An Easy Way to Eat Less

Separate your lunch and your favorite Web site and your waist may shrink. See, holding a mouse in one hand leaves the other free to dip into that family-sized bag of potato chips and polish it off before your mind -- or your stomach -- has any idea what's happening.

Normally, if you're sitting around with friends and you eat chips (we'd prefer you have vegetables, but we'll tackle that another day), your palate gets "tired" after a while, and you don't want any more. But if you get distracted -- by Amy Winehouse's latest scuffle, by your friend's e-mail (with pictures!) on what went on after you left the party, or by a killer round of Internet Scrabble -- this appetite-control mechanism vanishes faster than those kettle-cooked chips did.

And that's if you're just checking e-mail or cruising around the Web. Video games are even worse. In a study where researchers set up women with some snack cakes, they found that the women who munched while playing a video game downed more than those who ate without distraction, AND the gamers wanted to eat pretty much anything else within reach . . . even after the study part ended (sound familiar?).

If, for some reason, you can't separate your meals from your mouse (and can afford a new keyboard every few months to replace the crumb-jammed one), try this: Leave the empty bag next to the monitor. Seeing evidence of your feast may help you eat less next time. And remember that extra calories at your computer mean you'll need a longer walk to burn them off. Try to stick to savoring each chip separately; you're more likely to curb your intake.