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How do you cope with "the munchies"?

Nancy Reading

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I don't need anything to eat. I know that but somehow my body doesn't!

I'm trying to eat more healthily as I'm definitely a little over a healthy weight. Part of that is not snacking between meals, but when I'm in my shop and it is quiet I feel the urge for quite unhealthy food!

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How do you quiet that little voice that tells you that you need something when you patently don't!

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Judith Browning

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I can see the temptation!
At home it's easy enough to keep those sorts of snacks out of the house but the temptation is literally in our faces out in the world.

My test to see if I'm really hungry, not just giving in to the blind munchies, is to imagine any other not so tasty food and see if I feel the same hunger for that....like a cold bowl of plain oatmeal

and make sure I get enough magnesium so chocolate is not a craving🙄

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Anne Miller

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Since March last year I have lost abt 30 pounds and keeping it off.

I like Chex Mix and ruffles potato chips. Chex mix is cereal and potato chips are a vegetable.

These must be okay to snack on.

[quote Judith said, and make sure I get enough magnesium so chocolate is not a craving

I had not heard this. Does spraying magnesium on my legs count?

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Nancy Reading

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Anne Miller wrote:Since March last year I have lost abt 30 pounds and keeping it off.

Oh well done you!

I like Chex Mix and ruffles potato chips. Chex mix is cereal and potato chips are a vegetable.

I had to look up Chex Mix it's not something we have in the UK. So it is sort of a mixed savoury snack pack with chex (which looks a lot like Shreddies)? I think savoury rather than sweet snacks are probably a step in the right direction.

Judith wrote:, and make sure I get enough magnesium so chocolate is not a craving

What would be good sources of magnesium?

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Jay Angler

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Remember that most commercial 'snack foods' are intended to be "moreish" - the ads will even tell you that 1 bight isn't enough.

I actually have a tendency to low blood sugar, so my go to snack is dark chocolate covered almonds. I will swear they've been gradually increasing the sugar level even in those... sigh... The idea is that a little fat and protein will satisfy you whereas sugar gives you a dopamine hit.

However, if the *real* issue is boredom and needing something to keep you busy, I suggest you take up spinning. I believe you have access to raw wool? There are some small square peg looms that allow you to use the wool constructively without taking up a lot of space as well (sorry, forgot the name of those)

I take Magnesium pills at bedtime on an as-needed basis. They help me sleep as a bonus. If I'm getting foot and leg cramps, that a clear sign that I need more magnesium. The almonds I mentioned above are also a source of magnesium.

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Kevin Olson

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For various health reasons, I have shifted my diet to eating very few starches (i.e. carbohydrates) over the past couple of years. I have also implemented an intermittent fasting (16/8 variety - only eat within an 8 hour contiguous window, do not eat for the remaining 16 contiguous hours of the day). I am only stating this as background, not as advice. I have specific reasons for trying this, and it may not be appropriate for your circumstances. But it might help to contextualize what follows.

I found when I first started the 16/8 plan, I could barely make it to 9AM without wanting to eat the wallpaper, or anything else that wasn't nailed down! But, I would eat a small handful of nuts, or some unsweetened peanut butter on celery sticks, a bit of cheese or deli meat, etc. In other words, something with some protein and good fats in it, and minimal to no carbohydrate calories. Some have found that a square or two of high-cacao chocolate (72% or even higher) is a safe snack for them. I made "fat bombs" - a mix of coconut oil and coconut, flavored with one thing or another, in my case unsweetened cacao nibs - as a safe treat to have when other were eating something sweet (desserts, especially), though I no longer find that necessary. I found that snacks which were very flavorful, as well as having minimal carbohydrate calories, helped me a lot.

As I stuck with the plan, I found I could gradually hold out longer and longer into the morning. Eventually (over the course of several weeks, perhaps even a couple of months), I found I was able to hold out until lunch time (roughly noon, give or take), before feeling hungry. But, I no longer had the "hangry" experience. I usually eat a large salad of mixed greens (with lots of salad oil in the dressing, and a fair bit of protein and olives) for lunch.

Now, having done this for quite a while, I find that I only rarely have the munchies, and I no longer crave sweet things at all. When I do have the munchies, I eat things that I know are good for me (almonds and macadamia are go-to snacks for me, because they require no refrigeration). I do naturally tend toward savory rather than sweet, anyway, but have found this to work well for me. Now, because I am so habituated to this diet, I find that I actually need to be careful to eat enough calories, including enough from good fats, to maintain a healthy weight.

