When sitting home all day with easy access to a refrigerator or pantry full of snacks, it can be easy to fall victim to “bored eating.” It’s important to stay healthy right now, and that includes eating healthily in both quality and quantity. We covered quality in our blog post on nutrition for the immune system, but what about quantity?
We want to make sure that we’re not just mindlessly eating during this quarantine, whether it be from boredom, stress, or emotion. Overeating can lead to excess weight gain, and intakes of some unhealthy things (e.g. saturated fat) which can lead to a plethora of other problems down the road. Follow some of these tips to make sure your snacking habits don’t cause you to come out of this quarantine less healthy than you were when you went in!
- Listen to hunger queues: Be sure that you’re actually hungry before raiding your cupboards. Rate your hunger to confirm that you’re not just bored.
- Have a plan: Take time to plan out healthy snacks so that when you actually are hungry, you have something nutritious ready to eat. If you have kids, get them involved in choosing the snacks for the week.
- Out of sight, out of mind: Keep snacks tucked away when they’re not being eaten. If it’s not right in front of you, you’ll be less likely to eat it.
- Portion control: For foods that aren’t pre-portioned, take only what you plan to eat and put the rest back in the cupboard. For example, instead of eating trail mix from the bag, put one serving in a bowl and enjoy it.
Remember to always practice food safety – wash hands and food prep surfaces before and after eating and be sure to refrigerate foods appropriately.