In a world of constant data, I have a lot of news bulletin-type emails that come across my desk that only get opened if the subject line seems intriguing.  “How much time do Americans spend eating?” came across my desk recently and definitely caught my eye.

The article discusses research done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on this exact topic – how much time we spend eating.

Here are the stats (based on consumers age 15 and older):

• We spend about 67 minutes a day in primary eating and drinking
• We spend an additional 23.5 minutes eating while doing something else
• We spend an additional 63 minutes drinking while doing something else

The something else ranges from watching television to working to prepping and cleaning up meals to grooming (think getting dressed).

The study then went on to try and assess whether these habits impact our health.  As it turns out, if you eat or drink while grooming, prepping or cleaning up meals or working, your Body Mass Index (BMI, a measure of overweight) is below the national average.  Those people who eat and drink while watching television have BMIs higher than the US average.

It’s not to say that one causes the other.  But as we’re in the season of New Year’s Resolutions, this research seems to suggest a very tactical, straight-forward action to take – stop eating while watching television.

Visit www.nuval.com to assess the overall nutrition quality of the foods and beverages you consume in all these minutes.