woman eating fridge chips

Do You Sometimes Find Yourself Eating When You Are Not Really Hungry?

Ever sat down in front of the TV, bag of chips in hand–and before you realize it, you’ve finished the entire bag?

After you’ve finished dinner, do you sometimes find yourself looking around your home for a cookie even though you’re not really hungry?

If so, you’re not alone.

Though snacking can be good for you, too often people snack mindlessly not because they have a physical hunger, but to feed an emotional hunger. But no matter what or how much you eat, you can never satisfy an emotional need with food.

So what to do? : I have a simple, yet empowering and effective approach to help you deal with your emotional or non-hunger snacking. It’s just three easy steps:

Stop. Think. Write.

Stop: If you’re filling yourself up with food to compensate for other things in your life, it’s time to take a step back. Food may work as a quick fix, but the more effective long-term solution is to take a step back and work out what’s going on in your life that makes you do this.

Think: Before you snack, ask yourself:  “Am I really hungry?”  May be you’re bored, tired, stressed, angry, lonely, or the thousands of other emotions out there.

Are you using food to cover feelings you don’t want to deal with? Are you lonely?  Are you fed up with your job?

Write: Relax, sit down, take out a piece of paper and write at the top of the page, “What do I need?” and start writing. Write 3 things that you need right now or in your life. You may be surprised to find that it’s not really food you’re hungry for, but for something else in your life.

Recommended Read: How To Beat Sugar Craving?

Well, I don’t want you to think that I’m saying to stop all non-hungry snacking. There’s a place, without any feelings of guilt, for a piece of your friend’s birthday cake, a celebratory glass of wine after the completion of a big project at work, or an ice cream on a hot summer day.  But constantly “soothing” yourself with food because you’re bored, anxious, frustrated or depressed is a definite no-no.

Learn to listen to your mind, your body, and your real hunger and you’ll find snacking will become a response to real hunger — and not an emotional one.

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