During this time of social distancing and most of us working from home, I’ve heard from so many of you that the biggest challenge you’re facing is snacking. You’re in the house all day with easy access to food in the kitchen, many of us have our “home office” actually set up in the kitchen or dining room (me!) and you find yourself reaching for snacks out of boredom, distraction, or to deal with emotions (and there’s a lot these days). Of course, these challenges aren’t exclusive to this quarantine, but they do seem to be more common lately.

When we talk about snacking, it always seems to be in a bad way. ‘Snacking’ comes with a negative connotation. The absolute most important, and often overlooked, piece to the snacking puzzle is identifying your reason for snacking. Snacking doesn’t have to be a bad thing! But, so often we play out this negative dialogue with ourselves saying “I was so out of control today” or “I have no self-control”. When you go to reach for a snack, instead of immediately blaming yourself for having no willpower, take a minute and ask yourself:

“am I hungry” and, if yes, “how hungry am I”?

“when was the last time I ate” & “what was the last thing I ate”?

“did I eat enough the last time I ate” or “was the last thing I ate satisfying”?

For the most part, our bodies like to be fed every 2-3 hours. It’s unlikely you’re eating a full meal every 2-3 hours. For some, it’s unlikely you’re eating a full meal even every 6-7 hours. And, with the current situation going on, your routine is all kinds of effed up and you’re just trying to do your damn best.

The first thing I need you to do is stop blaming yourself and stop feeling guilty. Snacks exist for so many GOOD reasons:

To keep our bodies running & give us a steady stream of energy: snacks exist to literally fill the gap between meals. Food is energy. We need that energy flowing all day long to tick everything off the to-do list without getting brain foggy & slumpy.
To keep our blood sugars stabilized so you’re not moody mcmooderson with the ‘tude on your work zoom call. Yeah, “HANGRY” is a real thing, my friends. Feed the bod to lose the ‘tude. I think that will be my new mantra (and I need to take my own advice…).
Fill nutrient gaps. Our bodies like a lot of different nutrients each day and it’s unlikely you’ll get all of them in with 3 meals per day. And, let’s face it – life happens and dinner may wind up being a bowl of pasta (which is totally cool, btw), but it’s likely that at least one of your meals isn’t gonna be overflowing with veggies or whole grains or fruit, etc. Snacks can help you fill those gaps!
Help prevent you from overeating at meals. Simply put, you’re not ravenous when meal time rolls around. When we enter a meal way off the charts hungry (like your belly sounds like an angry lion & maybe you’re a little nauseous…) we wind up eating mindlessly and often wind up overeating. You don’t look up until the meal is gone and you’re like WTF just happened. Snacks help prevent that.
Joy & pleasure or comfort. Yeah, those are GREAT reasons to grab a snack! You know the experience of eating popcorn while watching a movie? Yeah, it’s an experience. For real. I doubt you’re eating a giant movie theater tub of popcorn every night, so please, when you do, cut yourself a damn break! Put a cheese plate in front of me and I promise I will overeat the heck out of it, but I will be so happy for having enjoyed that cheese. Eat for joy, pleasure, and/or comfort and move on, guilt free.

Feeling a lack of “willpower” or feeling guilt for eating snacks comes from a place of restriction. It’s again lingering diet mentality creeping in telling you that you don’t actually need more food, you’re just weak and giving in to temptation. It’s telling you that you don’t deserve to eat right now because you’ll max out your calories for the day. It’s telling you that you don’t deserve to eat right now because of that big meal you had last night OR because you should be reserving those precious calories for the big meal you have coming up. You’re being fed a whole big dose of guilt and shame without any tools to help you understand WHY you’re reaching for a snack in the first place or how to manage snack cravings when you’re not actually hungry. In fact, these diets aren’t giving you the tools you need to even help you to understand if you’re actually hungry! So, let’s talk about it.

