How to deal with snack attacks
When an attack of the munchies strikes what’s the best way to deal with it?
The editor of a slimming magazine once asked me to write a piece about coping with hunger pangs in the evenings. When the urge to snack is often strongest and most difficult to resist. She wanted something different - not just advising people to have a bath or go for a walk. I came up with a plan to switch eating from the usually-advised: breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord, dine like a pauper. I turned it around to breakfast like a pauper, lunch like a lord but dine like a king. They ran the piece on the basis that it’s not when you eat it’s the amount of calories you consume in a day.
We’re often told to taper our eating as the day goes on because there’s less chance of burning it off later. But this doesn’t suit everyone. Some people can’t eat breakfast while others feel ill if they don’t. Skipping meals is generally seen as a poor way to try to lose weight because you get hungry and over compensate later. Getting to know the times when willpower is at its weakest and finding a way to deal with that can make all the difference to successful weight loss.
My snack attack trigger points come mid afternoon, from about 3-4.30pm, then after my evening meal which I usually have around 6.30pm. Years of trying to control my weight mean I eat early in the evening. But the trouble with that, for me, is I often want to go on eating after I’ve finished my meal. After I’ve had my entire day’s allowance. I face the food wilderness of at least 12 hours before I can eat again, often longer as I tend to be a late riser.
Sitting down with a bowl of crisps or other gorgeous nibbles while watching rubbish on the telly is probably one of the most pleasant ways to spend an evening in the week. Maybe with a can of beer or two or a glass of wine. I suspect many of us indulged in this most pleasurable way of eating during Christmas. And we miss it now.
In summer months I go for a walk after eating my evening meal. I find that sates my appetite and also works as a distraction. But that’s not so easy in the dark evenings or so enticing. So what I do is go back to that plan I wrote in the slimming magazine. I save some calories for the evening. Around 150 or 200 at most. I allow myself to give in to the snack attack when it’s overpowering. But I don’t do this every night. I use the delay tactic. I say to myself, “Do you really want that snack?” I nod. Yes. Yes I do. “Are you sure? Are you really sure?” Yes I want it shut up and let me have it. “Okay you can have it but here’s the deal. Wait half an hour. If you still want it then, you can have it.” Then when the half hour is up I try to wait another 30 minutes. Sometimes this makes the desire fade away. If I can get to 9pm without succumbing I know I’m home free.
Daily weigh-ins are another way to cope with evening cravings. If you know you’re weighing in the following morning it can make you less inclined to give in to a snack attack as you fear it’ll show up the next day. Which if you’re drinking alcohol it very well might.
Afternoon snack attacks are easier to deal with because I know there is food at the end of it. Let me get to 4.30pm I say to myself during an urge to snack at 3pm or 3.30. Then let me get to five. If I can get to five I know I’ll be okay as I eat my tea at 6.30pm. Sometimes I’ll have a lighter lunch to make room for a snack later.
Another thing you can do is eat healthy snacks such as olives, berry fruit, small cubes of Edam. Or if you can manage to limit yourself to just one or two have very high quality dark chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa.
Also trying making one of your meals more like a snack. Such as, say, cheese and biscuits with a delicious spicy pickle. This can feel like a lovely treat. Even a bit naughty as it’s not a proper square meal. But if it stops you snacking later go for it.
Snacks and nibbles are the toughest temptations dieters face. It’s not as difficult to eat three meals a day limiting portion size as it is to ban all snacks. We associate snacking with pleasure whereas we associate meals with necessity.
So if like me you can’t always resist an urge to snack, go with it but limit calories elsewhere or do a bit more physical activity to make up for. One thing we never do is skip a meal to compensate for giving in to a snack attack. Accept you will succumb sometimes. Make it part of your plan. Incorporating snacks is a much better way for long-term weight loss than banning them entirely.