When Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES) are creating interventions or programs regarding disease or wellness, they often consider both protective factors and risk factors.
For example, saturated fat consumption is a RISK factor for heart disease and diabetes, while smoking is a risk factor for many cancers and lung disease. These diseases can be protected against with exercise, fruit and vegetable consumption and/or omega 3 fatty acids ( in food).
Exercise is thus a PROTECTIVE factor against disease.
I believe that planning, preparing, and packing one's meals is a protective factor against weight gain/obesity or over consumption. It would be an interesting research study - compare two groups of people who are similar in other ways, but one packs their lunch - within some parameters, and the other does not.
This idea came to me Thursday night or Friday - well - I packed my breakfast and lunch Thursday night and ate it Friday - so both days!
It was really about the breakfast part. My normal portable breakfast is yogurt with fruit and cereal bar (of course it is a brand and flavor I really like -recall recent post). I use this portable meal when I have to be on campus early, but you see, I already do that Monday and Thursday - so when I had to go to an early meeting Friday, too - I had just had ENOUGH yogurt.
Instead, I made myself an egg and cheese sandwich on this new Joseph's lavash bread and I decided I would heat it up at school It looked and smelled wonderful - so much so that I went to bed and woke up thinking about eating it!
Because it was something I put energy and creativity into, knew was healthy and planned to eat, there was not a Dunkin Donut on this earth that would have turned me from my healthy breakfast.
So - planning, preparing and packing meals can be protective against eating high calorie, nutrient poor foods - and thus, "prevent" weight gain :)
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