Stress Eating... Suggestions....Help!?

FloraDelirus

To each, their own they say.

Alcoholism runs in my family. Thankfully, I didn't 'inherit' that side of the addiction. However, I inherited the flip side that travels along the same addiction line as alcoholism. Food addiction. I have, over time, found ways of combating the 'desire' to eat. In the warm weather, I garden, I do home improvement projects and try to keep active in my free time. This keeps me out of the house and away from the pantry.

Winter is hell for me. I'm trapped inside. I deal with 'winter blues' and wanting to hibernate. Even trying to keep busy with sewing projects or other activities still causes me to want to curl up around a bowl of munchies, which I refuse to buy 99% of the time at the store and try to keep healthy things like nuts and a small bag now and then of dried fruit on hand instead or dark chocolate which I can only handle a small amount of.

In November 2014, my employer of 11 years told me I had 2 months to find a new job or I'd be unemployed. I was lucky and a decent job fell into my lap. I've been here 3 months now. But it's stressful (I now work for a lawyer and it's just the two of us in the office so I do everything from bookkeeping to typical administrative/secretarial/computer tech stuff)

So though I have a new job, I'm still in a job where I sit ALL day long in a little office...with a stressful job...with a stressed out boss...which just stresses me out....and makes me crave food even more, making me have NO willpower at all, making me eat anything I can get my hands on that tastes good and going in search of something sweet to eat even though my brain is screaming at me that I don't need it. *GASP*

HELP!

Can anyone suggest things I can nibble on over the course of a day, a little here, a little there, that won't add up into massive quantities of calories, that will help deal with the oral fixation of food, the stress eating, and yet be healthy?

Something that can sit out for an hour or more and won't spoil if I ignore it for awhile? Something that will satisfy the need for crunchy or sweet? (I don't particularly need salty to be honest). Please, no suggestions of carrots or celery. Bell peppers give my terrible heartburn too. Is there something out there that I can make, bake, stir up, combine together that is small or can be broken up into small bite sized pieces that can be stretched out over the course of a day between meals?

Help? Please?

jalosingit1

I feel your pain. Big Red gum helps - it's sweet and the strong cinnamon taste helps combat cravings. Nature valley bars can satisfy cravings but at 170 - 190 cals, they are not really low-calorie.

tinascar2015

Air popped popcorn? I like Skinny Pop, and a 2-cup serving is just 78 calories. A drink of water afterwards, and I feel pretty full.

debubbie

I try to keep a big bottle of water at my desk to drink from when I am feeling agitated or stressed. The action of opening the lid before I can drink gives me a chance to breathe and calm down. When I drink a lot of water on stressful days, I get some exercise in by going to the bathroom every hour on the hour!

Food wise, sugar snap peas are low cal and crunchy that takes a handful to amount to 35-40 calories. You may look into roasted chickpeas. I think you can flavor them however you want (sweet, spicy, salty), but I haven't tried them yet to see how they taste. Maybe broccoli and cauliflower pieces with some ranch dip in a packed cooler lunch box?