Solutions for Habitual Snacking?

(Skipping past the carbs/diabetes debate.)

Take your own snacks, and keep them where you can get at them easily. Veggies and fruits are fine, but for me they won't stand up against cookies and chips. Fiber one makes many little snacks that have around 100 calories. Rice Krispy treats are 100 calories. Dannon Light Greek yogurt is 80 calories. York Peppermint patties are 50 calories each for the small ones. My husband loves his Lucky Charms cereal bars, which have 100 calories. Popcorn can be good, pretzels too. As said above, log it before you eat it. Imagine how much exercise you'll need to do to work off your snacks.

Another mind game, is to imagine those treats as cigarettes. (Sorry if you're a smoker.) I always wondered why friends and family can't quit, so I imagine food is that vice. I could eat that cookie, but it's now an addictive cigarette in my mind. You could imagine alcohol, drugs, shopping, etc. See it as an addiction rather than a yummy snack.

Imagine all the skinny folks in the office are conspiring to make you fat--so they look thinner in comparison. That's why they encourage you to try it, eat it, have a little more.

Get in touch with your inner diabetic. Even if you're not at risk, imagine you are. The sweet snacks might not cause it, but if you've got it, that slam to your blood sugar isn't healthy. I try to do this here at home, where I've been baking cookies for gifts. I had untreated type 2 diabetes, and I'm borderline now. So it's important for me to stay conscious to what refined carbs does to my body--even though I feel fine.

Ask your office manager if they could add some healthy snacks to the stash. The first of the year is a great time to start thinking New Year's resolutions and losing weight. Make some easy suggestions.

As you walk by, take ONE chip, M&M, or pretzel--not a handful--if you're not grossed out by the germy thoughts. Break the corner off a cookie, have just a nibble--and keep on walking.

Brush your teeth after your meals. This will help keep you conscious of what you're eating. You won't want those cheetos on your teeth if you've just brushed and flossed.

If you get a cookie or big snack, cut it into 6 bites. Tell yourself you'll get one bite for each hour of work you do. Savor it.

Don't lie about your snacks, or dismiss them as not mattering. Log them, and you'll see how they undo your progress.

My point was that in my case it was poor food choices and snacking that increased my weight. My weight is directly responsible for my type 2 diabetes.

Food is a reward and we are creatures of habit. It is so easy to take a snack when it is right there outside your office.

I’d pick one item to enjoy at the end of the day for a job well done. Anticipate and enjoy. Take your time eating it. This turns unconscious eating to conscious enjoyment. You can triple your pleasure by recalling how good it was as you head home. You trigger the same pleasure centres without any calories.

For all the other temptations as you step out of your office, chew on a swizzle stick.

I have my own business..but I wonder.. do you have to go into a break room at work? Could you just avoid it all together.. bring your own coffee in a thermos and your food with you to eat at your desk..or go to your car and eat?

I think avoiding all together would be a possible solution .

I also am facing similar issue. Yet sometimes I try to overcome that feeling if I drink something hot, like tea etc.

Dilvish wrote: »

Snacking on healthy food is fine. Snacking on unhealthy food can wreak havoc on your health.

Sadly most people don't realize how poor their food choices have been until it's too late. Me included.

Snacking is what caused me to get type 2 diabetes. It wasn't my regular diet because I eat healthier than most people as I make my food from whole ingredients (not from a package), eat whole grain bread and pastas and rarely eat fast food.

If the temptation persists, make yourself a wholesome healthy snack and always keep it handy. My favorite is a mixture of dark chocolate chips (at least 70% cacao), sweetened dried cranberries (Craisins) and some type of nuts or seeds (my favorite is shelled pumpkin seeds). This mixture is chock full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. It also is a good source of protein (pumpkin seeds) which can help satisfy cravings.

Just remember "carbs beget carbs" meaning the more you consume the more you will crave...it's how the body responds.

The cranberries are very high in sugar. But I think that yes....the snacking adds to extra weight if it’s like extra snack g on top of what you should be eating. By tracking I realize I’ve been consuming at least twice my portion size. hence why I started I was 236 when I should be 150. Snacks matter if they are the excess on top of a decent diet. I mostly realized I was eating too much protein....had no idea. I’m sedentary and had been eating heathy as if I was active, as I had been except for last 8 years post a bad m/v accident.