Are you still sticking to your healthy New Year's Resolutions? Congratulations, not everyone can say they are! And if maybe you hit a hiccup, no sense in totally derailing! I, for one, who have been on a weight loss journey for over a year, know how difficult it is to completely overhaul your nutrition! I was overweight because i'm a huge fan of the snack. I snacked out of boredom, stress, emotions, etc.... My biggest fear embarking a weight loss journey was become less dependent on food for coping. It's a challenge! It still is!
Experts have some tips on how to avoid over-snacking.
For one, evaluate if you're about to grab a snack because you're truly hungry of because you're bored or something else. How can you make this determination? Ask yourself this one question, if there was a bowl of raw vegetables here, would you eat it because you're so hungry or not? If the answer is no, well, you're probably not truly hungry.
Aromatherapy. Experts say the smell of peppermint can curb cravings for snacks. Keep some peppermint spray, drops on hand, chew some peppermint gum.
Drink water. A lot of times, we think we're hungry when we're really just thirsty. If you think you're starving, drink a big glass of water and then re-evaluate.
Get enough sleep. If we aren't sleeping a good amount (7 hours a night), we tend to produce cortisol (the stress hormone) in more abundance and that signals our brains to eat more and crave unhealthy food. When we're tired, we make bad decisions.
And don't slap me for this one, but if you're hungry, go workout. Take a walk. A lot of times, a workout can curb the cravings and it will make you less likely to eat bad food because you don't want to derail all the progress you made in your workout!
Good luck! You got this! We got this!