This may or may not be helpful to you, but has been my experience.

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Tereza Okava

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In a nutshell: make a cup of tea. Have some nice fancy herb teas you like, and make the habit of making a cup of tea when you feel snacky.

The longer version---
My office is next door to the kitchen, the way I deal with it is that I normally don't keep snacks in the house, and I try to be aware of whether I'm looking for snacks because I'm bored, or tired, or need a break, and try to work with that. I might hop on the treadmill for a few minutes (just a few) if I feel like I'm dragging, or sit and knit for 5 minutes while I listen to a song if I'm just feeling bored or cranky.

But when I visit my mother.... they have a difficult meal schedule for me (supper at 2PM, then snacks/ice cream "for dinner" at 8ish, just before the time I'd normally be having my main meal of the day at home), and a house full of US snacks I normally don't have access to, that hit all my targets for childhood nostalgia- but also make me sick as a dog now. I stay there for a month when I visit, and it's hard.
Generally I go exercise at the end of the day, catch the sunset, and then by the time I'm back home and showered I have a belly full of water I've chugged and am not interested in their snacks. Then I'll work for an hour or two, and as I approach my normal bedtime I might have something small- or a cup of tea.

Another suggestion for you- since you can't get away from the snacks in your store-- find some sort of private way to acknowledge days that you don't eat snacks, if it concerns you and you don't want to do it. A star on a calendar, a tick on a notebook page, something you can see and say "wow, that's cool". I did this with running, just a mark on my calendar. This sort of old-school motivation system we saw as kids in kindergarten, but I think as humans we like to see some sort of positive reinforcement and try to extend it.

Matt McSpadden

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Hi Nancy,
Thank you for bringing this up. I too struggle with the munchies quite frequently. I have done a lot of reading and a lot of watching videos from Doctors and nutritionists and whatnot, but I am not a professional, so take this with a grain of salt. In my experience "the munchies" or "cravings" come from a couple different sources.

It could be a need for additional nutrients. If we don't have what we need, our body will encourage us to keep eating in order to get what it needs. This has given rise to the concept of an overweight person starving to death. Their bodies are getting plenty of calories, but not enough vitamins and minerals and proteins and fats. We know modern food is much less nutrient dense than in the past (or at least the way it is produced now). I have heard that it takes anywhere from 24 to 32 modern apples to equal the nutrient density of 1 apple from 50 years ago. I saw a video with Joel Salatin where he referenced a test of carrots and the finding was that it took 10 of the worst carrots to equal the nutritional density of 1 of the best carrots. Eggs from pasture raised chickens have anywhere from 3 to 7 times the nutrient density of commercially raised eggs. I think it is reasonable to make sure we are getting what we need, and to add in more good fats, nutrient dense food, and even a multivitamin if needed.

It could be an addiction. Sugar (aka carbohydrates) can be extremely addictive and cause our bodies to crave more and more when we don't have it. In fact, studies are finding that many of the bad microbes in our gut eat sugar for food. And those microbes can even trigger feelings of hunger to get more sugar. By cutting out sugar we can change the microbiome and reap many benefits. I think it is reasonable to limit the sugar in general. I know from practice that if I can get to a certain point... sugar is not attractive anymore. Unfortunately it is often miserable and difficult to get to that point... and it is very easy to get off that point again :)

It could be mental (which has a lot of crossover with the addiction piece). Sometimes people eat out of boredom or habit. Sometimes people eat to deal with things as a coping mechanism. Recognizing it is the important first step. When people have had a great loss or are dealing with extreme stress, they often turn to things to feel better in the moment. Could be drugs, alcohol, etc... and food. I personally think this is the hardest one to deal with, because until you deal with why you are feeling so bad... it will be very hard to stop doing the thing that makes you feel better temporarily. If it is boredom or habit... those are much easier to break, but you still need to recognize that it is happening and do what is needed to disrupt it.

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I like salt, and munchies for me are centered around salty snacks. What seems to stave off the urge is to drink a glass of water then lightly rub a bit of salt onto your gums. I'm sure there is a reason not to do this but it does help keep me under 16 stones (225lbs). Good luck with the struggle.

