5 Questions to Ask Ourselves to Avoid Mindless Snacking

When it comes to your eating habits, it’s easy to fall into the trap of mindless snacking, where you find yourself absentmindedly reaching for food without truly considering why or if you’re even hungry.

There are many activities that accommodate mindless snacking, including sitting in front of the computer, watching television, cooking/baking, or even reading a book.

By asking yourself a few simple yet powerful questions, you can steer clear of mindless snacking and foster a greater sense of mindfulness in your eating journey.

What is Mindless Eating?

Mindless eating can be defined as eating, but not necessarily due to hunger.

It tends to be in larger quantities and includes foods you may not normally choose in your normal eating routine.

Additionally, mindless eating can lead to weight gain and throw off your nutrition goals.

What is Mindful Eating?

Mindful eating is the opposite of mindless eating.

Mindful eating is when you are aware of your feelings and physical cues relating to foods and food experiences. 

How Can We Avoid Mindless Eating?

So how do you start being more mindful and reduce mindless eating? A good place to start is by asking yourself a few key questions that help you to reflect on your eating habits.

1. “Am I Hungry?”

Sometimes you choose foods not because you are hungry but because you are tired, stressed, upset, or just bored.

Asking yourself if you are hungry before you start eating, or instead, what else you may actually be feeling,  is an important part of avoiding mindless snacking.

After all, if you are eating for any reason besides hunger, you likely won’t feel satisfied after eating.

Additionally, it’s important to not wait to eat until you feel famished or ravenous. If you are feeling very hungry, you are more likely to mindlessly eat and over-consume. 

For non-nutrition-related ideas on how to cope with being bored or stressed, read our post on how to manage food anxiety.

2. “Am I Distracted?”

If you are doing a distracting task, like working on your computers or watching television, you are more likely to increase the number of snacks without even knowing it.

The reason being is that when you are distracted, you are not giving the food or your body signals your full attention.

And as a result, you can end up eating past the point of being full yet still feel unsatisfied. This can then lead to eating more than planned later in the day.

Instead of snacking while watching television or while working, try setting one or two designated places to sit down and eat. This way, you will be able to give your food and your body the attention it needs. 

3. “Do I Need to Slow Down?”

A key aspect of being a more mindful eater is slowing down when you eat. Often times you are eating so quickly that you end up eating more than you were actually hungry for.

After you start eating, it takes about 15 minutes for the peptide YY hormone to release. Peptide YY is a hormone that helps induce satiety to help reduce your appetite.

Here are some tips for slowing down when you eat:

• The next time you sit down to have a snack, take a deep breath before you begin. This will help slow down your eating pace in the beginning.
• Take time to notice and appreciate the appearance, texture, and smell of your food. Savoring these as you eat can help you slow down and more thoroughly enjoy your meal.
• If you’re using utensils, put them down between bites.
• Take a break in halfway through to check in on how satisfied you are feeling.
• After your snack, remove the bowl or plate. Wait about 20 minutes to give your body a chance to catch up before going back for more.

4. “What Do I Want to Eat?”

This is a great question to ask yourself. The reason being is that you think that in order to stay “healthy,” you cannot have sweets like chocolate, cookies, or cake… which is just not true. All foods fit in moderation.

The more you restrict or deprive yourself of the items you truly want, the more you will overdo those items when you eventually choose them.  

For example, if you’re really in the mood for a cookie, but you tell yourself you have to have something healthier and opt for a banana instead, chances are that banana won’t satisfy your cookie craving. And as a result, you’ll likely end up still having a cookie anyways after eating the banana.

While this doesn’t mean that you can’t find healthier a healthier cookie recipe to help satisfy your craving, the key is choosing an option that will help you feel satisfied after eating it.

But still, don’t forget to practice mindfulness when you’re having that snack by portioning it out and enjoying it slowly.

5. “Am I Following a Routine?”

When you’re leaving home and going to work, you have a routine.

You eat breakfast at 7:30am and are at work by 9am. Lunchtime is at 1:30pm, and you may have a snack at 3:30pm. You leave work at 5pm, getting home around 5:30pm. Dinner is at 6:30pm, bedtime snack at 8:30pm, and bedtime at 10pm. 

Working from home or not working at all, that routine is now gone. Now you’re waking up at 9am and eating at 9:30am. You turn on the television or start working on the computer and soon start snacking

As a result, many of you now mindlessly snack from 12pm-4pm. And because of this, you may no longer be hungry for dinner at 6:30pm. Instead, you skip dinner, then when you get hungry later at night, you sit down with an entire bag of chips while watching a movie or TV show.

The best way to avoid mindlessness in this situation is to set a routine:

• Eat breakfast around the same time every day.
• Make lunch ahead of time like you would if you were bringing it to work.
• Set a time when your workday begins and when it ends.
• Don’t forget to schedule a snack, maybe a time when you would have a snack when you were physically going to work. 
• Try to eat dinner around the same time each night.

As humans, many favor routine because of its predictability and stability. In fact, it’s been studied that when you have an eating routine, you are more likely to have a structure in your life, be nutritionally balanced, and get the nourishment that you need. 

The Bottom Line

Embarking on a journey towards mindful eating not only empowers you to stay aligned with your nutrition goals but also brings a renewed sense of clarity and satisfaction to your relationship with food.

By taking a pause and engaging in self-reflection, you can make progress toward transforming mindless eating into a mindful practice.