Stopping the Snacking Habit

[easyazon_image align=”left” cart=”n” height=”500″ identifier=”151701963X” locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51BY%2BH1YRFL.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”333″]I love snacking, but snacking is just habitual eating. It really doesn’t keep me fueled up. I do it more for the enjoyment and the taste of the food. I do it out of habit. When I was living off of carbohydrates, I did it out of hunger. My body would burn the carbohydrate fuel fast and then suddenly I would be hungry. It became a habit to eat every time I entered a room with food it in. The holidays are the worst. People bake cookies and leave them out as treats. It is tempting to taste someone else’s baked goods.

Make no mistake, I still indulge in the occasional snack. I will taste test a friend’s efforts now and then. However, this post is going to talk about how I psychologically battle the urge to eat all the time.

Set the Goal

Decide that eliminating you snacking habit is something that you want to do. Write this intention down. To stay on track, you can place reminders around you house where you will see them. Place them in prominent places such as the refrigerator, on you mirror, and on you computer.

These will be reminders during the day to stick with you goal. You want to drill it into you subconscious that this new habit is part of you as well! I use the Think Right Now subliminal software program on my computer as I’m working throughout the day. This lets positive affirmations flash and expose me to positive thoughts throughout the day. It isn’t very obtrusive and I notice that I start to think some thoughts that are flashed at me quickly.

Remind yourself of the benefits of sticking with your goal to quit snacking. You will reduce inflammation in your body, reduce your risk of disease, discover more time for other tasks. Eliminating your snacking habit allows  you to focus better on your work and your hobbies!

Positive Affirmations

Repeating positive affirmations regarding you eating habits can help you will power tremendously. There are lots of positive affirmation recordings that you can purchase online to help you with this. Another great thing that you can do is to record you own positive affirmations. If you are stuck on how to construct positive affirmations, then you can always use google to find out how other people are putting theirs together. Some of my favorite positive affirmations for eating healthy are:

  • “I only eat when I am hungry,” and
  • “I love to eat healthy food.”
  • “I avoid snacking whenever possible.”
  • “I love to eat healing foods when I am hungry.”[easyazon_image align=”right” cart=”n” height=”336″ identifier=”B007O98NMW” locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/411sjjchJhL.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”448″]

Put the affirmation in the first person and remember to keep it positive and targeted towards you goal.

Plan For Temptations

As Christmas is just around the corner, there are going to be many, many times when you are tempted with holiday foods. One thing to do is to plan to avoid the social situations altogether, which isn’t that much fun, or you can plan ahead. One thing to do is to decide that you will only eat a limited amount of the sweet treats. One thing to do is to bring you own healthy alternative to munch on. One thing to do is to construct a polite response in advance to refuse the foods.

Here are some polite ways to refuse a sweet treat.

  • “No, thanks. It looks lovely, but I’m not hungry.”
  • “That looks delicious, but I’m watching my weight.”
  • “Thank you for the offer. I’m focusing on eating healthy for now.”

Planning ahead of time keeps you in the mindset of achieving you goal. It also gives you an out when you are being tempted with lots of sweet and decadent treats. This helps you to resist unhealthy baked goods and unnecessary snacks. The more you focus on eating only when you are hungry, the easier it becomes.

Have a Consequence

If you slip up and start snacking on terrible food, you may want to assign a consequence to you action. Your consequence could be doing 100 push-ups, or 200 jumping jacks. It could be intermittent fasting the next meal, or eating kale and mustard greens (these are my least favorite greens, but they are very healthy). Assigning a consequence that puts you back on track in a healthy way helps you to not feel so terrible about getting off track on you diet. It pushes you to adopt healthier habits. It can help you avoid snacking if the consequence of snacking is eating a vegetable that you dislike or pushing you limits with exercise.

Conclusion

The holidays are going to happen. We are going to be tempted with sweet treats that aren’t healthy for us. The last thing that you want to do is allow yourself to wallow in self-pity or get so far side tracked that you can’t get you healthy habits back on track. One thing to do is to create a healthier lifestyle for you and you family. Keep in mind, better health is a marathon and not a sprint. You will get to the finish line, but there will be many times along the way that you want to quit. Keep it up. Connect with other people who are striving for better health. There are lots of great facebook groups and meet up groups that will support you and be positive about the changes that you are making in you life. Tap into those resources. As other’s life you up to success, you’ll find that you are able to share you own tips and tricks with other people and help them out as well! stop snacking

 

 

 

8 thoughts on “Stopping the Snacking Habit”

  1. My crux is definitely cool drinks and using positive affirmations is my key to limiting the habit! Adding a consequence in there will be a huge help going forward.

    Thanks for the post 🙂

  2. As someone who struggles with my weight, I intend to apply this information to my lifestyle! I especially like the part about having a consequence if you step out of your eating plan! Hoping this will help me develop a healthier diet!

  3. I was fond of snacking. Actually, I used to enjoy some snacks during my late night sittings while surfing the net and blogging and never knew that it would become a permanent habit. But with positive affirmations, Hypnosis and mediation I have been able to control my habit.

  4. Hi

    Great information on how to get fit and healthy at home.

    I think it certainly is important to set goal when trying to eat healthy. It is amazing how many times we don’t realise how many calories we are actually putting into our body.

    Great Post and I look forward to some of your future posts.

    Cheers

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