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Crunch Before You Munch - How a Few Sit-ups Kill Appetite
It's
late, and you're sitting in your hotel room, tired, bored,
and stressed all at the same time. Nothing would taste
better than a candy bar from the vending machine. You
know you shouldn't, but your resolve is weakening quickly.
Scenario:
Having found herself frequently heading to the kitchen
while working from her home office, a woman commits herself
to doing 20 crunch sit ups before allowing herself a snack.
Not
only do the extra calories burned help offset some of
the chips, cookies, or whatever goodie was selected, more
importantly, it was found that once she did the sit ups,
this woman wasn't interested in eating anymore. She felt
better about herself and was less tempted to snack for
no reason.
People
snack for different reasons (or, if you are like some,
for any reason) including boredom, loneliness, stress,
and habit. Crunch Before You Munch helps you break the
cycle of reaching for food when one of these feelings
kicks in.
This
scenario applied Crunch Before You Munch in a home office
setting, but it's also a great tool to use while you are
on the road. To make it effective, spend a few minutes
analyzing why you snack on the road. If it's habit or
boredom, simply finding an alternative activity (whether
exercise or not) may meet your needs. If it's stress,
assess what types of things help you unwind; perhaps exercise,
relaxation, or chatting with a friend relieves your stress.
By selecting activities that will counteract your emotional
snacking "cues," you'll be less likely to start
eating.
Try
any of your favorite exercises or one of these 10-minute
activities as a snack alternative:
-
Take
the stairs down to the lobby, walk up five floors, and
then take the stairs back down to your room.
-
Do
20 sit-ups.
-
Walk
your entire floor of the hotel, and count the number
of rooms on the floor.
-
Turn
off the TV and call a loved one or old friend. Talk
for
ten minutes.
-
Do
50 jumping jacks.
-
Drink
an 8-ounce glass of water.
-
Turn
off the TV and read a non-work related book or magazine
for 10 minutes.
-
Taking
no money, walk down to the front desk, say hello to
the clerk, and walk back up the stairs to your room.
If the gift shop is still open, say hello to the shop
clerk too!
-
Turn
off the TV, radio, and cell phone; get into the yoga
corpse pose, and relax for a full 10 minutes. Concentrate
on relaxing each part of your body from toes to head.
-
Make
a cup of tea or decaffeinated coffee, or drink a caffeine-free
diet soda.
-
Taking
the stairs, find the hotel pool. Wiggle your toes in
the water, and take the stairs back to your room.
Ultimately,
the goal of Crunch Before You Much is to avoid unnecessary
snacking, so select what works best for you
(Courtesy
of Healthy
Travel Network, LLC) |
