Mindless snacking?

[Anonymous]

How can I make myself stop the mindless snacking! I am sabotaging myself!

I’ve tried drinking a glass of water, but I still want sustenance!

I don’t want to want food anymore! I don’t want to “eat celery” when the cravings hit. I don’t want the cravings! I wat three decent meals a day. Why do I need to snack and what can I do!

[Anonymous]

Speed

[Anonymous]

Drink herbal tea.

Do things to occupy your hands.

Eat low calorie foods.

Eat larger meals? Or smaller meals throughout the day?

But I'm a snacker, and I own it. I have one good size meal a day (dinner), and graze and snack all day long (mostly healthy things). It's just what works for me. I like variety, so snacks work well.

[Anonymous]

Popcorn, sliced apples, grapes, a banana, orange or grapefruit slices all help me when I feel what you're describing.

[Anonymous]

Just realize that being hungry won’t kill you, and don’t give in. Tell yourself no the way you would tell your child no if he wanted a snack 20 minutes before dinner. “No, you can’t have a snack. You won’t dry up and blow away. Now go play until dinner.” Seriously - just make a rule and follow it. Don’t even give yourself the option of snacks. Eventually the habit of snacking will go away. While you are breaking the habit be nice to yourself - eat nice meals that you really want to eat and look forward to.

[Anonymous]

Well maybe 3 meals a day isn’t right for you? How about 3 planned meals and 2 planned snacks. Schedule them.

7am breakfast

9:30am snack

12:30p lunch

3:30pm snack

6:30pm dinner

[Anonymous]

I used to be a snacker. a light breakfast, then a snack at 10:30, then lunch, then an afternoon snack, then a small dinner, then at bedtime more food. All of it was 'healthy' and pretty low fat/high volume. I felt like I was hungry all the time.

Now, I basically have 2 meals a day and one light snack as a third. I never eat after dinner. I think the constant grazing kept me hungry, and then because I was snacking I was not eating satisfying meals. My weekend days consist of this: coffee with whole milk in the morning, then a workout. Lunch is either full or low fat greek yogurt with almonds and berries or a scramble (eggs, spinach, cheese) on a piece of (avocado) toast. I have a light snack around 4--apples and a piece of cheese, or hummus and crackers. Dinner is salad, veggies, a protein based main course (fatty fish, chicken, occasionally pasta, maybe a curry). Glass of wine is my treat.

Stopping snacking has also stopped the sugar cravings significantly. If there's good chocolate around I will have a square but I rarely have the 3 pm intense coffee//sugar cravings where I am basically dying at my desk.

[Anonymous]

Log all your food. Weigh it and be honest with serving sizes. It’s a real eye opener.

[Anonymous]

Gum

I’ve resorted to chewing gum to help my cravings.

[Anonymous]

A hot drink is the best solution I have tried. If you are mildly hungry drink warm broth.

[Anonymous]

Try the Mediterranean diet. It uses a lot of olive oil and fresh foods (veggies and grains mostly, with healthy seafood/poultry/eggs a couple times a week). For me, this makes a huge difference in snacking. For one, the fat in the olive oil keeps me full for a long time. For another, your brain can actually regulate hunger cues when you’re eating whole food it recognizes as food. When you eat processed stuff (which many snacks are), your brain can’t appropriately regulate hunger and satiety signals because the chemicals in the food throw off your brain’s ability to recognize it as food.

Switch to Mediterranean diet for even a week and you will notice a huge natural decrease in a desire to snack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well maybe 3 meals a day isn’t right for you? How about 3 planned meals and 2 planned snacks. Schedule them.

7am breakfast

9:30am snack

12:30p lunch

3:30pm snack

6:30pm dinner

I used to follow this schedule almost exactly. At some point I dropped the mid morning snack but kept the 3 pm snack.

My first tip is to make sure your meals and snacks are filling and nutritious (minimally processed, focus on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds but watch portions on those two). Watch out for added sugar.

Getting my sugar intact under control and eating better quality food really helped control feeling ravenously hungry. I used to get seriously hangry every time it got close to snack or meal time but now I just feel hungry and rarely get hangry.

Drink lots of water.

Chew gum.

[Anonymous]

I have a rule that I only eat when sitting down

I agree with prior posts about making sure you watch your glycemic level to avoid cravings and crashes

[Anonymous]

Just say you're going to stop for a month and then you can start again if it's too hard. I stopped for Lent and I adjusted and now it's not as bad. I also eat chewier foods and that helps for some reason.

[Anonymous]

Try Weight Watchers.