Snack Attacks All your work at healthy eating can feel undone when the urge to snack becomes irresistible. Planned snacks can be part of a healthy balanced diet. It is when you are not hungry and the snacks are bigger than they need to be – or continuous – that you need to pay attention. Whether you are overindulging with healthy calories or junk, it is all extra calories you don’t need.
Usually when this happens you are using food for a reason. Instead of getting upset with yourself, get curious. Tune in to your patterns and just notice what is going on. This is your body giving you a message. Just by paying attention, change will occur naturally.
Eating is comforting. It dulls uncomfortable feelings. Some people use the word numbing – it is a way to take the edge off of an uncomfortable sensation, like a sedative. It can be caused by stress, anxiety, boredom, tiredness, anger, frustration: any of the edgy feelings that are hard to hang out with. It can also be triggered by strong happy feelings, such as intimacy, excitement, or anticipation. Sensations that make you uncomfortable can make you reach for a soothing snack.
As you tune in to this whole process, it becomes clear that the eating is only a temporary fix. It doesn’t do anything to improve the original situation. It just buys time. Which has value, but there are other ways to get there. The problem with using food is that it has side effects. You may not feel good physically after overeating. You can gain weight. And the out-of-control feeling of a snack attack can leave you feeling guilty and frustrated.
Yet the eating does serve a purpose. It is hard to just stop it without replacing it with something else. This is the key to the solution: what would be an even better approach? What is something else that would be soothing, comforting, or address the situation itself? If you are tired, a need to eat could mean that you need to take a break or let go of some of your expectations. If you are sad or lonely, angry or frustrated, it may be most helpful to just sit with it for a little while. Find the activities are the most calming for you, such as deep breaths, sitting quietly, going for a walk, or even doing a meditative activity like washing dishes or weeding.
We often avoid our feelings because they seem overwhelming. There may be a fear that once we begin to feel them, we will get lost in them. For really big fears it could help to get support, but most emotions are just part of the daily ebb and flow of life. As long as we avoid them, they continue to haunt us. Once we face it, we find it was not as scary as we thought it would be.
So pay attention when you find yourself searching for a snack and you are not really hungry. This is useful information. Something is needed; something more effective than eating. Pay attention and you can learn what will work better than snacking. Snack attacks are the mindless response. Eating is one choice, but you have other choices and can mindfully choose something different.
When my husband read this, he said “that is good, but what about when you are at work, under a tight deadline, it’s crazy, you can’t take a break and you need to eat. Then what?” Great example of using food to get through the discomfort! He couldn’t even imagine not using food – he just wanted to know which food to use. The ideal would be to take 5 minutes to walk, stretch or breathe. Another helpful tool is to pause: wait 5 or 10 minutes before eating something and see if you still need it. If you still want food, try tea. Sweet teas like Good Earth are often satisfying. Fruits and vegetables are also good choices. Or you can do what Bill does (when he is paying attention) and have a piece of string cheese instead of a candy bar. But try a non-food solution first!
Kathy Nichols is the Healthy Habits Coach. Kathy blends her background as a registered dietitian with life coaching to help you create healthy and sustainable habits. Contact Kathy at 707 431-7524, Kathy@HealthyHabitsCoach.com or www.HealthyHabitsCoach.com. Blog: www.HealthyHabitsCoach.wordpress.com |