Nancy Reading

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Some great ideas here - thanks for all your thoughts. I suspect it is different for everyone.

My suspicion is that it is to do with the shop. At home I can generally ignore the biscuit drawer and we just have a treat after dinner or with a cup of tea. I'm usually busy doing something at home - gardening, playing with dogs, cooking...In the shop I do feel trapped. If you work in retail you will know that customers hunt in packs - you go from being very quiet to like a bus arriving! I'm often OK through the day though (many cups of tea, and something savory for lunch), but when it comes to closing time (and there is more to do after hours!) it's like I give myself permission to relax and that is when I 'need' a sweet treat. I'm tired and I want to go home.....

Just thinking this through has been helpful. I expect if I can get through that 45 minutes between closing the shop and getting out the door then I can beat the munchies! A private reward for good behaviour is a good thought too...I'll have to think on that.

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thomas rubino

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Gosh, what great replies!
Mine is a bit different. How do I deal with the munchies?
I feed them...
I am one of those infuriating people who stayed at my high school graduation weight of #155 until we quit smoking 15 years ago, which brought me up to #165.
I am now retired and slightly less active (ok, not really), currently fluctuating between #165-#175
I'm a confirmed dark chocolate addict, a regular midnight cookie jar raider; no cake is safe when I'm around.
If we don't have anything on hand, I'll bake something.
Salty is good, but dark chocolate is better!
Although salted chocolate is pretty good as well!

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John F Dean

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Somehow Friday and Saturday became snack day. Anyway, normally my wife turns out something special on Thursday evening …raisin bread, cheesecake, etc. That serves as our snack for our weekend.

Some people age like fine wine. I aged like milk … sour and chunky.

M Ljin

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I can’t say much about the shop I think because it sounds like precisely the scenario that would create food cravings… though maybe getting up at intervals and running would benefit. I notice that being inside a building, especially feeling trapped which often happens, has an emotional cost that often gets expressed as craving. Opening doors and windows might help a little bit if you haven’t done that already.

For other situations I would say nettle soup is good for nutrition and not being able to feel satiated on a physical level. I’ve felt as if dock leaves are similarly satisfying but I don’t eat as much because of oxalates. And Vitamin C is supposed to help with fat metabolism, so conifers, rose leaf, and others can be beneficial. As I mentioned running can sometimes help but I prefer it in the context of increasing one’s intake of nourishing wild greens and not used on its own.

Starchy wild roots might be a good snack too that is healthier.

A blanket may help when the cravings for comfort in general rather than food specifically.

Or, if one plays a musical instrument (or wishes to learn).

I would be interested about more plant sources of magnesium aside from cacao. Maybe other mallows are good too? I always found common mallow especially nourishing, and like linden buds.

Anne Miller

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Nancy Reading wrote:I had to look up Chex Mix it's not something we have in the UK. So it is sort of a mixed savoury snack pack with chex (which looks a lot like Shreddies)? I think savoury rather than sweet snacks are probably a step in the right direction.

Shreddies accouding to Wikipedia is wheat.

Chex Mix is a savory version of corn, rice and wheat Chex that look like Shreddies. I don't like the wheat Chexs so I only eat the corn and rice Chex.

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G Freden

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Or maybe you can do what I did and accidentally lose a filling, only to discover sugar is actually painful to eat. I can eat everything else no problem.

Sugar cravings are hard. It's been about half a year now and I really don't want to eat actual sugar (maybe never again in my life!) but my go to in the past has always been fruit. A well stocked fruit bowl in the shop?

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Mart Hale

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2 tablespoons peanut butter
4 tablespoons honey
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon molasses

Optional,

raisins, chocolate chips... 1/2 tablespoon melted butter.

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Nancy Reading

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G Freden wrote:Or maybe you can do what I did and accidentally lose a filling, only to discover sugar is actually painful to eat. I can eat everything else no problem.

Ouch! Another downside of sugary treats of course. My teeth are hanging in reasonably well considering.

Mart - sounds yummy - but honey and molasses both have sugar in them, so I think that would still be a sweet treat, although the oats are more sustaining and better than the candy jars (with all the flavour and colour additives....) What I'm looking for really are brain training tips!

I've done two evenings without giving in. I don't need something; my body is just tired and my brain frustrated. I'm trying to focus on what needs to be done to close up the shop, then I can get home and relax.

