Most of us are homebound most of the day right now. It’s normal to be experiencing a range of emotions such as boredom, stress, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, etc. It’s only natural that these feelings are impacting our behaviors, and more specifically our behavior with food. We are at home, feeling a range of the emotions I listed above, with access to food all day long… it makes send that this can be leading to behaviors like grazing all day, binge-eating, or making consistent poor food choices. Everything in our life has changed, so it makes sense that our eating likely looks different right now.
Personally, when things started to go sideways I loaded up on lots of food at the store including a lot of snacky foods for Quinn. I feel like her days have turned into a big snack fest because we are home all day with no real agenda. She’s always asking for snacks and I’m finding myself mindlessly taking bites as well. I feel like over these past 5 weeks it’s catching up with me. I’m not eating when I’m hungry…I’m eating when I’m bored, anxious, or just because Quinn is.
While I’m reminding myself (and you!) that it’s natural to see an increase in mindless or binge-type eating to cope with stress or anxiety, or eating out of feelings of deprivation and fear during isolation. Times are weird right now, and it’s only normal that we are having a reaction.
However, I’d like to flip the script a little here. I think right now is actually such a great opportunity to check in with yourself and practice intuitive eating. I wrote a post a while back about intuitive eating and shared the 10 principals of intuitive eating if you need a refresher. When you catch yourself reaching for a snack…start by asking yourself if you’re feeling true physical hunger, or is that an emotion coming up that needs some attention?
Being home more instead of engaging in our typical hectic lifestyles provides us with an opportunity to become more self-aware, pay attention to hunger cues, and eat nourishing food.
Tips to Avoid Mindless and/or Emotional Eating
- Follow a daily routine we have develop somewhat of a normal weekday routine and it helps us stay on track as we move through the day. Write out your routine/to-do list and check it off as you go through the day. This will help give you more purpose and a feeling of accomplishment.
- Eat 3 balanced meals a day don’t skip meals (or snack through a meal) because this will set you up to overeat later on in the day.
- Daily movement exercise improves mood and energy levels. You’re less likely to want to make unhealthy food choices after you’ve done something so good for you body.
- Meal Plan even though every day feels like groundhogs day I still write out a meal plan for the week. Have a plan of what you’re going to eat…I’ve linked some ideas for you: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- Drink plenty of water it’s easy to drink coffee all day until it’s time to switch to wine (we’ve all seen the memes on Instagram). Dehydration can lead to cravings and eating when you’re actually thirsty not hungry. Proper hydration helps us accurately identify hunger cues. Remember to try and drink AT LEAST half your body weight in oz. of water.
- Have healthy snacks on hand that are easy to assemble and already prepped. The last thing you’re going to want to do when hangry or tired is chop veggies. Have the bell peppers, cucumbers and celery already washed, chopped, and ready to be dipped in hummus.
- Don’t buy triggering/unsafe foods quarantine life is not the time to see if you can actually limit yourself to a 1/2 cup serving of ice cream if this is a binge food. Don’t buy those types of food right now and try to stock up on foods that will make you feel good!
Another good reminder is this definition of normal eating I love to read when I’m noticing I’m being self critical.
What is normal eating?
Written in 1983 by Ellyn Satter
Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied.
It is being able to choose food you enjoy and eat it and truly get enough of it – not just stop eating because you think you should.
Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food.
Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good.
Normal eating is mostly three meals a day, or four or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way.
It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful.
Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more.
Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.
In short, normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your hunger, your schedule, your proximity to food and your feelings.
Resources: Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole M.S. R.D. , Elyse Resch M.S. R.D. F.A.D.A.
xx, A
