Snacking is an Emotional Event

I have taken the quote ‘snacking is an emotional event’ from Dr. Robert Cywes. The reasons are that first off, it’s true. Second, it helps me each and every time I reach for food. I’m not always successful, mind you, but it helps me to remain mindful of why I am reaching for a snack, and it hopefully allows me to put the food down and do something else.Realizing why we are eating helps us to develop resilience in the future when faced with the same temptations. For example, my worst time is mid or end of day when I am faced with a stack of charts that I now must enter into my electronic records. This can add on an hour to each day’s work. I suppose it’s a form of procrastination or frustration (having to do paper work when I would rather be heading to the gym or home), but my immediate reaction to this is to reach to readily available protein bars. Not one or two mind you, but sometimes 3 or 4 depending on the pile of work that I must complete. Emotional event indeed! This is not a response to hunger but instead a response to an inner dialogue of “I need a break”.Surprisingly, when I am home, and reading or listening to new medial information, I’m excited and much less likely to snack. I believe Dr. Cywes is so correct in saying ‘we eat according to our emotions’. For most of our patients the emotional eating happens in the evening. It is likely not frustration or anxiety that triggers this behavior, but rather it is boredom as we sit in front of the TV, or the misguided thought that we must snack before bed in order to fall asleep.Always remain vigilant as to why you are snacking. Are you Tired? Frustrated? Tense? Bored? Anxious? What is your underlying emotion? If you can recognize what it is, maybe it will lead to finding something other than food to relieve these emotions. Ideally, we would do some sort of exercise, or get away from the trigger, or just not have processed snacks nearby.The more we recognize the triggers, and the more we use alternatives other than food to alleviate the emotional event, the more we will be in control of our food (and hence our weight) in the future. Today, one client realized that she was eating excessively in the evening because she was tired; instead of eating, she had a short nap! It sounds simple, and it may be, but she found a solution rather than eating.When the weather improves, all of us should go outside in the evening and do some sort of activity. We need to get outside more, and certainly the evening is an awesome time to do so, simply because we are more likely to snack then. One expert asked his clients to do 10 minutes of walking for every unnecessary snack they ate, for me that would easily add up to 50 minutes of some activity today.Try to discover what makes you snack! What are you feeling at the time? What are you thinking about? Then, is there something else you can do to alleviate the feeling other than snacking? At home I stand on a bongo board for a minute or sit on an exercise ball to work on my balance. After doing so the desire for food disappears quickly because I’ve broken that ‘frustration-eat’ scenario.Be mindful. Be aware at all times. Don’t beat yourself up, it’s a learning experience. You are developing resilience every time you overcome and defeat that mood-food issue.Just keep trying. You can do it. Never give up!Dr. B