What to do at home to avoid overeating: 5 activities that can be combined with a movie

Many people have the habit of eating with no appetite appeared with the transition to remote work. When there is nothing to do, the hand itself reaches for the refrigerator. However, even after hours, many people want to indulge themselves with goodies while watching a movie or TV series. Why is it harmful and how to replace unnecessary meals?

Practical psychologist, body therapist

Many people perceive food as their company.

It all starts in childhood

Since childhood, many are accustomed to “eating” problems. Parents often find it more convenient to calm an infant by feeding it, and candy is often given to crying children. Therefore, over time, we develop misperceptions about food.

As adults, we act according to the pattern “I’m sad – eat cake, and everything will be fine”. We organize feasts, timing them to festive and pleasant events. Thus, food becomes a reward, encouragement and a way to get positive emotions.

Hope: Today, human life and food consumption are closely connected. Contact with food is not so much about hunger anymore: we time our trips to restaurants to coincide with meetings with friends and loved ones. People perceive food as company. So when there is nothing to do, they eat to occupy themselves.

It’s important to separate food and everything else. We are capable of being happy without food, sad without food, and we are capable of not nibbling on bad moods. It is important to learn how to live out these feelings.

Before you eat something from nothing to do, you should analyze your state. Am I really hungry or do I want to take time and distract myself from thoughts?

With frequent meals, the constant presence of insulin “irritates” the cells and imposes energy on them. In response, the cells turn on a defense response, becoming less sensitive to this hormone. This leads to insulin resistance. The consequences of this condition are deplorable: obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome.

Uncontrolled snacking leads to overeating and overshooting the daily amount of kilocalories. However, there are healthy snacks available. For example, whole grain or flax seed flour crackers, vegetable chips made from beets or kelp.

What can you do instead of eating?

Knit

Try knitting a scarf or the now so popular balaclavas. It’s much easier than it looks, and the process goes much faster with your favorite movie or TV series.

Paint

Try your hand at painting, sketching, painting by numbers – whatever your heart desires! It will help to occupy your hands and free your head from unnecessary thoughts, including about food. You can even choose special anti-stress coloring books to get the maximum effect.

Putting together puzzles

Or solve puzzles. Such an activity can well be combined with movies and conversations. And they also help to “stretch” the brain.

Play sports

Maybe it will seem strange to someone, but you can train not only with music, but also with TV series. Of course, watching something serious is unlikely to work, but light and unobtrusive multi-part series will do.