How to stop the habit of boredom eating

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Eating when we're bored is a habit I'm sure most of us can relate to. We know what it feels like to be sitting around the house on a lazy Saturday or Sunday and walk over to the fridge, opening it up in hopes there might be something in there that will give us a moment of excitement.Maybe we find something exciting in there, maybe we don't.If we do, that excitement is gone before we know it. And now we've consumed a few hundred calories, probably calories we don't need.Read my story of going from an overweight BMI to a healthy BMI by quitting sugar in 2016 here.

Understand how habits work

Source = CharlesDuhigg.com, author of The Power of HabitsJust having this awareness helps us change habits.

Cue-->Routine-->Reward

• A cue might be "I feel bored".
• The routine might be "when I feel bored, I walk to the refrigerator".
• The reward might then be "grabbing a Dr. Pepper and drinking it".

In order to rewire this habit, we have to practice mindfulness when we notice the cue.

New Cue-->Disrupt Routine-->New Reward

• A cue might be "I feel bored".
• The disrupted routine might be "I'm noticing that I feel bored, normally I walk to the refrigerator but this time I'm going to put on my workout clothes and go for a hike/a run/to yoga".
• The reward might then be "feeling high from a workout and the long-term benefits of not eating too much".

After 6 to 10 weeks or so (studies show that different habits take different amounts of time for different people to set in) of diligently practicing routine disruption when we notice our cue, the disruption becomes the routine.

Visualizing long-term reward

I once read a study that participants who looked daily at a digitally-manipulated photo of themselves to look much older put way more money into retirement than those who didn't look at a photo of their projected older self.The participants who looked at the photo were visualizing their future self reaping the reward of their present actions.A helpful mantra I used when quitting sugar was, "I know this sweet-treat will be tasty right now, but my future self will thank me for having a salad instead."When I make food choices I visualize:

• how I'm going to feel right after I eat it
• how I'm going to feel in 1, 2, or 3 hours (maybe food coma?)
• how I'll feel after a month of eating this way
• how I'll feel after a year of eating this way

With this visualization I'm able to choose healthier foods for the benefit of my future self.Our brains are unfortunately wired from hunter-gatherer days to want sweet, fatty, and salty things right now. Luckily we evolved with rational brains capable of overcoming our short-term urges, but we have to develop the skill to override our impulses. Over time with diligent practice, it won't take as much willpower to do it.When it comes to boredom eating, before we consume food or drink, we can visualize how we'll feel after consuming it to help us choose something else.

Replace dangerous foods and drinks with better choices

My favorite drink when I need a treat or I'm bored is sparkling water. LaCroix is having a moment right now so I'm not the only one who loves sparkling water.Add lemon or a rosemary sprig to make it extra party.Check out my list of healthy alternatives to your favorite sweet-treats here.

Drink a full glass of water

...then see if you're still actually hungry.

Make a weekly or daily schedule for your time in advance and/or a task list

Sometimes we sit around and eat because we have too many choices of things to do with our time. By planning out your week or day in advance, such as making a schedule the night before, our day has direction and purpose and we don't get stuck not knowing what to do.Example: set a goal to do a new long hike every Saturday. Set a goal to always leave the house by a certain time. Know what snacks you pack. Track your hikes over time by posting photos to Instagram or printing them out on Parabo Press and hanging them up at home.If you know you need to clean the house, write down a list of each actionable task. This will help you unfreeze yourself from the seeming enormity of all the tasks.

Be excited about your life and pick challenging goals

Examples:

• learn a new craft like knitting, sewing, macrame, working on cars, woodworking, pottery, etc
• learn a new sport like surfing, swimming, running, tennis, skiing, etc
• sign up for a challenging sporting event like a race or triathlon as motivation to train
• learn a new skill that will advance your career or help you start a side business
• take a free University class on Coursera.org
• enroll in a degree program full-time or at night after work
• start writing a book or a blog
• dedicate yourself to learning a lot about a new topic: order 5-10 books online or get them at the library and spend several hours a day reading them. Pretty soon you're an expert!
• join a league from board games to basketball
• volunteer for a worthy cause
• make catching up with friends and family by phone or in-person a priority on the weekends or evenings and put these dates on your calendar

If you're excited about your life and are working on challenging new things, you'll be less likely to eat out of boredom (because you won't be bored!).

Understand how we eat to self-soothe

This is one we work on a lot in the 8-week Give Up Sugar For Good Program because it's so dense.Enroll in the next program for more healthy habits and to learn how to self-soothe without food and why we self-soothe.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title="Enroll in Give Up Sugar For Good" color="danger" size="lg" align="center" i_align="right" i_icon_fontawesome="fa fa-arrow-right" button_block="true" add_icon="true" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.giveupsugarforgood.com%2F|||"][/vc_column][/vc_row]