”How To (Healthily) Find Comfort In Food” is a collaborative post and includes affiliate links. Please see the disclosure page for more information. Disclaimer – always verify medical information with your doctor or a professional and follow all laws for your location.
Chocolate Chips are my therapy. What’s your Achilles’ heel?
Finding comfort in food isn’t rare. When you’re stressed, happy, or sad, you’re more likely to raid the fridge. Unfortunately, the results aren’t very healthy. With less of a tolerance for what’s good for you and what’s bad, it’s tempting to lean on junk food and snacks that wipe away your daily calorie intake.
The key is to find comfort in food without the unhealthy side-effects. On the face of things, it doesn’t seem doable. There are plenty of horror stories out there and in my own home. I’m all about finding comfort in food usually while I have late night Netflix binge fests. All during the day I can stay on track with my diet plan, but at night those snacks keep calling my name!
Try the pointers below to help you snack responsibly while enjoying a little comfort food.
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Cook Regularly
Cooking kills two birds with one stone. Firstly, the process of building something from scratch is comforting. You’ll enjoy it so much that the final taste will be even more delicious just because of the sense of achievement. Secondly, cooking your meals means that you’re in control. As a result, homemade dishes are almost always better for you than packaged or takeout meals. This is due to the fact that there won’t be any needless preservatives or additives, and the salt and sugar content should be much lower. There’s nothing more comforting than a homemade dinner!
Pack Your Snacks
Snacking isn’t all bad. According to NBC News, one of the biggest myths revolving around snacks is that they aren’t healthy. Fine, the giant mint KitKat bars aren’t really healthy but a girl’s gotta have a treat every once in a while, right?! Some are worth avoiding, but others are fine as long as you follow the rules. This means ensuring they’re under 200 kcals a portion and not full of empty calories and carbs. Another powerful tip is to pack your snacks. With Youtopia Snacks, you get a bag of pre-portioned food that isn’t perishable and easy to carry. This is vital to finding healthy comfort in food as it prevents you from indulging in junk food, especially when you’re on-the-go and hungry. When my little family is driving for 3+ hours on a trip, I always try to prepare snacks for the road. I cut up a bunch of fruit and veggies to snack on during the drive. This helps us eat healthier and also saves a ton of money.
Only Allow Healthy Options In Your Home
Shhhh! Don’t tell my kids but I’m slowly only bringing in snack options that are healthy. I feel like I’m addicted to junk food and sugar. According to AddictionCenter.com, “Some studies have suggested sugar is as addictive as cocaine.” If I’m wanting to snack on something, (like always) it makes more sense to rid my house of anything other than healthy choices and to help with breaking my bad eating habits.
Spend Less Without Reducing The Quality
The hardest part of eating healthily is attempting to reduce your grocery expenses without stocking up on cheap ingredients. As a rule, the more affordable, the unhealthier they are. Thankfully with today’s modern technology you can shop online for less. You can use coupons and voucher codes, too. Of course, this process can be more challenging since it requires research and time, but it will be worth being able to afford healthy snacks. Also be ready to shop around for small price reductions and sales. Check weekly grocer flyers and join grocery store’s rewards programs if they have it in your area. Trying these tips could help your expenses will be lower, but the quality will be the same.
Reign It In At Restaurants
At a restaurant, you want to eat whatever takes your eye as you don’t get out often and it’s a treat. Yet, if you eat out regularly, you need to be stricter with your diet. It could be as basic as only ordering a main meal as opposed to a starter and a dessert, or you might swap a steak for the lasagna. However you do it, you should reign in your stomach at a restaurant which can be hard. I know when all the restaurants start opening up again here, I will definitely want to indulge. Once is ok but it’s not something I plan on doing all the time.
Being from the southern part of the United States, a big part of our culture is food. We celebrate birthdays and weddings with cake, holidays mean cookie exchanges, have big crawfish boils during the season, and people get in fights about who makes the best barbeque for goodness sakes! I remember being at my own home or friends’ homes growing up and snacks being available like chips, cookies, and candy. Although I like all of those things, it’s starting to show and my jeans feel like they are working overtime to contain my thighs lately. Time to go back to healthily find comfort in food!
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