If you notice that you are eating a lot outside of the main meals, it is possible that the reason lies in the presence of hunger. But boredom or stress can also be the cause. If you eat when you are bored, don't be discouraged. You are not alone! However, overeating as a result of boredom or stress can lead to diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and other serious illnesses. It also won't solve the main problem leading to overeating.
Luckily, you can learn healthy habits and fight off offensive boredom. Also check out our article 10 delicious homemade snacks that are easy to make.
Method 1. Assess Your Eating Behavior
1. Keep a food diary. Journaling can help you analyze what you eat each day. This will help control your eating habits. You will begin to pay more attention to what, how, and at what time you use.
- Write down everything you eat and drink in your diary. Also consider the calorie content of the foods, if you like. Use a paper diary, phone, or computer. The most important thing is consistency.
- Record the time and amount you eat. For example, 9:45, 2 sandwiches.
- Take note of what you were doing during this time. Also write in what mood you were. For example, 9:45, 2 sandwiches. I ate this at my desk during the break. I felt stressed about a very important project.
2. Review the diary every week. One week after starting a journal, look back and flip through it. Analyze each entry carefully. For example, how often do you eat while feeling stressed? Where are you and what are you doing when you eat?
- Also notice the different behaviors. For example, if you notice that you eat a lot at work, but not very much when you are at home in the evening, then you may not have enough incentive to work. Or, you are stressed at work and use food as a distraction.
3. Think about your eating habits. What food do you choose when you are bored? Many people gravitate towards fatty, sugary, or high-carb foods when they feel sad, bored, and stressed.
- If you tend to eat whatever you can get your hands on, surround yourself with healthy food. If you buy food from vending machines at school or work, try to choose the healthiest snacks. So you replace the unhealthy with the healthy, which will be less detrimental to you.
Do you feel better after snacking? Are you recharged with energy? Or do you feel tired?
4. Examine your triggers. There are many triggers that make people feel like they need a snack, even if they are not physically hungry. Some are mental and emotional, such as boredom and anxiety. The rest depends on the situation. For example, some people report eating a lot while watching TV. Maybe they find it strange to watch a movie without popcorn and a drink. You may be feeling food cravings at a party. Or, after eating one donut, you feel like you want to eat the whole box. Regardless of the triggers, knowing them can help you avoid overeating.
- Many people notice themselves snacking during various activities (reading, watching TV). In some cases, you can eat 71% more calories if you eat in front of the TV.
- Monitor your fluid intake. Studies show that a large number of people do not notice their thirst. Most often they confuse thirst symptoms with hunger symptoms. Drinking enough water will help you reduce the urge to snack. High levels of anxiety can also lead to feelings of thirst.
Method 2. Develop healthy habits
1. Learn to recognize real hunger. Many people cannot recognize hunger signals, which makes them think they are hungry when they are not hungry. If you don't know how to recognize hunger, there are some tricks you can use to show you when you are really hungry.
Think about the last time you ate. Your hunger cycle peaks about every 90 minutes, but if you ate a couple of hours ago, you probably aren't hungry. (Of course, your nutritional needs may differ if you are an athlete or if your job involves physical labor.)
- Rate hunger on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is "very full" and 10 is "I will die if I don't eat pizza now." You may not be entirely accurate in your estimate at first, but this trick will help you determine if you are really hungry over time.
- Pay attention to physical signals. Rumbling in the stomach, headache, feeling weak and shaky, or feeling tired for no particular reason. All of these signals can indicate that you are hungry.
- Think about whether you are hungry or just craving something? In many cases, if you want certain foods such as chocolate, pasta, or cheese, you just want to get a sense of satisfaction from the specific flavor of those foods.
2. Change the way you eat and drink. Research shows that what you think about food or drink influences your satiety. In one study, people were offered liquid foods: soup, then drink. The participants rated the soup as more satisfying, even though they received equal amounts of soup and drink! You will be satiated with great success if you think this is a complete meal, not a snack.
- Place anything you want to eat on a plate, including snacks. This will help you eat wisely. You can also control portion sizes by replacing your usual plate with a smaller plate.
- Make a personal meal schedule. Set aside time for snacking. This will help you cut back on the amount of food you eat. Eat at a specific time to make your eating behavior more meaningful.
3. Choose more satisfying food. If you find yourself eating a lot between meals, try to make the main meals more filling. Research shows that feelings of fullness or satiety keep you from overeating during the day. Include more fiber such as fruits, vegetables, and grains in your diet. This will saturate you for quite a long time.
- Water-rich foods such as vegetables and fruits will saturate you very well. Try to use them in all meals. If you need a snack, choose a few carrots instead of chips: 30 grams of carrots contains 25 calories, instead of 152 calories in 30 grams of potato chips.
4. Don't skip breakfast. If you prefer a cup of coffee instead of a healthy breakfast, you should reconsider this habit. A large body of research shows that those who skip breakfast are more likely to overeat during the day. They are also more addicted to unhealthy foods high in fat and sugar.
- Low-sugar, high-protein breakfasts are the best choice for those who want to be alert and not hungry during the day.
- A good breakfast enhances alertness and productivity throughout the day. Due to boredom, your attention can often be scattered, it is difficult for you to concentrate on your own thoughts and deeds. If you eat healthy breakfasts every day, the effect will not be long in coming.
