What do you guys do when you have the munchies? I'm in serious need of some suggestions.

Well I distract myself with something else. Read a book, leave the house, clean, walk the dog etc. If I'm at work, then I'll drink water or get a cup of fruit flavored herbal tea .

Basicly it's getting your mind to understand that you are not hungry for munchies and that munching tends be connected with a time of day or TV show. It was for me. I still have a hard time.

Strategies for munchies:

1. The "bad" foods--the ones I tend to overeat--have to be out of the house. OUT! Period! If they are there, I will want to eat them. This doesn't last forever, but at first it's really important not to have those foods around.

2. I keep "good" alternatives on hand. For crunch, baby carrots, celery... for sweet things, fruits... for salty things, brands of foods I don't overeat but still like. I personally can't have nuts be one of these choices because I go nuts on nuts.

3. Chew gum, preferably sugar free. Or find some other kind of "chew toy."

4. Drink something instead of munching. A cup of tea, some hot 1% milk... even diet soda if I must.

5. Have snacks planned at regular times. It's easier to keep from munching if I know that I can have a snack at, say, 2:30, than if I have to wait until dinnertime.

Jay

If distracting myself doesn't work. I munch on celery. It's just crunchy enough, and if I overdo it... it's just celery!

I think first you need to identify if this is true hunger or just a case of the munchies. I eat frequently, every 2 hours or so in fact, avoiding that hungry feeling. Meals are full of protein and fiber. If it's hunger, I would need a protein based munchie - like an egg white omlette with sauteed veggies or a salad with tuna.

For out and out munchies - raw green beens really do the trick for me. I also munch on homemade cucumber salad - all day long. A hot cup of tea does wonders for me too. Sugar free sucking candies and/or gum. Sugar free ices. Frozen grapes. Grape tomatoes. Baby carrots.

If I have eaten too much already, AND I'm not truly hungry, I do my very best to distract myself. Puttering around the house or something like that.
Eventually it does pass. Usually. Sometimes. Hopefully.

Me and lowfat cottage cheese have become best afternoon snack friends!

Tons of protein (11g) and 90 calories for the 4oz cups of the 2%milkfat kind.

i sprinkle some pepper on top of mine.

It's weird, I am very very very rarely hungry or snacky after dinner, but I am always munchy in the afternoons. I think it has something to do with being a latchkey kid - I came home from school, wasn't allowed out of the house, nothing to do but watch TV and eat.

I am munchy all afternoon, so I plan for 3 snacks. At 1:00 I have a cup of no sugar added cocoa. At 3:00 I have fruit (it's tangelo season right now - YUM) at 5:00 I have a baggie of cut up veggies. I also drink cups and cups of herbal tea - I particularly like Stash Blueberry herbal.

If I was at home and bored/munchy, I would try to distract myself. Eating a pickle also works a lot of times for me, my mouth gets so surprised by the sour taste, my craving goes away. Brushing my teeth works great too, I can't stand the way food tastes in a minty mouth.