Evening Nibbles and other Danger Zones

It seems that ever since the cooler weather has moved in, even worse, since the clocks have changed and it is dark by 4:15 pm, many people seem to have gotten off track. They are especially nibbling more in the evening, or dinners seem larger, or there is more snacking between the time people arrive home and when they eat their supper. Coupled with this is less activity. It is hard to go to the gym when it's dark and cold. It's hard to even go downstairs and spend 15 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical, when we are ‘warm and cozy' upstairs.

So, do we give in and eat, do we just avoid exercise or do we realize that this sort of lifestyle will not make us healthy and do something about it? It really is tough this time of year and it takes effort (mental-emotional) to watch intake and continue exercise.

I re-read Dr Wansink's Book ‘Mindless Eating', looking for hints as to what people can do. He talks about ‘Creating Distraction-Free Eating Scripts”

• Rescript your diet danger zones. We all have various eating scripts for the five most common diet danger zones-dinners, snacks, parties, restaurants, desks/dashboards. A common dinner script-particularly for men-involves eating second helpings of most foods until everyone at the table is finished or until the food is gone. I f such a man wanted to rescript his dinner, he might try being the last one to start eating, pacing himself with his spouse, serving triple helpings of the healthy foods and single helping of the potatoes, and not include bread. Similarly, after work snacking could be rescripted with a stick of gum rather than whatever is in the refrigerator.

• Distract yourself before you snack. Distractions are good news and bad news. They are good when they prevent us from starting to snack. They are bad when they prevent us from stopping. At home you can make your snacking life less distracting and less alluring by eating in one room only, such as the dining room or kitchen.

• Serve yourself before you start. If you can't distract yourself from a yummy snack, you can minimize the damage it does in a distracting situation (such as eating in front of the TV). To avoid "eating until it's finished,” dish yourself out a ration before you start. Eating straight from a box, bag or serving bowl is a recipe for regret.

Try some of these things. Make yourself a mindful eater. Remind yourself every evening that ‘night is a danger time' and come up with solutions to avoid mindless snacks.

Don't make the cold or the dark an excuse not to exercise. Just start. You will feel energized afterwards. Commit to just a short duration of exercise to start, but keep up consistency (at least 3 to 4 times per week).

We are all struggling. Come up with solutions that work for you. Don't feel guilty, just search for ways that you can minimize calorie damage.

You can do it. Just keep on trying, and don't ever give up!

Dr. Doug