5. Slow down and enjoy. It takes 20 minutes for the brain to feel full. If you eat fast, you will eat a lot more, because you are preventing your brain from catching up with you.
- If you want a bar of chocolate, buy a small bar and only eat one piece. Research shows that you will fill up more with a small portion of your favorite food than with a large portion of the same food.
6. Move snacks away. Another study suggests that having snacks and sweets in sight and reach, such as on a desk, increases their consumption. Even getting up and walking across the room to grab a snack will greatly reduce your desire for food.
Method 3. Enrich your daily routine with good habits
1. Get creative. According to research, an uninteresting activity can actually inhibit your creativity in solving problems. If you find yourself bored, try to focus on what will stir up your creative thinking.
- Scientists suggest changing activities during boredom, for example, making a list of useful activities that will take you out of your usual rut. Puzzles and other activities that make you think creatively will also be very helpful.
2. Find an activity that will keep your hands busy. Try nail polishing, needlework, or knitting. If you play a musical instrument, this is a great time to practice. You won't want to snack when your hands are full.
- Any activity that helps push the urge to eat into the background will be very helpful. While you are busy, you have time to think if you are really hungry or if you want to chew on something because you have nothing to do.
3. Chat with friends. Lack of motivation often triggers boredom. When you are bored, you have no incentive to connect with anyone. Connecting with those who matter to you can help relieve boredom.
- If at the moment you cannot meet with your friends in person, write to them on social networks, send a message or call them by phone. Boredom will disappear without a trace.
- If you find yourself at a party where you don't know anyone, play a game. Can you say something interesting or pleasant to a few people? Focus on small things. Interpersonal relationships can help you deal with boredom.
4. Go in for sports. Exercise promotes the release of endorphins, hormones responsible for joy. A brisk walk or short workout will cheer you up and boost your energy. Exercise can also help take your mind off the cravings for food.
Method 4. Learn to be aware of boredom and stress
1. Watch when boredom attacks you. Many things can cause boredom. Queuing at the grocery store or traffic jam are typical situations in which everyone gets bored. People whose job is to perform repetitive tasks without social interaction can also be prone to boredom. In general, time-stealing situations are more boring than effort-based situations.
- Situations with undefined rewards or poor feedback can also cause boredom. For example, no matter how well you drive a car, if you are in a traffic jam, no amount of effort will change the situation. You just have to wait for the plug to clear up. Also, you cannot know how long it will take to fix it. It could be 10 minutes, maybe 2 hours. This is the main reason for boredom, since you cannot influence the situation on your own, you do not know when your "reward" will come and if it will come at all.
- People tend to be most satisfied when they solve a problem despite doubt. If they expect success and receive some kind of reward for solving a problem, they are less prone to boredom.
- For some, high levels of boredom are common. Such people will be bored even in situations in which others will not find room for boredom.
2. Be mindful of your body. When you are bored, your body changes posture and head position. Bored people often slouch or lean back in their chairs. Their heads can be lowered down. Other physical signs of boredom include wanting to cover your eyes and sleepiness.
- Some people react to boredom with movement rather than lethargy. Such people may wiggle their legs or bang their toes on furniture.
3. Determine how you feel when you're bored. Boredom is more than nothing to do. Basically, people get bored when they want some kind of stimulus, but they can't get into reality. Boredom is the feeling of dissatisfaction that comes when you are unable to take care of yourself or your surroundings.
- You can get bored even in highly stimulating environments if you have communication problems. For example, if you don't know anyone at a party, you might get bored even if something interesting is happening.
- Researchers have identified several components of boredom. It appears when you have been concentrating on internal information (thoughts, feelings) and / or external information (what is happening around) for a long time. Use this information to participate in your surroundings to feel fulfilled (the opposite of boredom).
- When you realize that you have been concentrating on something for a long time, you will find the reason for your difficulties.
- Explain to yourself why you are procrastinating certain things by avoiding responsibility. For example, you might say, "I have nothing to do." You probably have something to do, but boredom pushes responsibility into the background.
4. Learn to recognize stress. You can interpret stress as boredom. Stress can also be caused by problems with the world around you, which you define as boredom. If you feel anxious or irritated, if you have difficulty concentrating or making decisions, you are stressed. Also check out our article 10 Best Ways to Relieve Stress.
- Stress has been shown to cause attention problems. When you are under stress, you have trouble concentrating or being interested in something. This is the perfect breeding ground for boredom.
- Every person experiences stress in different ways. For some people, stress manifests itself in the form of physical symptoms such as headache, indigestion, heartburn, fatigue, muscle aches and tension. For others, it manifests itself in anger, sadness, and depression. You may even be experiencing a combination of symptoms.
5. Learn to recognize laziness. When you are worried about being successful in any business, you are lazy. Work-related stress, such as fear of failure or the fear of being uncomfortable in front of a boss, is a cause of laziness. If you are postponing something, you can fill the time with food. Your food diary will help you know when you are eating because you don't want to do work.
- Fight laziness by setting tough deadlines for your projects.
- Remove sources of stress as much as possible. This will help avoid procrastination.
- Try not to judge yourself too harshly for being lazy. Research shows that forgiving yourself and setting yourself up for a better outcome the next time will make you more productive than torturing yourself.
We recommend watching:
Most often, we get bored in the evening, and then every second of us goes to the refrigerator, even if the clock is already past midnight. Fitness Trainer XSFitness talks about how to get yourself to stop eating before bed.
