Too Much Down Time
Going with the aforementioned point, we have to point out how our personal habits lend to more eating and an increase in ‘hunger’. Look at your typical activities outside of work. In the digital age you’ll see more people sitting in front of a computer, lounging on a couch, or peeking at their cell phone. All of these activities lend themselves to ‘bored snacking’. When we eat because we are bored we are creating a habit that will constantly perk itself back up. We are conditioning our bodies to associate this down time with eating and thus we start to get hungry whenever we take part in these activities. You can eat to satisfy your hunger without destroying your diet by sticking to serving sizes. Don’t bring a bag of chips with you to watch TV, instead you should opt for a small cup if that is the serving size.
Too Much Down Time
Skipping Meals
We all live busy lives and our bodies react differently to food at different times of the day. Some people really don’t like eating breakfast before heading to work. Others are still full from lunch and don’t want to eat dinner until really late. Even though we have our own unique reactions to meal placements, the truth is that we can’t skip meals without consequence. When you skip a meal your empty stomach starts to surge in the production of ghrelin. As we mentioned above, ghrelin is a hormone that promotes hunger within your body. When the hormone is in production you will begin to really want to eat. The general rule of thumb is to eat something at least every four hours in order to keep the hormone in check. For those of us who hate certain meals you can always opt for a healthy and easy to eat ‘meal on the go’, like yogurt or a protein packed sandwich to ease the transition.
Skipping Meals