10 Ways to Avoid Mindless Snacking

Being cooped up in your house all day, especially when you don't have much to do, can definitely lead to many trips to the kitchen. The immediate access to food can be so hard to ignore particularly when you're bored! One study found that boredom leads to mindless eating of unhealthy foods as it helps distract from the unpleasant boredom experience. Even when we're home but not necessarily bored (binge-watching Netflix), we tend to have unhealthy food cravings.

Boredom eating is classified as emotional eating. It acts as a coping mechanism for us when we don't have much else to do with our hands. Unlike real, physical hunger that comes on gradually and can be satisfied by eating just about anything (even fruits & veggies), emotional hunger comes on suddenly and creates a craving for a specific food, mostly "junk" foods. The reason for this is because of the sugars, fats, and flavors in typical snack foods like chips, crackers, or cookies that actually increase our dopamine and endorphin levels (feel-good hormones).

So although these foods might make us feel pretty crappy in the future, at the moment you're snacking, they are extremely satisfying.

Here are 10 ways to avoid mindless snacking:

1. Pay attention to your eating habits. Sometimes we grab a snack without even thinking about it! It's important for you to start noticing when you find yourself walking to the kitchen. Ask yourself if you really need that snack! Start keeping a food journal and write in it every 3 hours or so. This will definitely open your eyes to the amount of random eating you're doing.

2. Stick to your normal eating schedule. The best thing you can do is create an eating schedule and stick to it. A perfect example would be to have three meals and two to three snacks. Don't allow yourself to eat outside of the timeframes that you set. Of course, you don't have to be super strict with the timing but having some kind of schedule will limit random snacking.

3. Don't skip meals. Skipping meals will only cause you to feel overly hungry which will result in mindless eating and possibly overeating.

4. Keep healthy snacks on hand. We would never ask you to totally give up on snacking. That's just asking for failure. So be sure to have some healthy foods around so when you do find yourself rummaging through the cabinets, you have some safe options. Be sure not to overdo it though. Even the good stuff like carrot sticks and hummus can add up in calories pretty fast.

5. Take a walk. Next time you have an urge to open the fridge, take a walk instead. Even just a lap around the block can snap you back into perspective and help you focus on your goals. Burn some calories rather than taking some in.

6. Make sure you're eating enough protein and healthy fats throughout the day. Mindless snacking can sometimes be a result of a nutrient deficiency, especially the big ones like protein and fat. When you're not getting enough of the good stuff, your brain goes into survival mode and will beg you to eat just about anything in sight. Fill up on healthy protein and fat daily to avoid giving in to your cravings.

7. Drink some water. Believe it or not, sometimes what we think is hunger is actually thirst. Dehydration can lead to similar feelings of hunger and sometimes a big glass of water does the trick. Next time you find yourself in the kitchen looking for a snack, have a glass of water and wait 15 minutes. If you're still hungry, reach for a healthy snack but if the feeling passes, you may have just been thirsty.

8. Brush your teeth! Or use mouthwash. It may sound silly but honestly, the fresh, minty feeling can really turn the snacking temptations off. While it's unrealistic to brush your teeth in every scenario, try it when you're home!

9. Keep "junk" food out of your house. The number one way to prevent junk food snacking is to not have access to it. While we know it is so simple to drive somewhere and grab it, keeping it out of your house will severely limit your intake.

10. Find something else to do! Sometimes the urge to snack is so strong we can't just talk ourselves out of it. When this happens, leave the house! Get your hands dirty. Find something distracting to do: yard work, paint your nails, organize your closet, call a friend.