Since I was in middle school, maybe even before, I would have dinner while watching TV. My parents put a small TV in the kitchen - I don't know why, but I assume it was to watch the news in the morning and for some background noise. I'm a senior in college now, and I've gotten into the habit of literally feeling like I have to eat when I was TV or a movie. That's problem one.
Problem two is that I'm a fidgety, nervous person. I'm constantly biting my nails and my cuticles. I feel like I need to be doing something with my hands. I think that could be symptom of another problem, but it's another reason why I'm constantly snacking. Doing something with my hands makes me feel calm.
I don't think my second problem is easily fixed without therapy or some sort of medication, so I'm mainly asking for advice on how to chill out and not snack when I'm watching TV - and please, don't tell me to watch less TV, because it's basically part of my major and I loooove TV/movies.
Hey I like to eat alone. I socialize, but I also need my alone time. Therefore, I eat my real meals alone. Our diet (diet as in what we eat, not even eating to lose weight) should be customized to what works for us.
Anyways, try knitting or something while watching T.V. When its dinner time, eat that dinner during T.V time. If you feel the need to keep on watching T.V and you want to keep on eating, snack on celery or any other veg and tea-you can dip the tea bag up and down as you watch. Try having more finger foods as you eat dinner-so that you can pick up an item (asparagus) or something and you can make it last thru your whole TV time.
Maybe turn your fidgeting with your hands/biting nails, etc., into a time where you massage lotion into your hands, cuticle cream into your cuticles, file your nails, etc. and then that might help because scented lotion tastes nasty usually. Even if it's just doing a nice hand massage with lots of lotion and then wiping it off, it'll be a nice treat for your hands. I do this because the winter weather wrecks havoc on my cracking knuckles! And sometimes eating with the scented hands is a little off-putting.
If you're looking for light munchies - maybe make homemade popcorn - i use a tbsp olive oil in a pan and several tbsp popcorn kernels - nothing artifical like the micro bags and while you have to wash the pot/lid, it's light and healthy. That's our fave "go-to" snack.
Get a spinner ring? To twiddle when you feel the fidgets? Get a dumbell and do bicep curls? Really it's up to you to pick the non-food hobby thing you will do instead of snacking while watching TV.
I save up the laundry to fold then. Do my nails. That kind of thing.
This sounds exactly like me, except instead of biting my nails and cuticles, I pick/scratch at my nails and the skin around them (sorry for tmi). I also feel like I always want something to eat while watching. I put off certain movies, because I tag them as a "food movie" or a "pizza movie". lol. I'm a huge multitasker. I sit in front of my laptop and watch tv at the same time, while holding conversations with my hubby. Sadly, my multitasking never involves anything productive. lol.
Advice to combat two problems?
