I know many of you are stuck at home during these tough times … which may have thrown you off your routine. I know it has definitely thrown me off mine.
- Different schedules
- Less activity
- Gym closures
- More downtime
All things that can throw you off your game.
One of the biggest struggles that people are needing help with lately has been with mindless snacking out of boredom.
Snacking at home is definitely a challenge, but here are some tips to follow to help prevent mindless eating:
Plan Your Meals
Plan out your meals for the day and know exactly what you are going to eat and when you are going to eat it.
If you skip and miss meals, you are much more likely to overeat or mindlessly snack. Plan out snacks as well. Pre-portion them so you have exactly the right amount. When your brain knows there is a plan in place, you will be much more mindful of what you are eating.
Treat Your Snacks Like Meals
Put your snack on a plate, sit down, turn off your phone and other distractions, and solely focus on the food. Treat it as if it were a full meal. By paying more attention to your food, you will better recognize when you are full. Instead of paying attention to your phone or tv and mindlessly eating more food.
Eat Less Processed Food
Shoot for high protein, healthy fats, and veggies! These types of foods are nutrient dense and will typically keep you fuller, longer … they are also harder to over eat.
Junk foods are loaded with additives, sugars, and unhealthy ingredients and can make it much harder to stop eating once you have started.
Stay Hydrated
Sometimes we snack because we think we are hungry … but we actually just haven’t had enough water.
Drinking plenty of water throughout the day is a great way to keep appetite controlled and prevent your mind from thinking it's hungry when you actually just need some H2O!
You should always shoot for 120 ounces of water each day.
Control What’s In Your Pantry
If you’re struggling with resisting unhealthy snacks, don’t buy them. You can also try to store them in hard to reach places, or even hide them. Basically, keeping them where you can't actually see them … out of sight, out of mind.
These tips should make a big difference and help cut down on snacking at home. As always … if you need help planning out your meals and snacks, reach out to one of our Certified Sports Nutrition Specialist. We will be glad to customize a plan specifically for you, and help you get through these times.
Note - the safety of our customers as well as our employees is our number one focus right now. All store locations are open regular hours, and have been exceeding all CDC recommendations for cleaning and store safety.
Each store has also started offering curbside pickup as well as free shipping. Just give your local Supplement Superstores a call and we can get you squared away.
**This article was written by Andrew Lynn. Andrew is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, and NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist and has a Bachelors in Science Nutrition and Dietetics.
