Nutritionist’s Top Tips To Avoid Snacking
As the country continues to experience unfamiliar times during lockdown, many are continuing to navigate working from home. Here Nutritionist and Linwoods Health Foods ambassador, Jenna Hope provides her top tips on maintaining a healthy diet and avoiding the common food pitfalls when working from home.
Jenna Hope
Give yourself a set mealtime
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When working from home it can be difficult to stick to set mealtimes. Ensuring regular mealtimes helps to maintain balanced blood sugar levels across throughout the day which in turn can prevent you constantly opening the fridge. Try to keep your eating patterns as similar as they were before lockdown to maintain routine and prevent constant grazing.
Avoid boredom grazing
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Boredom grazing is one of the most common issues when working from home. To beat this, try to tune into your hunger to prevent unconscious eating. Before reaching for your next snack, stop and rate your hunger between 1-10. A 7 upwards indicates you’re possibly eating out of boredom. Instead, why not try picking up a new hobby or learning a skill as this is a great way to beat boredom and remain productive.
Opt for healthier snacks
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Being stocked up on healthy snacks is essential to eating well in lockdown. If you can’t get hold of fresh fruit take advantage of frozen fruit which you can combine with Linwoods Shelled Hemp for added boost of protein and healthy fats. Alternatively, opt for oatcakes with nut butter, carrots with hummus or a handful of nuts as a healthy alternative. Protein plays many key functional roles in the body and protein rich foods help curb your hunger levels and stabilise your blood sugar, providing long lasting energy.
Avoid the overconsumption of coffee
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You may find that working from home, a coffee break gives you a moment to step away from your desk. However, with coffee on tap, those who are particularly stressed will find that a high caffeine consumption may contribute to increased levels of anxiety. Caffeine increases the stress hormone cortisol and binds to the neurotransmitter, Adenosine. Usually Adenosine would leave you feeling calm and sleepy and consequently a lack of it can leave you feeling wired.
Hope Wilson
I love travelling and food- so it's a good job I'm the travel and cookery editor for My Weekly! I also get involved with the real life section of the magazine as helping people share their story is one of my passions.
