9 Ways to Curb Your Snacking Binges
by: Renee Kennedy
When you're dieting, the thing that can really wreck a healthy eating plan is that awful feeling that comes over you to just grab a huge bag of potato chips and polish it off while watching your favorite sit-com.
We've all been there before!
There are things you can do to help yourself avoid the ugly urge to snack uncontrollably.
- First things first:
Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Plan to have healthy snacks throughout the day. Do not skip meals or planned snacks. Skipping nutritious foods
will make you feel uncontrollably hungry!
- If you can, avoid purchasing any unhealthy snacks. There are so many "good-for-you" snacks on the market today, there is really no reason why you should have a cupboard full of ring-dings and cheesecurls.
Start learning to read the back of the packages of foods - look at the fat content - if it says that the fat content is over 5% per serving - look for a different snack.
- Here's a list of healthy snacks that are low in fat content, but still high in satisfaction (and I'm not talking about carrots and celery!):
- pretzels (watch the sodium content, though.)
- graham crackers
- any type of low fat crackers - (there are many different varieties - read the back of the packages to make sure that they are low in fat. Again, be wary of the salt content.)
- add some gourmet preserves to those lowfat crackers
- low fat cookies
- popcorn without butter (you can buy butter flavored salt.)
- a cup of fruit with non-fat cool whip on top or a spoonful of honey.
- fat free pudding
- a stick of sugar-free chewing gum
- a couple pieces of licorice
- a cup of raw veggies with non-fat salad dressing for dip (ok, so you may have to eat a few carrots.)
- Treat yourself to scented candles. When you feel like you need a snack - light the candles and enjoy them! This actually does work - I've tried it.
- Instead of a snack, have a drink. Try a non-caffeinated herbal tea with a spoonful of honey. There are several drinks on the market with no caffeine and no sugar - buy a lot of that stuff - different kinds - and
keep it on hand. Before you go for a snack - drink 8 oz. of your favorite drink, then decide if you really need a snack.
- Take up something you can do with your hands -- crochet, knitting, puzzles, cross-stitch, sewing, playing piano, paint your nails and toenails, weed the garden, do a little housework, look at a magazine for the fashions you will buy when you're thinner...
In other words, get your mind off food and onto a healthy
hobby.
- Don't watch TV. TV encourages snacking - you're sitting there, you feel like you should be doing something - so you go for the snack. Also, most of the commercials are about food. Stay away from TV, take up reading or another activity in number 6 above.
- When you're finished with a meal or a planned snack, brush and floss your teeth - this will help you stay away from food for about an hour.
- THINK - just take about one minute to think about what you are doing. Go look at yourself in the mirror during this minute. Ask yourself, "Do I really want to eat this and PAY the CONSEQUENCE?"
Visit HealthCrazed.com for more articles, information, tools and resources to help you lose weight.
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