Stress eating (AKA How do I keep from shoving everything into my mouth at the end of the day?)

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I did so well all day, but the end of day just makes me want to start shoving food in my mouth and not stop! DH is coming home; I feel like I haven't accomplished anything all day (and today I kinda didn't, except for setting myself back up for food tracking etc.); DD9 is desperate to help me cook, which is really difficult for me; the next few days are going to be packed to the gills; neither kid wants to get their rear in the shower and we have to argue about it, and so on. I made one of my favorite meals, which is, unfortunately, very high carb, and I just want to eat the whole pot. I have to keep myself from popping things in my mouth without even thinking about it! I even had a huge salad before I started cooking, but it's not hunger that's the problem, I guess. 

 

How do you defeat your eating triggers, especially when you can't actually walk away from the food? If you have some coping mechanisms to share, I would love to hear them.

 

Thanks.

[kiana]

I keep something else around that I can pop into my mouth with very little caloric alteration. Baby carrots are a good example -- even if you eat an entire pound of them, that's under 200 calories.

 

Edit: I also put the food AWAY. If it's sitting out, that's an invitation to continue eating.

[5of5]

wine?   :001_rolleyes:

[MotherGoose]

Chewing gum?

[Arcadia]

Lollipops that does not have artificial food coloring for kids and me. We take a long time to finish a lollipop.

[Heatherwith4]

Going for a walk. Drinking a cup of decaf coffee or tea. Sitting down with a book or TV show. Doesn't always work though.

[LostSurprise]

Substitution: at least 16oz of water or herbal tea before you can have X food, X food can happen but only 1-2x a day and in pre-measured portions, special low cal or high fiber snacks with only a specific number eaten per day.

 

Elimination: don't buy it, don't bring it in the house

 

Redistribution: make meals smaller or without carbs and schedule in a limited number of carby (with fat or protein) snacks per day. Take a snack time when you're craving. 

 

Distraction: exercise, creative pursuits, online only during craving times instead of eating, call a friend and have a long chat, 

 

 

Right before dinner is one of the worst for me. It's a circus here. I find pre-planning meals and cooking through the time while embracing the crazy seems to help. I'm distracted. If necessary I eat a handful of almonds while cooking. That usually tides me through cranky-hungry. 

[Btervet]

This is the hardest thing for me to overcome with eating issues. I've had some success with the following, but I find I have to change tactics every few weeks to stay successful:

 

Full glass of water before food

 

Tictacs

 

Wine

 

Don't buy easy to eat food - If I have to cook it at night I won't bother.

 

Cough Drops

 

Healthy snacks - presliced bell peppers, baby carrots, broccoli. 

 

10 sets of stairs before a snack.

[mamaraby]

Fiber - low calorie density, but helps to trigger satiety mechanisms. If I'm full/satisfied, I don't want to eat. If I've eaten calorie dense food that hits my calorie target without also triggering satiety then all bets are off. Focus on lowering the overall calorie density of your meals and snacks. Unlimited veg, pretty darn near unlimited starchy veg and intact grains, followed by fresh or frozen fruit, and then on up the ladder so to speak.

 

Chances are, if air popped popcorn or carrots and cucumbers don't sound appealing to me, then I'm not that hungry. FTR, I love air popped popcorn, carrots, and popcorn everyday and five times on Sunday (so to speak) so it's a good hunger gauge for me. Tonight while making dinner, the carrots were lovely and I could totally make it the next 50 minutes until the meal would be ready. :0)

[texasmama]

I have a sweet tooth, but I have found if I blend a frozen banana in the Vitamix with a bit of almond milk and some stevia, it works for me.  Before the Vitamix, I just did it in a regular blender.  I make it thick like ice cream.  Sometimes I put frozen pineapple or coconut in it.  Decaf coffee with creamer helps my sweet tooth, too. 

[mamaraby]

Oh, one ingredient banana "ice cream" is HUGE here, too. We like it with bananas, cherries, and a few dark chocolate chips. It's fantastic with raspberries. Or nut butter. You can do the same thing with frozen pineapple.

[Anne in CA]

The low calorie smoothie helps a lot some days.

[JFSinIL]

Almost 9pm here, and I am nibbling a huge green salad with lots of little tomatoes, no dressing (I detest salad dressing, and without it my salad becomes finger food ;-).  To quell the munchies I tend to save my big bowl of greenery for evening, so I have something healthy to munch on.  So try moving your salad to evening? 

