Break the bad snack habit with a brown news-boy hat

Break the bad snack habit with a brown news-boy hat

I thought I had some primary resistance to homesickness. Nope. I woke up this morning after dreaming about In-N-Out. I don’t even like In-N-Out that much. It figures I would be thinking of the one thing I can’t get in New York City, aside from a decent priced bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and real Mexican food.

This also may have been brought on by my efforts to break my midnight snack habit. Let’s face it, our bodies don’t want to break habits, especially those that cause us to lose weight. Apparently I was at one time a hunter-gatherer. Although, I would consider grocery shopping in New York City a, “hunter gatherer,” lifestyle, especially when you get left by the shuttle that brought you to the market because you could not decide between the higher priced real maple syrup and Aunt Jemima’s sugary concoction. That being said, our bodies are very good at storing fat and too nostalgic to let it go easily.

Beth Duncan from Cooley Law School in Michigan asks, “how do I avoid excessive snacking when I am tired and trying to stay awake to study?”

This is something my body tricks me into too. Somehow I feel that a very difficult and/or time consuming project requires an ample amount of chocolate, carbohydrates (my body tells me ESPECIALLY the refined empty calorie type carbs), a few pieces of fruit to make me feel like I am negating the empty calories of the other snacks, and all consumed on several kitchen trips that I deem to be my, “last snack for the night.” The obvious thing our bodies may need at that point is sleep. But, being realistic, that is not going to happen until the 20-page paper is read and the other two-projects are done… and we visit facebook on accident on 20 minute intervals looking for something or someone very important.

So… How do we break the sneaky-snack cycle?

First we need the proper hat. A brown newsboy hat seems appropriate. Studious enough to make a homemade thin crust whole-wheat veggie pizza in and with enough integrity to investigate this complicated cycle. 

Whole wheat, no trans-fat pre-made pizza dough. Lightly brushed with olive oil. Topped with tomato sauce, light Mozzarella shredded cheese, sliced fresh mushrooms, garlic, diced tomatoes, a bit of fresh ground pepper/salt/basil. Bake for 9-15 min depending on crust preference. Perfecto! 

Personally, when I turn into a study snack maniac I reach for hot tea. If I need to stay up I drink something with some caffeine, if not, I choose something decaffeinated. This generally fills up the tummy and because it is warm, it is more pleasurable to drink than a plain cup of tap. However, you are smart enough to be the judge of what goes in that tea. I have been known to put an entire doughnut in the tea, again somehow negating the calories of a deep fried, jelly filled, wad of dough. Another thing that is important is that the brain runs on glucose. Maybe some fruit or a moderate amount of carbs or small sweet treat are acceptable. Don’t underestimate the importance of glucose (carbs and my tea drenched doughnut are big glucose suppliers) but the key is getting that glucose from a healthy source and not letting your body’s urge to eat just anything win.

So how do we stay accountable?

Most likely nobody wants to hear every time you have a carb-binge so keep a food journal. It is a common practice. Be honest and write down EVERYTHING you eat. I can almost guarantee you will not want to eat that random Sweedish fish or 7.5 chocolate covered peanuts and so on because is eating it worth the time of writing it down? Since habit breaking is tough, it may require some prayer so I like the idea of keeping a food/prayer journal. Check out ones that I have picked for you. You can purchase them from my site! These have little bits of scripture and are visually appealing. We need to make habit-breaking doable. 

My Sassy and Sophisticated journal... yes that is what it is called! I think it is very masculine too - ha

Next: Assess your overall snacking and diet

Go to  www.mypyramidtracker.gov . Sign up (painless).  Click on “food tracker” (see the youtube video - as Darth Vader teaches you to use the site) 


enter the food consumed in one day. Then adjust the quantity. Finally, hit save and analyze. This will give you a breakdown of how many calories, fat, carbs and so on you consumed for the day. Then, above the table, click on the link to show you recommendations. This will let you know if there is anything that the food pyramid recommends that you adjust. This is also good because knowing that doughnuts drenched in some bizarre tea is not a noted food item, maybe I would be more likely to eat something reasonable. Maybe you will too =)

Good luck and let me know what you think! Let me know if you have any additional questions that I can look into or other advice that I did not mention.

For now I am off on a run to ponder pollution and the birth weight fluctuation of those living in urban populations… Graduate school reading is intriguing.

Hats off to you! Have a happy day