I’ll admit it, I am a snacker. It’s awful, I know. I can never finish a meal because I am constantly eating little things throughout the day. So when it comes time for dinner I am never hungry! Sometimes the food I snack on is healthy, like cut up vegetables and hummus, but more times than not I am running late for work or class and end up grabbing a bag of pretzels and a granola bar. Not to say that pretzels and granola bars are totally unhealthy or out of the question, but when you eat them 5 days a week it starts to get old. Because of this, I have been trying to go “cold turkey” on the snacking department, and eat 3 meals a day like a normal person. So far, it’s been a struggle, but I am really trying hard and following these steps to eliminate so much snacking.
5 Tips to eliminate snacking:
1. If you really need a snack between meals, pack your own instead of grabbing processed pre-packaged food. I have found that apples are a really filling snack, especially with a little bit of almond butter.
2. Set times to eat your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you eat a protein filled breakfast waiting 3-4 hours to eat lunch shouldn’t be too difficult. Just make sure what you are eating is healthy and filling, like an omelet filled with you favorite vegies instead of the Lucky Charms that are packed with sugar.
3. Carry around a water bottle. I always have my camel back watebottle with me, because drinking water definitely helps me when I want to snack because I’m bored. Plus, water is super good for your skin and overall health.
4. Take you’re time to eat your food. If you need a snack, go for foods that take longer to eat. One example would be walnuts or pistachios (but not too many pistachios as they can be high in calories). The longer it takes you to crack the shell the more time your body has to tell you it’s not hungry anymore. When foods are easy to eat you may eat more than you need, because you don’t eat slow enough to give your body time to tell you to stop.
5. Prepare your own meals a head of time. I know for me, a lot of times it is easier to grab a snack than to decide what I would like for lunch, and then actually prepare the lunch. But if you have some down time during the weekends, plan out what you would like for each meal. This way you skip the deciding on the spot and can actually sit down for a healthy and nutritious meal.