eat buffets and supermarket samples 
4. You spend time regretting what you ate than preparing it
5. You eat when you're hungry but also based on your emotion

Unhealthy food patterns 

There are certain food patterns that people follow which can link to obesity and other food/weight disorders. Food fretting is when you're overly concerned with what you eat and form a negative relationship with food. Task snacking: this is when you always eat while doing something, like doing work and watching TV. Emotional eating: rather self-explanatory but you turn to food in low moments when you're feeling upset. Fast foodism: you eat processed and convenience foods and eat them quickly. Solo dining: you use food to fill a social void. Sensory disregard: mealtime is annoying and you're not bothered about the eating experience. 

Solving the problem 

A simple way of limiting yourself to binge is to keep a food diary and writing down everything in your life that links to food. It's a lifestyle diary, this includes what you ate, how much, when, where, what time of day and why you ate it. Were you alone? What else were you doing while eating? It's also important to note what kind of food it was. For example, fresh, frozen, processed, baked, boiled, take away etc. From the diary, you will start to see a pattern form and identify your eating triggers. 

Eat the Gookie Dough, track the Gookie Dough, look after your body and eat a healthy, balanced diet! *Factual information from WebMD*