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Philip McGarvey

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When I'm doing well, I do the same as Kevin Olson - 16/8 intermittent fasting so I just have two meals about 6 hours apart. Not having any sugar really helps everything else taste better too.

Matt McSpadden's post has important points too about nutrient density - I try to get a lot of homegrown or wild plants/mushrooms in.

The one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the modern ultra-processed oils (aka seed oils or vegetable oils). I've seen research suggesting that because these oils oxidize very easily unlike natural fats, they damage metabolism making it harder for the body to convert fat (including those oils or any sugar that's stored as fat) to energy. These oils are a significant component of 99% of processed food or junk food or normal restaurant food, and I read stats that in the US average diet ~30% of the calories come from these oils - something like 60 pounds of them a year. If they do indeed damage metabolism in this way, they could be a big cause of getting the munchies if the body can't get enough energy throughout the day from our normal fat reserves or the fat that we eat.

This is I think the biggest controversial topic in modern nutrition - the health authorities say the new vegetable oils that are in all processed food are the healthy fat, and that natural fats, which are mostly saturated fats that are hard to oxidize, such as dairy and animal fat and coconut oil, are bad for you. I have looked at a lot of their science and I don't believe the authorities - in particular I see zero basis for saying saturated fat is bad. These modern oils (soybean, canola, sunflower, etc) can't be produced without modern industrial processes and have only recently been eaten by humans. I use butter and animal fat instead, or virgin coconut oil. I think most olive oil in stores nowadays is actually also ultra processed or cut with canola oil; you can get real olive oil that will be green and taste like olives it's just usually a lot more expensive.

So the gist of my advice would be: minimize or avoid sugar/sweeteners or any processed food, don't be afraid of saturated fat (i.e. natural fat) or salt, and eat very flavorful nutritious things, and give yourself big windows of time with no eating at all.

These changes aren't easy initially but they can elminate the cravings, at least they did for me, which is much easier in the long run. I've mostly been doing this for 10 years now, though there have been times of weakness where I've got back into sugar and processed food I've always quickly felt the bad effects and eventually quit again.

And yes, addiction is part of it too, mental health and having community and all so we don't have to go to food to feel OK. I still do find myself snacking for not the best reasons at times, but at least it's nuts and cheese which fill me up and don't seem to cause problems.

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Anne Miller

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The easiest way get rid/cope with the munchies is to eat no carb. I know it works.

Here is Matt Walkers thread on this topic:

https://permies.com/t/73817/Experience-Eating-Nothing from Plants-aka-Zero Carb

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M Ljin

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Nancy Reading wrote:

I've done two evenings without giving in. I don't need something; my body is just tired and my brain frustrated. I'm trying to focus on what needs to be done to close up the shop, then I can get home and relax.

Interesting—I notice that when we are busier, however temporarily, hunger comes up in a way that wasn’t there before. Or it could have to do with the expectation of the future pleasure of rest, and the intention toward it.

I didn't make this connection last time but I hear that nettles support the kidneys and adrenal glands—the kidneys, in Chinese medicine, being considered the seat of willpower, so it makes me wonder. Anyway they feel very nourishing. Hopefully I’m not pushing nettles too much but they are a favorite food/medicine for me.

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Anne Miller wrote:

Nancy Reading wrote:I had to look up Chex Mix it's not something we have in the UK. So it is sort of a mixed savoury snack pack with chex (which looks a lot like Shreddies)? I think savoury rather than sweet snacks are probably a step in the right direction.

Shreddies accouding to Wikipedia is wheat.

Chex Mix is a savory version of corn, rice and wheat Chex that look like Shreddies. I don't like the wheat Chexs so I only eat the corn and rice Chex.

Salty snacks and sugary sweets still an Achilles' heel for me in my mid-60s. Wife has the unusual and fortunate inclination to healthy food and sweets/sugar makes her downright sick.....very easy for her to avoid. Nancy, I'll just say that Chex mix is my 'Lotus flower'.....if Chex mix is not popular or known in the UK, I would contact your district MP and encourage them to enter legislation in Parliament to include Chex mix into the "Misuse of Drugs Act of 1971".

