In my Facebook poll about your most common triggers for overeating, not surprisingly, stress and boredom were tied for first place. What's interesting is that stress and boredom are opposites - too much and not enough. In case you missed it, I covered stress in the last several posts. Now let's address boredom eating.
Eating Cures Boredom
The problem is when you stop eating, you're bored again. So you have to eat again! (That is why I call it an Overeating Cycle.)
Eating is only one of a thousand things you can do when you're bored. When you're not hungry, you can choose to redirect your attention by making a conscious decision to focus on an activity other than eating (or thinking about eating).
Better Ways to Cure Boredom
Finding something to do besides eat isn't about deprivation and willpower. It's about expanding your options beyond food to build a bigger life.
Here are some specific strategies to help you deal with boredom eating (from chapter 3 of Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat):
- Take out a piece of paper and make a list of activities that appeal to you using the following suggestions.
- Brainstorm a variety of ideas to ensure that you’ll come up with something that will fit depending on your mood or situation.
- Write down both simple and more-complex ideas and both quick and time-consuming activities.
- Be sure to include a few ideas that don’t require any preparation or equipment.
- Have different ideas for home, work, and other settings.
- Use your imagination. One of my workshop participants, an engineer, kept Legos on her desk to play with when she felt like eating.
- Choose activities that are enjoyable—or at least not unpleasant. If you’re going to make a choice not to eat, the alternative must be at least somewhat appealing.
- Have plenty of eating-incompatible activities. This is any activity that requires your hands or full attention. For example, it’s difficult to eat while you're playing the piano, building something, or sewing.
- Choose a few ideas from your list and have everything you’ll need ready to go. For instance, if you plan to play a game of solitaire, keep the cards nearby. If you’re going to try meditation, do a little reading about it ahead of time so you know what to do.
- Keep a Redirection Kit or drawer in your home or office stocked with things to do—stationery, a favorite book, puzzles, tools, crafts, or anything else that appeals to you.
- Establish a “Food Free Zone” at home and at work. Create a pleasant, comfortable space that you don’t associate with eating. Promise yourself you’ll never eat in that place, though drinking water, tea, or coffee there is fine. Keep your Redirection kit there so you can retreat to your Food Free Zone until the urge to eat passes.
- Promise yourself you’ll try a distraction activity for at least a little while. Although it’s easier to eat, you stay trapped in your Overeating Cycle when you do.
- Try to redirect your attention away from eating even if it is for only a few minutes at first. For example, say to yourself, “I’ll work on this puzzle for ten minutes, then see how I feel.” You’ll quickly learn that you can postpone eating with no adverse consequences and that will encourage you to try it again next time too.
Remember, you're redirecting your attention away from food because you're just bored, not because you’re depriving yourself. Remind yourself that you’ll eat when you’re hungry.
What do you like to do when you feel bored? What will you put in your "Redirection Kit"?
