Could Your Smartphone Be Encouraging You to Eat Junk Food?

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Life is busy these days. From work to taking the kids to school to finding time to spend with friends and loved ones, there’s just so much to do. Add to that your cell phone use, time spent on social media and the hours watching TV, and it can be hard to find time to cram in “cooking a decent meal” on the agenda.

Junk food, including ice cream, hamburgers and fries, arranged on a table
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That’s where junk food comes in, right? It’s so easy to just roll up to the drive-through of some burger joint and get a big, greasy burger, fries and a huge soda.

Today, let’s take a look at how your digital-focused lifestyle could be encouraging poor eating habits.

Time Management

Humans are complex creatures, and our psychology reflects that. When we feel as though one of our resources is running down, we often overcompensate by covering it with overindulgence in another resource. For example, if you feel like you’re always short on time, you might find yourself overindulging in junk food.

It’s simple, really: You feel pressed for time and can’t slow down to do anything about food. So, in a rush, you buy some junk food and scarf it down. This creates a negative feedback loop where you always feel stressed out and short on time, but the comfort of junk food helps you cope.

This leads to a system in which you constantly turn to unhealthy foods to cope with your fast-paced lifestyle.

How to Break the Cycle

The best way to reverse this trend is to reclaim your personal time in the healthiest ways you can. Are you spread too thin? Maybe consider cutting back on the things that are eating into your spare time, if you can.

Similarly, you should consider taking a break from social media and smartphone use. After all, what’s more important: checking the shiny new notification, or eating a decent meal? Retrain yourself to prioritize your health and your diet over the fun, instantaneous things that are currently monopolizing your time.