A simple diet hack: turn off the TV at mealtime.

Hunger isn’t just about how much you eat.

Instead, your brain constantly picks up clues—like how much you’ve chewed and how calorie-dense you expect the meal to be—to figure out when you’re full.

But when your attention shifts to a screen, these signals get fuzzy. You’re too distracted to track what you’ve eaten or how satisfied you feel, which can lead you to overeat.

A 2025 meta-analysis published in the journal Nutrients illustrates this well.

Scientists analyzed 23 studies and found that those who ate while watching TV consumed around 5-to-10% more than those who ate undistracted.

Worse still, because the TV watchers’ brains didn’t fully register their meals, they felt less satisfied and ended up eating more at their next meal—about 22% more, on average.

And that’s not the only downside. 

Research also shows that people who watch TV at lunch struggle to remember what they ate, which leads to more snacking later. Being distracted can even make our food taste less flavorful, which could increase cravings throughout the day.

So if you want to stay in control of your appetite, pay attention when you eat. Turn off the TV, put down your phone, and focus on your food—how it looks, how it tastes, and how your hunger changes as you eat.

It’s a small move that can make dieting much smoother.

If you want more specific tips about dieting, including how many calories, how much of each macronutrient, and which foods you should eat to reach your health and fitness goals, take the Legion Diet Quiz, and in less than a minute, you’ll know exactly what diet is right for you. Click here to check it out.

Scientific References +