Stop Adding Stress to Your Plate

October is the beginning of the “holiday eating season.” From Halloween through New Year’s Day, sweets and other goodies often find their way into homes and offices. Many people find themselves dreading what that means for their weight and waists.

Instead of stressing about it, this year try adding a few mindful eating tips to your personal wellness toolkit. Armed with a few effective strategies, you might find yourself navigating the tasty temptors without overindulging or feeling guilty.

Becoming healthier doesn’t have to be a big, unpleasant, time consuming task. Small changes over time can lead to big results.

Here are a few mindful eating tips to add to your health and wellness toolkit.

1)     Put unhealthy snacks in a solid container: Instead of beating yourself up for buying candy, then torturing yourself by trying to ignore it, simply move it from clear containers (or  from the original bag with all it’s delicious pictures) to a container you can’t see into.  This works! A study found that people ate less candy when the container was changed from a clear jar to an opaque jar.

2)     Move snack jars to the other side of the room: If you’ve already put your tempting snacks into a solid container but still find yourself eating more than you’d like, move it to a location at least six feet away.  Another search study found that people ate half as much candy when a container was moved from the top of their desk to across the room.  It’s more challenging to mindlessly eat if you have to first get up and walk across the room to get the food.

3) Decide in advance and save the proof: If you’re going to treat yourself to a favorite food or snack decide how much of a splurge you’re going to have before you get caught in the throes of a Halloween candy office bonanza.  Once you decide your upper limit, keep a reminder in front of you until you’re done.  A desk full of candy wrappers gives a more accurate count of how much you ate than your post splurge memory might. Plus, the visual image can deter you from mindlessly reaching for something you don’t really want to eat.

4) Create natural stopping points: If the jumbo size bag of your favorite candy was on sale for an amazing price and you “had” to buy a bag or two, don’t despair.  You can still exercise discipline after the fact. Look at the serving size on the bag.  Divide the bag into servings and put them into smaller baggies or containers.  Put those out of site (tip 1), ideally some place far away (step 2), and decide how much and how often you’ll indulge (step 3.)

Remember, improving personal wellness might not be easy, but it’s probably easier than you think.  Make small, gradual changes and keep building on your success. You can do this!

Be well!