I have to laugh when people say, “I do great on my diet during the day. My struggle is when I get home at night”. I’m like, “Duh! That’s EVERYONE’s struggle!”

People seem to stick to their diet when they are too busy to think about eating. But, as soon as they get home, it’s like we have some kind of magnetic force drawing us to the pantry – and, normally, we are not even hungry because we just ate dinner!

I have snaccidents all the time. Mine rarely include chocolate, pizza or potato chips, but I accidentally find myself snacking more than I should at night too. For me, it’s normally veggie straws, popcorn or a fruit and cheese snack plate. Whatever the case, it becomes a snaccident as soon as I eat more than I originally intended (which is too often).

How to avoid a snaccident:

1.) You can’t eat what you don’t buy. If you struggle with the temptation to snack, keep it out of your house. You wouldn’t stock up on alcohol if you were a recovering alcoholic, so don’t stock up on snacks if you are a recovering foodie.

2.) Change your snack choices. Trade out high calorie snacks for healthier options. Avoid anything with high fructose syrup or preservatives (some flavored salty snacks have preservatives that make you want more). Stick to sea salt flavors and whole foods like sliced cucumber in vinegar, air popped popcorn, thinly sliced cheese (or cheese stick), berries (lower in calories than other fruits), meat jerky, hot tea or a protein shake.

3.) Start new habits. If you are in the habit of snacking, start new habits like stretching while watching TV. Hold hands and snuggle with your spouse. Do productive things that keep you busy like doing a mani/pedi, fold clothes, sip on hot tea, polish your jewelry or clean out your purse.

4.) Reduce TV time. If you struggle with snacking while watching TV, quit watching so much TV.  Take a long relaxing bath to ease aching muscles and help you wind down. Sit on the porch and spend some quiet time with your spouse, or play a board game with your kids. We have plenty of things we can do that are helpful and healthier than just sitting on the couch.

5. Go to bed. How many calories would we save if we went to bed earlier? Seriously! Just recently, Steve had his head in my lap (so I could tickle his head) and when my TV show ended he said “please watch another show” (because he wanted more head tickles lol). What did I do? I tickled him until he fell asleep, which was all of 10 minutes, and then I ended up getting more snacks for the rest of my TV show! I would have just been better off if I went to bed with Steve and called it a night! Ugh!

Honestly, most of us are overworked, overstressed and under-rested. We need more sleep and more time to let our mind rest and our body heal from our workouts. It wouldn’t kill us to hit the sack earlier! A matter of fact, we probably all need it!

How do YOU prevent snackattacks?