How to keep your fingers off those cookies? That’s a tough question to answer when your mouth is watering and there’s nobody around to hide the packet away for you! If you’re trying to cut the calories, you’ll be cursing that craving, but don’t give up! Here are some simple tips for getting a grip on grazing, particularly when home alone.
- Put tempting foods out of reach. Give some to a friend to store for a given time, keeping the rest locked away somewhere. You could give your friend the key too, or at least keep it in the furthest and most inconvenient corner of your home, so that if temptation gets the better of you, you’ll at least burn off a few calories retrieving the goodies.
- Store other tantalizing foods in the freezer. If you’re tempted to pick, you’ll have to wait for the items to thaw first, by which time you may have found the willpower to refrain. Cook your own meals rather than buying them ready made. The process will keep mind and fingers occupied, and get you moving around too.
- Check your kitchen for high-calorie foods you’d be better without, and give them away. They’d be well received at your local food bank, for example. Alternatively, offer them to a friend or relative in exchange for something other than food, such as an item of clothing.
- Keep a raw carrot, celery stick or cucumber chunk in a handy place for peckish moments. The hungrier you are, the more you’ll appreciate its natural crunch and flavour. Notice, too, how well it fills the gap!
- If your daily routine includes a high-calorie snack at a certain time, try skipping it one time. How did you cope? Okay? Well, you can do it again then!
- Take up a new hobby, ideally involving your hands, such as carpentry, craft work, music, painting or photography. This will keep your fingers off the food while also adding an exciting new dimension to your life!
- Fill up on salad at the start of your meal, before indulging in fattening favourites. Have you still got room for that treacle tart? Stuff in more salad, then!
- Fit your meal into a time slot between commitments, preventing opportunities for second helpings or extras. If you’re rushing off to a meeting, for instance, you can’t be tucking into apple pie at the same time!
- Dress for dinner! Put on your smartest, most shapely outfit, as if for a date. Admire yourself in the mirror and take a selfie. Now, sit down to your meal like royalty at a banquet. Eat with elegance! A binge just wouldn’t fit the image, or the outfit!
- Eat your lighter meals while undertaking a sedate activity, such as doing a crossword puzzle or sketching the view. Your focus on the task will keep your mind a step back from the meal and unnecessary extras.
- Before biting into fattening favourites, see if you can put yourself off them! Reading the ingredients may do the trick. Do you really want to stuff yourself with all those chemical additives, and is it really your wish to consume those saturated fats and heavy starches? Find some images of overweight people, perhaps online or in a magazine, and be proud of the fact that you are in control of your weight and shape. Now, just pack those treats away and get on with that new enterprise of yours!
- Still tempted? Well, if you are tearing your hair out over some particular delicacy, perhaps you should allow yourself a half portion. The remainder, mind, must be saved for tomorrow. But the indulgence will be much more enjoyable if you have worked for it, so how about a quick march round the block first? When you get home, you may find you’ve left that yearning behind somewhere.
Once you start on these simple steps, your food cravings will fade. You’ll be back in control, with a new zest for life, too!
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