It's 1:28, I only ate lunch an hour ago. I am not hungry, but I want to eat. I have a drink here that I keep sipping, but it's not doing it. This is when I'd normally go get some cookies or a candy bar from the breakroom.

I am thinking that maybe I need to get some sugar-free hard candies?

This is only a problem on afternoons that I do not teach. I have an afternoon snack, but it's too soon and I want to have it at the end of the day because I am having a late day.

What do you do when you have the "i want to eat" brain?

You could try chewing gum...it keeps your mouth busy!! Or perhaps you need to keep your brain busy instead and distract yourself. I've also heard that "protein water" fills you up a lot, although I've never tried it myself.

Good luck!

Chew a piece of gum, find something to keep your mind occupied like doing a puzzle or reading, if you like celery munch on an 11-12 inch stalk, it's only 10 calories, if possible take a walk outside and enjoy the fresh spring air. Hope this helps some.

Ann Marie

Distraction tends to work best for me. I focus on things other than food. Keep my hands & eyes busy. Usually I have work or chores to do anyways, so I quickly get to those.

You mentioned a breakroom, so I am assuming you're at work, so most "distractions" are off limits. Gum and hard candies are good ideas, as suggested. I like to brush my teeth when I feel the munchies at work (I keep a toothbrush, toothpaste, and plastic cup in my desk) because when I have that minty clean feeling, I don't usually want to eat, plus some foods just plain taste bad when your mouth tastes like toothpaste!

Another thing I might suggest is to prepare for this time by packing things you can eat that won't add too many calories and can take a while to munch on just to keep your mouth occupied. I'm thinking things like celery, sliced cucumber, or dill pickles. If you have room for some extra calories, nuts still in shells are good, to, because one serving can take a while to eat when you have to crack them open.

When I feel like I want to snack but don't really need to or don't have the calories, I

1. Drink a glass of water
2. Have a cup of tea
3. Eat a piece of fruit, protein water, 6 almonds, gum, a hard candy, or a Viactiv Chocolate calcium chew
4. ride the exercise bike
5. paint my nails
6. clean the toilet (this really works well)
7. Take off all my clothes and stand in front of a full length mirror and ask myself what I want

When I really have the munchies and they are not going away, I will eat strawberries or an apple or carrots. Something crunchy and a little (or a lot!) sweet. Yeah, there are some calories but it is better than some other choices! A protein shake would be another choice. I like those viactive chew calcium supplements too. When I am craving something sweet and I have not had my calcium for the day, they hit the spot.

The other thing you could do is drink a glass of water and look at the clock. If you are still "munchy" in an hour, have a small snack. Hardboiled eggs or string cheese are nice options.

Popcorn?

I suppose one philosophy would be to suck it up and be strong. But when I have that little nagging at the corner of my brain, I tend to try to make choices that will satisfy the nagging but that are on plan.

I always carry a reduced fat string cheese thingy for when I am just in a snacking mood. It seems like real food and the protein helps keep me full and satisfied till my next real eating time rolls around.

I understand that you're not really hungry but the little extra protein can really calm the cravings for the rest of the afternoon.

It's like preventive maintenance, for me. Keeps a little problem from turning into a big one.

I know the feeling Sandi

I agree, something really low cal, like celery, cucumber, dill pickles, baby carrots...etc..

Maybe pack a container of really low cal veggies cut up into strips, and take that to work with you in the morning. (no dip though, cause it adds up really fast!) That way you can munch when the need strikes, and not be eating many calories at all.


Linda

really low cal snacks or gum. I keep a huge stash of Extra gum.. every flavor you can get your paws on..lol. I was all excited at the store last night because they had apple flavored..lol.

I have come to the conclusion that if I want to snack, I'm not gonna fight it because then when I do get to snack on something I wayyyyy over do it. I just try to make a wise decision.

Sometimes, I can ignore it, drink water or tea, etc.
But other days the snack monster is ferocious! Usually this is the week prior to TOM. During that week I split my food up into all snacks, so I have something I can eat about every hour throughout the day.
I like the protein waters too, and lately I have been cooking up a bag of edamame in the pods and keeping them in the fridge. Shelling and eating these makes me think I'm eating peanuts or something fun. Plus they're yummy and full of protein which will help fill you up. I like the protein snacks because if I eat fruit or raw veggies, it might help for a minute, but then I just want to keep on eating.

I too ditto the chew a piece of gum. I also will sit on it and tell myself that if I still want a snack in 15 minutes I will eat it. I've learned in times past that if I don't go ahead and have something small, then I'll end up binging later. Then if I'm still hungry when it comes time for when I would've had my snack I may have a small one then as well—I keep 100 cal. snack packs by my desk and usually have plenty of yogurt, bananas, apples, celery, cucumbers, carrots, etc. in the fridge at the ready. When it's TOM I automatically plan in two morning snacks and two afternoon snacks just because I've found that if I eat every 1 1/2 hours or so I don't crave as much.

I also chew Extra gum when the munchies hit. A few months ago I learned how to knit and that's been a lifesaver. It keeps my hands and mind busy!

I plan plenty of snacks into my days as I've always been a snacker.

One word of caution....be careful of the sugar-free hard candies. Eating too many can really mess you up. Hubby gave me a bag of SF Werthers for Valentine's Day. I ate 6 or 7 of them. That evening, I had the worst diarrhea I've ever had and ended up in the ER with terrible stomach pains the next day. How embarrasing to find out that I didn't have a horrible disease afterall!

Rhonda, I second that, I've had issues with those candies too, and if you have self-control issues and eat more than a serving, it'll really mess you up.