Five Simple Ways to Stop Impulse Snacking
I’m sure you’ve heard of impulse shopping (and if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably experienced it a good few times too!) You’ll be buying envelopes and stamps in the stationers’, then a rack of magazines catches your eye. Before you know it, you’ve added a couple to your basket.
Impulse snacking is similar – and just as impulse shopping can be very bad for your bank balance, impulse snacking won’t do your waistline any favors.
So if you find yourself nibbling on things just because they’re there, or opening the fridge on a whim, when you’re not hungry, here’s how to beat impulse snacking.
1. Keep Snack Foods Out Of Sight
I won’t say “never buy snack foods” because being on a diet doesn’t mean missing out on all your favorites – but it does mean occasionally exercising a bit of self-restraint! Don’t make things harder on yourself than they need to be, though; if you have a cookie jar on the sideboard in the kitchen, you’ll see it (and think “ooh, cookies”) every time you go into the kitchen for a glass of water or to put the kettle on.
Put your snack foods in a cupboard, or on top of a high shelf. If they’re out of sight, they’ll be out of mind. And if they’re out of reach as well, you might decide that it’s just too much effort to get a snack!
2. Always Wait Ten Minutes Before Snacking
I’ve heard some great advice about impulse shopping that suggests counting to ten before putting an item in your basket – or mentally noting unplanned purchases for another day. This is a great way to break the pattern of buying something without really needing it.
You can do something similar with your urge to snack. If the thought that “a bag of potato chips would be nice” comes at you from out of the blue, tell yourself that you’ll wait at least ten minutes before deciding whether or not to eat them. Quite often, you’ll find that the urge to snack was a fleeting one that’s now easy to dismiss.
3. Don’t Nibble While Cooking
Some of us are great at clocking up unwanted calories while preparing or cooking food. A sliver of cheese, a piece of bread dipped in sauce, a handful of the potato wedges you’re cooking for the kids … and chances are, these aren’t even “snacks” you particularly enjoy or remember. I’m particularly bad when baking – and I’m sure I’d enjoy a couple of the cookies more than all the scrapings of dough from the bowl, for the same calories!
Make a firm rule not to nibble while you’re cooking. If you tend to pop things into your mouth absent-mindedly, try chewing gum, or sucking on a piece of hard candy.
4. Leave Your Money At Home
Do you find yourself buying snacks from the vending machine or the canteen at work – even though you’ve brought in your own, perfectly healthy, lunch? If so, a simple solution is to just leave your money at home (or only take in the cash you actually need for the day, if you have to pay for transport etc); that way, you won’t be able to buy those little extras.
If you’re meeting a friend for coffee, and you don’t want to succumb to the lure of a chocolate muffin on the side, then apply the same principle: just take what you need for your coffee.
5. Write Down Everything You Eat
Even if you don’t want to keep a food journal all the time, writing down what you eat for just a day or two can really boost your willpower. If you know that every little nibble will be going down in black and white, you’ll think twice about finishing off the kids’ leftover fishfingers, or eating that broken cookie.
You might find it useful to also write down how you were feeling when you ate; we often snack for emotional reasons such as boredom, stress or unhappiness.
Do you snack on impulse? Is it hindering your weight loss, or is it a problem you’ve pretty much conquered?
Written by Ali HaleRelated posts:
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