[momacacia]

I have heard that eating more good fats during the day helps keep the nighttime munchies away.

[pehp]

I used to have this problem in a big, big way, but don't anymore. For me I think just focusing on self-care and priorities during the day helps so much, b/c I don't feel as stressed later.  Getting through my daily list is helpful (even if I don't get it all done, I stay on top of it every day).  Once the habit is broken it does get easier.  Now I do not feel the urge to eat when stressed, but for YEARS I did.  Some of the things that helped me were:

 

*giving myself regular treats throughout the day (cup of tea, book, hot bath at night, yoga stretching, etc)

*distracting myself from it (hot bath, sewing or knitting while watching a movie, etc)

*getting enough sleep (if I am over-tired, my desire to eat carbs shoots through the roof)

 

I don't use wine because of my addictive personality and family history of alcoholism, but I do drink a lot of pellegrino!!!

 

Hang in there! And be kind to yourself. 

[Garga]

What the others have said.

 

Two big ones for me: don't buy stuff that's bad for me. If it's not in the house I can't eat it. I give you permission to go through the cupboards and throw away perfectly good food that's not good food. I mean, go ahead and toss whatever junk food you have, even if it's brand new and never been opened. Just get it out of the house.

 

Then: buy stuff that you can eat with minimal impact. I've recently found some rice cakes from Aldi that aren't too horrible and do a great job of keeping me from eating candy bars. I used to eat about 1 candy bar a day. The rice cakes are a much better choice than that!

[Susan in TN]

Eat a "large enough" dinner. Bounce on the mini-tramp. Have some hot tea.

 

It is tough, but I find that if I can discipline myself and not eat anything after dinner, after about 2 weeks I stop wanting to eat at that time. I am on day 2 of those 2 weeks after many many months of eating whatever/whenever - mostly due to stress. It has been hard, but I keep telling myself I can "survive" anything for a couple of weeks.

[AndyJoy]

This may sound dumb, but one thing that works for me in the after-dinner hours is to have a small healthy snack, drink a glass of water, then brush, floss, and use fluoride rinse even if bed is a few hours away. The thought of redoing my tooth regimine is a good deterrent.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Thanks everyone, some great ideas here. My problem isn't even so much the post-dinner hours. It's more like from 5:00-8:00--those hours when the whole day sort of starts speeding up like a freight train in the massive rush of dinner/DH's arrival/what do we need to do for tomorrow/why is this house such a wreck/OMG I can't believe how late it is/how many times do I have to tell you to get in the shower/KIDS, GO TO BED!!! Or maybe that's just here in my house :lol: And usually I'm trapped in the kitchen with the food for most of that period, and even the non-junk food is a problem when I'm eating it thoughtlessly *sigh* 

 

Anyway, thank you for all your thoughts. Frankly, the big glass of ice water would have actually helped a lot, I think! Freezing cold water does seem to satisfy something in me. I NEED to remember that. Self-care is wonderful. Maybe if I could stop the freight train feeling, I wouldn't be so stressed and out of control. I already chewed too much gum today, and I ate so much salad I couldn't even face more veggies :lol: I don't like wine that much unless it's on the sweeter side, so that defeats the purpose anyway, and Mike's, my drink of choice, might as well just be soda. 

 

OK, I blew it on dinner, but I'm channeling my inner Scarlett O'Hara. Tomorrow is another day!

 

 

[Night Elf]

Can you move your kitchen activities to another room in the house? Why do you need to be in the kitchen after dinner clean-up? Can you plan tomorrow's events before 5:00pm? What else can you do before 5:00pm that will ease those few hours for you? How about flavored water using fruit? Dd has taken to using oranges, cucumbers and lemons in her water. She just refills her cup and her water is flavored with fresh fruit. She said that is satisfying because it's almost like eating something.

 

I can relate to the late period of eating though. Mine is 7:00 to 10:00. I save points (I'm on Weight Watchers, but calorie counting could be done here) knowing I'll need snacks during that period. I try to have something substantial though, like a sandwich or a waffle. That satisfies true hunger. Then if I'm in a mood just to munch, I usually go for something crunchy like popcorn or carrots. If I want something sweet, I do a fruit like grapes or oranges. I'm afraid I'm a clock watcher. I know if I can just hang on, I really will slow down and stop before bed. Oh, and another thing that works for me is getting into bed at 9:00 and reading. That takes me away from the kitchen and distracts me until bed time. I know your hours are earlier though. Still, do you have to be up and focusing on everything around you and you wander into the kitchen, or can you sit still for a while to read a book or flip through a magazine?