I jest, but I've been an addict of the stuff since my early teens and it just ticks all of the boxes for a salty, crunchy, buttery, savory, snackable that I can't stop eating. Partial blame goes to the Lea and Perrins Worchestershire sauce that gets mixed with the butter as the coating.... I've probably said too much now and may have piqued your interest which I did not intend to do. LOL... Fortunately, although Chex mix now is available pre-mixed in the snack aisle at most g.rocers, it's most present and available only around the Christmas holiday....and the grocery will have extra large sections of the cereal aisle dedicated to the corn, rice (like Anne, my two favorites!), wheat Chex, and the additional accoutrements (pretzels, peanuts/tree nuts, etc) to round out the recipe.

Appreciation for all of the 'counter-measures' noted in this thread. My body/mind could, to some extent, absorb the abusive snacking in earlier years. It's telling me lately those days are over. Here's to trail mix and celery sticks!....

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Mart Hale

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Nancy Reading wrote:

G Freden wrote:Or maybe you can do what I did and accidentally lose a filling, only to discover sugar is actually painful to eat. I can eat everything else no problem.

Ouch! Another downside of sugary treats of course. My teeth are hanging in reasonably well considering.

Mart - sounds yummy - but honey and molasses both have sugar in them, so I think that would still be a sweet treat, although the oats are more sustaining and better than the candy jars (with all the flavour and colour additives....) What I'm looking for really are brain training tips!

I've done two evenings without giving in. I don't need something; my body is just tired and my brain frustrated. I'm trying to focus on what needs to be done to close up the shop, then I can get home and relax.

Each o us has to choose what their diet is... This is what works for me, I have no problem with honey and molasses in moderation myself...
And this is what works for me, others may need to choose different.

Stevia is also an option one might consider instead of sugar but it takes time to learn how to use it. I love stevia combined with essential oil for my drinks, but that is what works for me.

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Kim Wills

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Two things I've done:

#1 - Read up on how bad sugar is for you. Read up on how bad fried oils (in chips, etc) are for you. Read up on how nice lovely food companies will put chemicals and colors and almost anything in snacks in order to get you to buy theirs instead of competitors. It's just the way marketing is. Sugar, fat, and salt are highly addictive and the companies just want to make money. But YOU deserve to have a healthy body, and an independent mind who makes your own choices! Don't let the Keebler Elves or Chester Cheeto into your home to put you under their spell!! It's poison, I tell you, poison!!! (ok, disclaimer, it's not legally poison, but it can be helpful to get extreme about it, in a funny way!)

#2 - Mindful Eating. I've been wanting to make a video talking people through it; I've taught tai chi and done some mindful eating exercises with a few groups. The basic idea is that when you're eating snacks that you want to eat sparingly, turn off the TV or music, don't talk to anyone, do NOTHING but pay attention to eating the snack. Take your time. Smell it. Look at it. When you bite into it note the crunch level, or how it gives under your teeth. Note the texture and how it changes as you chew. How does the flavor change? How does it mix with your saliva? Note when you're ready to swallow. Pause and think of some words to describe the experience of that one bite. Do that for a few more bites, and you will find that you can be satisfied with just a small amount of a snack; an amount you decided in advance, and took out of the package, and you put back the rest. This is opposed to eating from a bag with no end in sight, while watching tv or talking with other people, not paying attention to what you're eating. The brain needs to be satisfied; it needs to HAVE the experience in order to say "ok, thanks, I had that experience". Savor it. If you eat while doing something else your brain pays attention to the other thing and barely notices that you ate, and therefore it wants more.

And this may be obvious, but make a shopping list at home when you're feeling good about yourself and in the mood to do the right thing, and choose your snacks at that time, not according to the sales or what you see spontaneously in the store. Only buy what you said you'd buy. Maybe there's one snack at a time that you can vow to "never bring that into the house again". Start with something you could live without anyway and add to the list of "things you'll never buy again" each shopping trip or every couple weeks.

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Ac Baker

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I was just wondering, if another cup of your normal tea doesn't get you through, would maybe a different caffeinated tea give you a boost .. green tea or matcha, perhaps? (assuming you don't want coffee, which was often my Mum's evening beverage of choice!)

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Nancy Reading

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Or maybe as Maieshe suggests, a cup of nettle tea?

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I often remind myself that”you diet at the grocery store”. If you don’t buy it you won’t eat it. I’ve probably felt snacky thousands of times, looked through the fridge/pantry, saw nothing snackable, and walked away without eating anything.

