Learn to Manage Misplaced Food Cravings

Meaningless tasks tend to be boring, where meaningful things are not boring, but they may be repetitive. Adjust your mindset to make eating a more meaningful task. Skipping meals might be the cause of feeling overly hungry, which usually results in overeating once you decide to have a snack. To minimize snacking, try eating at regular intervals for starters. When you are bored, it is easy to find yourself rummaging through the cupboards looking for a favorite treat. Unfortunately, empty calories can only satisfy you for so long. Healthy snacks provide longer lasting effects. Once you become more aware of your true hunger cues, you can replace your misplaced cravings for food.

Awareness is the first step in identifying boredom…

Focus on eating healthy foods and distractions that have longer-lasting and more fulfilling effects. Check out the food and non-food strategies for better managing boredom:

• Get Plenty of Rest – Going to bed a little earlier can cut out some of the most challenging hours for nighttime snacking. Moreover, the extra rest will help you stay energized the next day, which helps anyone better manage boredom in their life.
• Practice Mindful Eating – Mindfulness about what you eat can help you cope with emotions as well as better appreciate physical sensations of hunger and satiety.
• Plan Your Snacks – In the absence of hunger, it is easy to turn to food when you are bored watching TV or doing a mind-numbing task. Boredom eating may offer temporary relief, but it can have a negative effect, so plan for healthy sized snacks.
• Move, Move, & Move – Boredom eating can be triggered by a host of negative emotions. However, it also leads to unconscious overeating. Before you give in to a sudden food craving, get up and move. Take a short walk, make up your bed, but do something to change up your brain chemistry.

Pay closer attention to your task at hand…

Boredom eating occurs when you are in the throes of a physical, emotional, or mental stressor. It is natural to gravitate toward comfort foods to escape dealing with your emotions by deferring them for a later time, but that strategy is usually less effective. Even though it can be hard to believe, studies have shown that being busy is a better alternative than being bored. People who are focused on the task at hand are happier than those who are idle or have a more bored downtime. Boredom is most often caused by being stuck in a situation that is repetitive or monotonous. Since attention span is closely linked to being bored, it is important to pay closer attention to your task at hand.

Contact Metabolic Research Center to give yourself a new kind of power - the power to do things right, the power to move your life forward, the power to say no more to boredom eating and YES to a healthier you.