The problem with eating while you are watching television is threefold:
1. Eating while viewing television is mindless eating.
You are not paying attention to the amount of food you eat while watching your favorite show.
How often do you bring the entire bag of chips to the couch and before you know it half the bag is gone by the end of the show. Instead why not leave the bag in the kitchen and bring a small bowl size of snacks with you to the couch. You are less likely to get up and get more. Therefore preventing a bag of chips on the hips! Even better make your snack a healthier one like baby carrots. This will provide the mindless crunching you crave with very few calories and lots of good-for-you nutrients.

2. Watching television is a sedentary activity.
Let’s face it, watching television doesn’t normally elevate your heart rate, cause you to move your major muscle groups, or make you break a sweat. (Okay, a football game can occasionally do that to some people)  Your total screen time shouldn’t exceed 2 hours, and if you find yourself sitting that much during your leisure time it is possible that your health could benefit from virtually any type of physical activity. If you are going to sit and watch TV, make it more active by getting up and moving during the commercials. A one hour show has about 16 minutes of commercials, so if you are the average adult that watches 4½ hours of television daily, you could get over 1 hour of physical activity by moving during the commercial breaks!
3. Television commercials encourage us to eat more.
How much of those 16 minutes of commercials have to do with food?  A LOT!Does food marketing really get us to eat more?? A few things to chew on….
The big golden arches spend upwards of $1 billion a year trying to get us to eat more of its hamburgers, fries and sodas. This year, even in these bad economic times, they have managed to announce they will open 1,000 new restaurants. If food advertising didn’t work, why would food and beverage companies continue to spend billions on advertising?
 Combine the sedentary nature of TV and the constant exposure to food ads and you have a recipe for disaster.  Talk about putting your will power to the test!  After hours of contemplation a solution comes to mind……….turn off the tv.