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Philip McGarvey

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Gray Henon wrote:I often remind myself that”you diet at the grocery store”. If you don’t buy it you won’t eat it. I’ve probably felt snacky thousands of times, looked through the fridge/pantry, saw nothing snackable, and walked away without eating anything.

That's a good point. If someone leaves junk food at my place there've been times I've ended up eating and regretting. It's hard but good practice to throw it out - I'm getting better at that. I'd feel bad offering it to others- like "hey, I think this is poison and don't want to eat it, but you could eat it"

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Nancy Reading wrote:How do you quiet that little voice that tells you that you need something when you patently don't!

The most honest answer I can give is that I eat even though I don't "need" to and I'm fat. But that's clearly not what this thread is about.

So, when I'm being good, and I have to assume everyone has their own solution, I:
- Start with a drink of water, sometimes that makes the craving go away.
- Have something that will satisfy my craving of salt and/or crunch that is light in Calories - my two first picks for this is nori seaweed snacks and celery stalks.
- If that isn't satisfying, the fat in nuts might be, so a small palmful like 15 peanuts or 5 almonds is good to try.
- If what my brain really, really wants is tortilla chips (my lifelong kryptonite), I'll just get four or five out of the bag, not take the whole bag down, and I'll be sure to eat them with salsa.
- And I'm not really a sweets person, I can take them or leave them, but we have dark chocolate in the house and I have one or more squares of that each day. I don't feel bad about that splurge because it's not tempting me to overindulge the way salty carbs do.

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Kate Downham

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For me it’s been a combination of things that help me avoid unhealthy snacks.

Firstly, I’ve become more picky about the health qualities of the food we eat, so that processed food is not tempting any more. There are many additives and ingredients that I want to avoid, and I am not really keen on eating anything that isn’t organic anyway, so trying to find food that meets my standards involves reading through ingredients lists and usually finding something I am not happy about. This removes the spontaneity of picking up some food on a whim, so it’s a lot easier to resist the temptation.

People with allergies or special diets know that certain foods are just not an option for them and have to read ingredients lists. It’s possible to make restrictions of your own and avoid anything that doesn’t meet your standards. The food that I encounter in shops does not meet my ideal standards of 100% organic, free from refined sugar, cooked in healthy fats, free from additives, etc. I’ve made it a necessity to eat healthy and for the most part treat eating this way as if I had an allergy or special diet.

Secondly, knowing that we have healthy, tasty food at home helps a lot. I aim to always have homemade bread on hand, so that if anyone is so desperately hungry that they can’t wait until mealtime, it’s easy enough to just cut a slice off a loaf and eat it. Bread can be sweet or savoury, crunchy or soft, depending on what you put on it.

I’ve also worked with my food cravings to figure out easy and healthy foods that fill those cravings. Rather than getting an expensive and unhealthy slice of cheesecake from a shop, if I’ve got cheese and apples at home, I can just cut those up and have a platter of cheese and apples, and that satisfies the creamy/cheesy/sweet cravings. Savoury cravings can be satisfied with buttery toast, fried eggs, kimchi, homemade pickles, leftovers, and other healthy homemade foods.

If you mainly have problems with food cravings when you’re out, having a container of nuts, jerky, homemade crackers, or dried fruit with you might help, that way you know that you already have a quick snack so there’s no need to buy anything.

Thirdly, budget plays a role too. Everything I make at home is from homegrown or bulk-purchased ingredients, so it works out to be cheap, and processed food starts to look really expensive for what it is. With lots of mouths to feed, a quick treat when we’re out can end up being expensive. If you have less people to feed, then a budget consideration might be “what would this $5 treat cost if I bought one every week” - it can add up very quickly.

And another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes it will feel like we are craving food when our bodies are actually craving water. Having a glass of water or herb tea can help.

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Anne Miller

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I lost about 30 pounds changing my snack to cheese puffs. They are like cheetoes and are probably bad because nothing processed is good for you.

I just don't have the ability to make much of what goes into my mouth.

Cooking one easy meal a day is about all I can do.

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Joylynn Hardesty

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Hey Anne. I can't help but wonder, what used to be your go to snack?

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Nancy Reading

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I'm pretty sure having savoury instead of sweet snacks is a good first step.....

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Ha! Something similar is mine. Nutty Bars! A serving when I have the munchies is the whole box, so I rarely buy it.

