Boredom eating at work can pack on the pounds so here’s what to do about it
We’ve all been there. You had breakfast or lunch a couple of hours ago. You have also finished everything on your desk that need to be finished “right away.” Now you are feeling a little bit bored and restless and really, really hungry. Or at least you think you’re hungry, at least it would be something to do to fill the time.
Boredom eating at work is a problem that seems to strike anyone, no matter what their job is. There is a reason that police have often been thought of as eating dozens of doughnuts. People see the police always running around and trying to catch the bad guy. The real world cops do an awful lot of sitting around and waiting for something to take action on.
Office workers are usually the worst when it comes to boredom eating because they are also usually sitting for most of their day. Remaining stationary and in one spot for eight hours at a time is eventually going to be tedious, no matter how busy you are from one day to the next.
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There are a couple of different things you can do to try and cut down on the boredom eating, or make sure that if you are eating out of boredom, you aren’t eating something like a Twinkie or something else that will pack on the pounds.
Chew Gum
As long as you aren’t starving yourself at meal time and you are keeping a regular and healthy schedule when it comes to dining, you probably aren’t actually all that hungry at 10:30 or 2:30. Some people simply want something to do and their mind wanders over to getting up and going to get a snack. You can also simply enjoy your body doing anything other than focusing on work and having a sweet or a savory snack is “something.” One great way to defuse that desire to put food in your mouth is to chew a stick of gum,
Sugar free gum will actually serve two purposes, because you’ll get the sweet taste you might be craving and your mouth will be working, in a way fooling your body into thinking you’re eating. If you do turn to gum in order to stop from eating something worse, you should still do it in moderation. Too much of the artificial sweetener can lead to problems of its own,
Drink Water
If you actually are feeling like you are hungry and you don’t want to wear out your jaw you can fill your gut with water instead of Ho-Ho’s or potato chips. Drinking a ton of water will trick your stomach into thinking it’s full of food. This certainly isn’t something you should always do instead of eating, but when talking about office snacking it will do the trick.
If You Eat, Eat Healthy
Drinking water has its own kind of drawbacks, including having to run back and forth to the bathroom all the time. Its also possible that after a while, the desire to actually eat food and have something substantial other than gum or water in your belly.
If you simply must eat, you should find something to eat that doesn’t qualify as “junk food.” You can outfit the office refrigerator with fruits and vegetables and munch on those when you are getting the hankerings. Chop up a couple of carrots or celery sticks and put them in a baggy and keep it in a cooler under your desk. When you want to put something in your mouth you can go with these and you will actually be snacking beneficially.