4 Tips to Help with Mindless Eating!
Have you ever suffered from mindless eating before???
You know what I’m talking about… The late night eating when your bored… Running to the freezer to grab your friends Ben and Jerry when you’re stressed… Feeling sad and downing an entire bag of Dorito’s… I know that I've struggled with it in the past!
In fact, MOST women have struggled with mindless eating at certain points in our lives.
However, just because you feel sad, stressed, or bored, DOESN’T mean the only way to process these normal emotions are to eat mindlessly. Check out the ways that you can prevent mindless eating before it even starts!
1. Plan your meals AHEAD of time
How many times have you planned to cook dinner after work, only to come home feeling absolutely exhausted… The ONLY thing you have enough energy for is ordering a pizza to be delivered. Believe me, this has definitely happened to me before!
One of the best ways that you can avoid this situation is by planning your meals AND grocery shopping ahead of time. Try to use the perfect meal planner to create simple, balanced meals that are easy to make. Just because you’re cooking DOESN’T mean you need to spend 3 hours cooking gourmet meals. You’d be surprised how many healthy meals you can make in less than 20-30 minutes!
2. Don’t keep tempting foods in the house!
One of my favorite quotes comes from one of the founders of Precision Nutrition, Dr. John Berardi. Check it out here:
“If a food is in your house or possession, either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate, will eventually eat it.”
In other words, if you don’t keep tempting foods in your house, you’re MUCH less likely to consume them. Try to stock up on healthy snack options at the grocery store, including fruits, veggies, yogurt, and nuts!
Let’s say that every time you’re stressed (which is basically all the time, because who isn’t stressed these days?!), you tend to run to the kitchen and tend to polish off an entire pack of Oreos. If you don’t buy Oreos at the store, it’ll become MUCH more difficult to eat them when stressed. You’d actually have to leave home to go get them, which seems like too much work.
3. Stock up on zero or low-calorie drinks or fruit to add to your water
We all know that water is the best choice of drinks to nourish our bodies. But for most of us, drinking plain water all day everyday can get pretty boring.
Instead of running to sugary sodas or juices when you need to shake up your drink choice, try adding low/zero calorie options, like crystal light, to your water! For every glass of flavored water you drink, I recommend trying to drink TWO glasses of regular water.
If you’re looking for a more natural way to add flavor to your water, simply cut up fresh fruit or vegetables and pop them into your glass! You can try lemons, oranges, limes, strawberries, pineapple, or even cucumbers!
4. Buy treats that are single-serving sized
If you’ve been following me for a little while now, you know that I’m a huge believer in ALWAYS enjoying your favorite treats in moderation and on occasion.
If you find yourself mindless eating large amounts of your favorite treats every single night, simply try to buy the smallest serving (single-serving) size possible at the grocery store.
Let’s pretend that you chow down on an entire bag of potato chips when you’re feeling down in the dumps. Instead of buying the normal sized bag of chips at the store, try buying ONE bag of the single-serving size. Once you mindlessly eat that first bag, there won’t be any more chips to eat, so you’re much less likely to over-eat them. Plus, you’ll be able to ENJOY them (which is the whole point) in moderation and in control!
