Spending day after day in lockdown with unlimited access to the fridge and pantry often causes unconscious overeating. Whether it’s a protein bar to keep you going while working from home, finishing the kids’ meals or just snacking on popcorn in front of the TV, you might not even realise you’ve been eating all day!
Here are a few tips to help you avoid mindless eating and stay on track with your nutritional and food goals.
Schedule mealtimes. We get it, avoiding all kinds of routine and just going with the flow is one of the biggest pleasures right now (even life coach Angelena Davies advised ‘going with the wind’ to avoid anxiety in a lockdown!). But while you might ditch scheduling a workout or leisure time, make sure you still stick to your food schedule. When you know exactly when you’ll next be eating, it gets easier to avoid snacking.
Avoid emotional eating. Next time you find yourself choosing between ice cream and chocolate, stop for a second and ask yourself whether you’re really hungry or just bored / tired / scared? Food cravings might mean a lot of things, even that you’re just thirsty! So, find the reason first and only eat if you really need to.
Don’t eat in front of the screen. If you work from home, forget lunching in front of your computer. Dinners combined with Netflix shows are also not the best idea. Separating your food zone from your ‘screen zone’ at home will help you pay more attention to what and how much you eat, preventing you from mindlessly eating twice as much as you normally do.
Prevent dehydration. We often confuse hunger with thirst. If you feel like enjoying that last croissant of yours, have a glass of water first, wait for 5-7 minutes and see if you still feel hungry.
Plan meals in advance. Quickly driving to the supermarket when you’re running out of milk, capsicums or other ingredients for the next dinner is not that easy these days, so planning your meals in advance makes a huge difference. Browse through your favourite recipe websites or cookbooks, pick five or six ideas you would like to recreate this week and shop for products consciously. How about these healthy recipes inspired by the Mediterranean diet, for example? Following your meal plan, you won’t run out of necessities and won’t struggle with ideas.
Do something else. Eating is fun, that’s why we often eat when we’re bored. Think of another activity you could do instead – maybe you need a walk? Or an interesting Ivy League course you can study for free from home? Or, perhaps, you’ve been postponing calling your friends for a while? Distract yourself from those tempting food thoughts.
