We make most of the decisions automatically. Even introducing the ballot in elections is more emotional and inertial than reflective.
When it comes to food, we do not even realize that we may be making a decision , it would also explain why diets fail so often.
Decisions in 24 hours
Without being aware of what motivates it or without reflecting thoroughly is how we decide to make decisions when eating. But many times we are not even aware that we make decisions .
That’s what a study found in which participants were asked to answer how many food decisions they made per day. His answer, on average, was fourteen decisions .
However, when the same people were able to closely follow the decisions they made, then the average rose to 227 .
As Kelly McGonigal abounds in her book Self-Control :
They were aware of having made more than 200 decisions and this amount is nothing more than what has to do with food. How are you going to control yourself if you are not even aware of what you need to control?
The second part of the study analyzed 749 informative comments from controlled field studies. While people overeat 31% more food as a result of receiving an exaggerated environmental signal (large bowl, large spoon, etc.), 52% denied having eaten more and 45% attributed it to other reasons ( like hunger).
These studies underscore two key points: First, we are aware of only a fraction of the food decisions we make . Second, we are not aware of how our environment influences these decisions or we are unwilling to acknowledge it.