According to research, people who eat in front of the TV report feeling like they haven't eaten at all. So researchers suggest that people shouldn’t eat in front of the TV. Find alternative behaviors to eating: take a bubble bath, go to the movies, walk the dog, wash the car. With these, you have chances that you can get distracted and the urge to eat will pass.
David Katz, MD, MPH, director of the Prevention Research Center at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn said, "People eat sometimes to get relief from boredom, depression, anxiety, loneliness, stress, and other moods.”
WebMD Weight Loss Clinic Dietitian Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD, LD said, “Often, the foods we reach for first in times of stress are comfort foods that our mothers used to soothe the scraped knee or tender ego. If we don't reach for comfort foods, we tend to reach for alcohol, sweets, and savory foods that tend to be high in fats, sugar, and calories."
Author Katz explained, “A big part of weight management is recognizing these mechanisms and applying skills and strategies to address the difference between the need to eat and the desire to eat.”
Lauren Solotar, Ph.D. suggested, “Tracking your eating triggers is the first step. This approach gradually allows people to recognize how their feelings are triggering eating behaviours. That self-recognition is an important skill, once a client learns to recognize the feelings that trigger eating, that skill can be used to rein in unnecessary eating."
Some tips suggested by the researchers are, before you eat, drink a glass of water, wait 10 minutes, and see if you can get past the urge to eat. Eat every few hours instead of letting a snack attack drive you to the vending machine. Create a safe nutritional environment at home have plenty of healthy food on hand and don't keep junk food in the house. Plan healthy snacks for those times when you are vulnerable to eating, especially late afternoon and after dinner.