Oddly, Old South pickled okra has been helpful to me. When hungry, 4 or 5, and cravings stop. My local store stocks it in half gallons, much cheaper than in the link! Bonus, nobody else likes it as a snack, so it's always there for me. It's been appreciated in our meals in salads and as a side along with sandwiches.

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Home made popcorn!

Regular made with olive oil and butter or bacon grease with some garlic powder or salt. You only need a pot with lid and the ingredients. Great source of fiber. We do 1/3 cup corn, 2 T olive oil and 1 T butter in a 3 QT pot. I can do that 4x in the pot before the pot is too hot and stove burner is too erratic to be consistent anymore. I have tried larger scale ingredients and larger pots but the results vary.

I have a friend who doesn't use any oil/grease/butter. Air popped and he adds toppings. I don't really trust him because of this but I now know it can be done

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Kim Wills

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Josh Hoffman wrote:Home made popcorn!
.....
I have a friend who doesn't use any oil/grease/butter. Air popped and he adds toppings. I don't really trust him because of this but I now know it can be done .

Dare I mention microwaves on Permies? (eek) Well, I do NOT mean microwave popcorn, but for one person you can put about 1/8 cup popcorn kernels in a brown paper lunchbag, NO oils or ANYTHING. Fold over the top in such a way that it'll stay closed but not use up too much bag; leave lots of room in the bag. Pop as you would microwave popcorn - 2-3 or more minutes, until the popping stops for 2 seconds between pops. You end up with totally plain popcorn and you can use the bag again. No greasy pot to clean, no oils.
Personally, I use an electric air popper and then add some melted butter/oil afterwards, with... get this... "black salt". The Indian kind. It's got a weird sulphury flavor and lots of minerals. I believe there's a discussion thread about it here on permies.

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Kevin Olson

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Another tactic of mine is (as was mentioned up thread) to have a cup of coffee (or tea, if you prefer - pick your poison!). I mostly drink coffee, though I have been drinking green tea most every day for the EGCG, which is supposed to help with autophagy; I dunno if it works, but that's the rumor. Since people in Asia have drinking it since time out of mind, I doubt it will hurt me, in any case.

To this, add a generous dollop of heavy whipping cream. Don't be shy about it.

The heavy cream provides some good fats, with a bit of metabolic staying power, but without much impact on blood sugar, and the little bump of caffeine is a pick-me-up and mental re-focusser (at least for me, your mileage may indeed vary). I don't imagine there's much caffeine in the coffee I usually drink; it's arabica, and dark roasted, both of which tend to be lower in caffeine. Empirically, I know that other coffee offers more of a jolt - I had some old Cafe Bustelo around, made myself a cup a few weeks ago, and felt pretty jittery afterwards.

Anyway, adding some heavy cream to coffee is another of my go-tos, now so ingrained by force of habit that I hardly think about it. I used to only drink my coffee black, but found that having a cup or two with heavy cream in the AM helped me to make it without snacking until lunch time. Now, I just do it habitually. I buy heavy cream by the quart, which lasts me for a couple of weeks, or a bit less. The fat calories also help me to maintain body weight while on my particular brand of low-carb diet, which can be a challenge.

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Anne Miller

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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Hey Anne. I can't help but wonder, what used to be your go to snack?

I used to do potato chips, chex mix and the cheese puffs. Right now I am doing the first two because I am tried of cheese puffs.

I am careful to limit amounts to about half a cup. It doesnt seem like eliminating the first two would make that much difference.

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Daphne Rose

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No junk food anywhere. Whole foods are less addictive, especially if they have a lot of fiber. No fast food. And drinking water. Apples are great. If you get the munchies, munching on frut is usually good.

Josh Hoffman

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Daphne Rose wrote:No junk food anywhere. Whole foods are less addictive, especially if they have a lot of fiber. No fast food. And drinking water. Apples are great. If you get the munchies, munching on frut is usually good.

Agree that corn kernels for popping are a good whole food

Butter and olive oil and salt are very close too....

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Rad Anthony

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It's tough. I try making healthy versions of whatever it is. Nuts, fruits, especially berries. Love to snack on those. Love making juices and smoothies.

I look at it as fuel. Anything I eat is fuel. If I eat or plan on eating I'll plan to do something like a task. And vice versa, if plan a laborious task I'll plan on eating really good before or after.

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