Sabotaging my diet because of stress

[Anonymous]

At home I eat very healthy meals, lots of fruits and vegetables, minimal snacking. I am a reformed junk food junkie and it took me years to get to this point. But lately I have been completely sabotaging my diet at work. We moved to a new building six months ago and there are vending machines everywhere, multiple snack shops, and a cafeteria full of fried food and desserts. I have been really stressed out at work the past few months and by midday I find myself craving junk...and once I get started its hard to stop, even though I'm kicking myself as I'm doing it because it doesn't even taste that good and leaves me feeling sick. And yet...the next day rolls around and I do it all over again.
I bring my lunch every day and keep lots of healthy snacks around but when the stress starts up the cravings seem to overtake me. I've tried the usual tricks, but I'm failing miserably.
My question is two-fold: how can I beat the cravings/avoid the binges and what are your favorite "decadent" snacks (sweet or salty, doesn't matter)? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Do you drink enough water? I find most of my work binging comes from confusing thirst with hunger. If I really feel like I need a treat, I get a sparkling water or a skim latter.

[Anonymous]

Dark chocolate:

http://www.today.com/id/37762912/#.Unhl7ODFWVE

Roasted (low or no salt) nuts, seeds

Make your own GORP for the office

Don't carry around small bills or change for the vending machines.

Go for a walk at lunch, then eat at your desk or some other location than the cafeteria.

[Anonymous]

OP,

I noticed your title mentioned "stress" but your post describes pitfalls to your diet due to changes to the work environment.

What's the root of the stress? You might want to think about ways you can minimize/manage the stress.

[Anonymous]

Bring your lunch and snack that would be satisfying. Do not bring money into work to allow you to buy them for a few days. You need to break the habit again or you'll keep doing it. Plan a satisfying snack for when you get home. Keep telling yourself that you are stress eating and then you'll feel better for a minute, but then will feel worse. So, what's the point, right? Just push through that feeling of stress recognizing it. When you get it can you go for a walk or do some leg raises etc. at your desk until the urge passes.

[Anonymous]

Take all the change and cash out of your porcketbook so you can't buy from the machine. Just force yourself the next day or two not to eat the snacks and you will stop craving them. You're in a cycle right now where you're sugar crashing from all the sugar and carbs which is why you keep wanting the snacks. You have to recalibrate your body to get out of that eat-crash-eat cycle again.

[Anonymous]

What do you eat for breakfast? I find that people who day they eat extremely healthy will often eat a very low cal/low fat breakfast (ie one cup of yogurt, or one packet of instant oatmeal) and that is setting yourself up for a day full of sugar cravings. Load up your breakfast with fiber, protein, and fat and you will be much less likely to crave junk the rest of the day.

Eggs/veggies cooked in olive oil or coconut oil (if you don't have time to make eggs each morning, look up "baked egg muffins" for recipes in a muffin tin that you can later on the go)

Steel cut oats ( can cook a huge batch in the crockpot ) made with milk or almond milk, add fruit and some nut butter.

If you are eating yogurt, eat it with 1-2
Cups fruit and some high fiber cereal and a handful
Of walnuts or almonds.

And definitely drink water!!

[Anonymous]

Weight Watchers! There is something about going to a meeting every week that keeps people on track; gives them an extra willpower boost (and strategies) to get through the week.

I am a big believer that weight is a crude measure of health (for instance, drink a glass of water and you're up a pound). However, there is something about that meeting that really helps, and I take the parts of it that work for me and leave the rest.

[Anonymous]

The salt and sugar will increase cravings. Try drinking water before you eat anything. See if you can wait 5 minutes when you are craving before eat anything and do not reward yourself with food. If you can get by the 5 minute mark the craving will go away. It will be hard, your body is looking forward to its rush everyday a noon. Maybe walk for 15 minutes at linch time and after that eat your health meal/snack.

[Anonymous]

Eat almonds at 10 am, along with a glass of water and tea or coffee.