This is one of the more common sense pieces of advice I give to my patients, but it needs repeating. Even though you have a snack here and there during the day, all of those little nibbles and bites can add up BIG time.
For example I have multiple patients who work in the hospital setting always on the go. There are candies and cookies basically being thrown in your face because everyone brings them (cookies/candies) to work for coworkers (for some reason although this is ironic in a hospital, which is supposed to promote health, but I digress). You walk by the candy bowl and pop a “fun” sized Nestle Crunch or Snickers. This happens 5-10 times per day. Boom… there is an extra 300-800 calories depending on the type of “fun” candy.
We think it isn’t much because they are small and insignificant at the time. We are on the go so there is no mindfulness going into eating them and there sure as hell isn’t much satiation either (see why you’re still hungry).
So what are you supposed to do when super yummy foods are being thrown at your face? Good question.
First, recognize that you do it. Easier said than done but I bet if you’re reading this and you currently fall into this practice, you’re already thinking about that candy bowl at work.
Second, bring fruit to work. Be the advocate of health at work. You be the change. Maybe others will follow suit. If you bring fruit, at least you will have it nearby to grab hopefully instead of the unfilling candy. You can’t force others to change but you may be able to show them the way.
Third, if you can at least sit down for 5 minutes to have an actual meal (try the legume lunch), then do it! This may decrease the excess candy snacking (or maybe not). I know a lot of people on the go just eat muffins and granola bars all day with the candies in between. This might help give you some actual sustenance. On the other hand, the candy snacking may have nothing to do with hunger and all to do with the fact that it is thrown in your face.
Night time snacking
This is very common as well and happens a lot of times to patients who come home hungry after work or who have cravings after dinner. I usually fix this by having an apple and possible a protein shake right at the end of my work day. That way I don’t get home and rummage the pantry. This has been helpful for my patients as well.
Many patients will still crave foods though even with these tips. For these patients, we discuss medicines. I will be talking about medicines in another blog, but for now checkout my book The Fat Loss Prescription (Get here on Amazon Kindle and paperback)
Bottom line
Realize that these little bites add up. The calories could easily amount to an extra 10 (or many more) pounds around your waist.