[Soror]

I usually have an afternoon snack, too long between lunch and dinner, so I plan on it and if you aren't starving your less likely to go for crap. #2 if I still want to nosh I eat something like carrots and I eat as many as I want without guilt.

[jenn-]

Have you had enough food to eat before 5? I tend to snack more from 5-bed if it's a noneating day for me. That means I was too busy to remember to eat much throughout the day. On days that I stop and have a real breakfast and lunch, I don't snack as much.

[Laura Corin]

Sugar-free gum and lots of water help me.

 

I have also changed my eating schedule: I know that I always want to eat when I get home from work, so I just delay lunch until that time, eat a satisfying meal then, then a light supper with the family.

 

L

[VaKim]

Afternoon tends to be my time of wanting to eat everything in sight. Not so much stress here, as boredom, since I do most everything that needs done before noon, and then again at and after supper. Anyway, the only thing I am finding that works for me is saving my calories by skipping breakfast. I know not everyone can do that though. 

[JFSinIL]

Sometimes I find an apple, sliced into many pieces, takes a while to eat, looks like a lot, and the sweetness is satisfying. 

[redsquirrel]

Thanks everyone, some great ideas here. My problem isn't even so much the post-dinner hours. It's more like from 5:00-8:00--those hours when the whole day sort of starts speeding up like a freight train in the massive rush of dinner/DH's arrival/what do we need to do for tomorrow/why is this house such a wreck/OMG I can't believe how late it is/how many times do I have to tell you to get in the shower/KIDS, GO TO BED!!! Or maybe that's just here in my house :lol: And usually I'm trapped in the kitchen with the food for most of that period, and even the non-junk food is a problem when I'm eating it thoughtlessly *sigh* 

 

Anyway, thank you for all your thoughts. Frankly, the big glass of ice water would have actually helped a lot, I think! Freezing cold water does seem to satisfy something in me. I NEED to remember that. Self-care is wonderful. Maybe if I could stop the freight train feeling, I wouldn't be so stressed and out of control. I already chewed too much gum today, and I ate so much salad I couldn't even face more veggies :lol: I don't like wine that much unless it's on the sweeter side, so that defeats the purpose anyway, and Mike's, my drink of choice, might as well just be soda. 

 

OK, I blew it on dinner, but I'm channeling my inner Scarlett O'Hara. Tomorrow is another day!

 

Right there: make yourself a 'mini-dinner' that you eat between 4:30-5:30.  You are prob actually hungry then and need the food.  I have maybe 1/2 a can of tuna on romaine lettuce leaves, or half a cup fiber one cereal and half a cup full fat plain yogurt (greek or not), a smoothie with some added whey protein powder (I own a vitamix), a quick egg white and salsa omlette, half an avocado smushed on a slice of bread, etc, etc.

 

If that is your hungry time, then accept that and make it work for you.

[Guest2]

When I tried freezer cooking, it helped. Not having the stress of making a full mealat the end of the day was great. I still needed to make veggies as a side, but if I was out of the kitchen , I could set a timer, so we could all pick up. The house looked a lot better, which made me feel better. Then I'd talk to husband about our days while steaming a veg....and truth to tell half of the time it was in the micorwave.

[UmMusa]

I hear you OP!  I blame on my having to be IN the kitchen so friggin much during the day... I mean the food is RIGHT THERE!!! All kinds of foods... *sigh*

I get envious of DH from the aspect that he is busy commuting or doing some thing else (outside of the kitchen or even the house) and so he just comes in to eat and then walks out again.  Much less temptation because he is 'busy' elsewhere while I am 'busy' where there is FOOD :D

 

No great advice from me.  I started tracking calories this week again on the Lose It app and it sure makes you realize how many calories you're blowing on popping a thing or two here and there in your mouth.  I think it's mental and you just have to say 'nope, not gonna do it'.

 

I find if I walk a mile or two a day it helps me feel 'good' in that I'm just naturally not tempted to stress eat.