Reasons you may be reaching for a snack:

You’re bored. Boredom snacking is real and you’re normal. Consider what else you could do when you’re feeling bored. Are you able to step away from work for even 10 minutes to go for a walk around the block? Hop on the phone with a friend or loved one. Do some pushups or squats if that’s your thing. Move yourself away from the boredom – if you’re on the computer for work, step away. Change your scenery. Oftentimes, all you need is 10 minutes of something new to feel more inspired, lose the boredom, & not eat that extra snack.
You’re feeling all the emotions. Emotional snacking is also real and you’re also normal. There’s a lot of emotions these days especially. Again, take a moment to yourself. Step away from whatever you’re doing, even for just 10 minutes. Allow yourself to feel the emotions and do something with it. Journal, meditate, move your body, call a loved one, have a good cry, take a shower (somehow showers are like therapy…). Try to understand & feel your emotion, rather than eat through it.
You know you’re hungry, but don’t have the patience to make a meal or you don’t know what to make for a meal. So, you end up picking and grazing and “snacking” all afternoon. Having a consistent, yet flexible meal plan/schedule, especially these days in the work from home climate, is a game changer here. Satisfying meals are key for managing snack cravings. When meal time does roll around, you want to be confident there’s something well balanced and satisfying for you to eat, that won’t take you an hour to prepare. Mindless snacking is often the result of unsatisfying meals.
You know that you’ll have an early lunch & a late dinner so you know you should fill the gap with a snack. Sometimes we just need to listen to logic! If your schedule is looking like you won’t have a meal for several hours, it’s a good idea to mindfully grab a snack.
And, perhaps the most important one of all: You’re actually hungry. If you’re hungry, eat. AND, eat to satisfy that hunger, not just to put a band-aid on it with a low-cal snack that won’t put you over calories or points for the day. The purpose of a snack when you’re actually feeling hungry is to satisfy that hunger and to keep you feeling satisfied until your next meal.

You truly may not even realize that you’re actually hungry, especially if you’re caught up in a busy day and haven’t had a chance to check in with yourself. So, you find yourself in the kitchen and without taking a moment to understand where you’re at hunger-wise, you just grab for whatever’s handy, whatever’s most convenient so you can get back to your busy day. This, my friends, is what turns into a cycle – you wind up back in the kitchen 2, 3, maybe 5 more times before it’s finally time for dinner, but now you feel guilt and shame. You ate “too many” snacks and ruined your appetite for a “real meal”. You tell yourself you need to just eat a salad for dinner because you were “so bad” all day. You never actually grabbed a satisfying snack. Satisfaction is the key to not going back into the kitchen a handful more times until your next meal.

So, what makes a satisfying snack? The 5 factors of satisfaction are certainly not limited to meals. You can apply all of the same points when building a satisfying snack. A satisfying snack should be a balance of carbs, protein, & fat + be something that satisfies what you’re craving, the flavors and textures that will leave you feeling satisfied & what you desire in that moment. It’s important to understand your why for grabbing a snack – what’s the purpose (maybe one of the reasons listed above). The key is to be mindful of why you want a snack and then decide what kind of snack will satisfy that ‘why’. You deserve to take a full-on snack break from your work to mindfully choose, prepare, and eat your snack. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, that’s all you need.

Here are just some satisfying snack ideas, but the list is really endless. I’ve added in italics ideas for what you could add to these snacks to make them even more satisfying for those times you’re reaching super hungry or you know you have a long gap between meals.

1. Piece of fruit + nut butter

2. Slice of whole grain toast + nut butter + chia seeds

3. Veggies + hummus (or other bean dip) + whole grain crackers or pita

4. Plain Greek yogurt + defrosted frozen berries + chopped nuts/seeds + granola

5. Avocado toast + 1 hardboiled egg

6. Whole wheat wrap + nut butter + banana + chia seeds

7. Oatmeal + berries + nut butter or chopped nuts/seeds

8. Piece of fruit + cheese + whole grain crackers + nuts

9. Whole grain toast + cottage cheese (or ricotta cheese) + berries + pumpkin seeds

10. A smaller version of any meal! This is such an underrated snack idea, but seriously, those leftovers in your fridge – take a smaller portion and voila, snack!

11. Smoothie: frozen fruit, plain Greek yogurt, milk/water + nut butter or nuts/seeds

12. Veggies + guacamole + whole grain tortilla chips

13. Crispy roasted chickpeas + roasted unsweetened coconut

14. Dates filled with nut butter + sprinkle of chia or hemp seeds

15. Fresh popped popcorn drizzled with olive oil + seasoning + nuts/seeds

16. Pesto spread on whole grain toast with sliced tomato + shredded mozz or feta