...sort of...

Do you ever snack on things when you're watching television? It might not be a good thing to do - unless you're watching summer television, which usually sucks (as I mentioned yesterday, with some notable exceptions).

Apparently good television will make you fat. That's right. They've wasted time doing a study to find out people's snacking habits while they watch television. People were given potato chips while watching Letterman and Leno, and chips to eat while not eating anything at all. And people ate more chips while they were watching television.

It probably didn't matter what the folks in the study were watching, to tell you the truth. It's more that they were distracted while they were snacking and not thinking about what they were shoveling into their mouths. This shouldn't be a surprise because the scientists and nutritionists and those opposed to television in general have been watching this trend for years.

What a surprise - I could have told you that years ago after watching a very engaging SuperBowl game and the resulting stomachache that happened afterwards. Ah, but I digress...

Other people doing fat studies are saying that if you get more sleep at night you will prevent weight gain. That's right - the time when you're burning the least amount of calories possible could help you from gaining weight. Because if you're asleep you're not awake and potentially eating. Apparently the less sleep that you have the more likely that you're going to be obese.

So I guess part of the magic answer to losing weight is to turn off the television and sleep more. OK. I can work with that, except that I get up at 5am and go to sleep around 10 or 11 at night. Those aren't normal eating hours anyway, and I don't usually eat *anything* between the hours of 8pm and 6am anyway. I'm sure a lot of you can work with the more sleeping thing too, but that's not the only part. After all, just sleeping more and watching less television is going to help you lose weight. It's called self-control - just don't snack while you're watching television, or watch something that's going to leave a bad taste in your mouth...

... Age of Love, anyone?