Hacker News Reader

Comment by Xcelerate | Hacker News Reader

> I've started taking so much junk snacks (which wasn't available at Office)

What I've found helps is to not buy snacks. I eat junk if it's available, but if nothing is nearby, then I can't be bothered to go out and purchase it, so I'll eat a grapefruit instead.

Another thing that I have found helps is to order a community supported agriculture (CSA) produce box. A lot of farmers that supply restaurants are losing a lot of business lately, and at least in the Bay Area, many are starting to sell directly to consumers. I'm on a weekly schedule now where every Wednesday I pick up a box of restaurant quality vegetables in SF, and it's pretty fun because a lot of these vegetables are ones I've never even heard of before. It has become a hobby to come up with new types of meals, and it also gives my wife and I a nice break from the monotony to go for our vegetable pickup excursion.

View on HN

One of my mottos: Good eating starts in the supermarket, not in the kitchen.

I can easily not buy potato chips. I don't even pretend like I'll control myself and not eat a whole bag in one night if it's in the house.

You don’t even have to go to the supermarket for food these days so can avoid the temptations completely.

With online shopping it’s easy to set up a weekly shopping list so easier to stay in track, no chocolate bars or soft drinks at the check outs. Likewise if you walk to a butchers or green grocers vs a supermarket it’s easier to avoid temptations.

Do you have a second motto that helps me not stress eat all the good food I just bought?

If you buy food that requires preparation time, that makes it less likely to stress eat.

That's an interesting idea. I'll look into that.

Fuck it.

I'd just enjoy myself, the damage is already done this time.

Just buy a bunch of veggies. Eat soup all day?

My motto is: if you're house is dirty, you're probably getting depressed. Clean your house.

It'll probably help with the stress eating. Anxiety is a big culprit and it is common these days.

On the other hand, if my house is very clean and uncluttered, I'm probably depressed/anxious and not spending time doing things I like. I personally despise cleaning house, and minimal cleaning for practical reasons works for me.

Eat it all you want? I can eat cherry tomatoes all day long and I doubt that’s awful for me

Make it difficult. Open chips, put chips into bowl, and take them somewhere else. (for example). You can make yourself bored while eating them, but I rarely do. The bowl/plate plus immediate cleanup helps stop the mindless eating.

In the meantime, work on getting some sort of hobby to help with the stress.

Love that. I've learned two things about myself in the last 5 years or so:

- I have very little self control when impulses are right in front of me. This goes for most things: drinking (especially out), food/snacks, purchases, even exercise (eg. just keep hiking a little farther vs. stopping).

- I have enormous self control if I "distance" myself from impulse. This means not buying snacks in the first place, trying out alternative forms of exercise, not buying beer except on weekends, putting things from Amazon on a wishlist vs. clicking the Buy Now button.

I know my impulses well enough at this point, and maybe there is something to be said for these methods not actually controlling them (just avoiding them), but they are much healthier mentally for me since I can indulge when things are around that I want without feeling guilty for being constantly indulging.

Not buying the bad stuff is key. Passing it in the store takes orders of magnitude less 'willpower' than moderating your consumption once it is in your cupboard.

> What I've found helps is to not buy snacks.

And the main trick to doing that is to not go shopping while hungry. If you are hungry, eat something small before going for groceries, and the temptations will have a lot less power over you.

I was going to say the former comment but I will add. Treat junk snacks as actual junk. Limit yourself to one snack as comfort food a week that you can buy. It doesnt hurt to have some cookies around but dont go to town on them.

Before going to shop, write a shopping list at home. When you are at the shop, you can still put something extra in your cart, but generally be in the "I am following the list" mindset, instead of "I am looking around and see if something catches my attention" mindset.

Before writing the shopping list, decide what meals do you want to eat in the following days; then put the ingredients in the list. Otherwise you might end up with too much breakfast stuff, and not enough cooking-material stuff. (Or with cooking-material stuff that you don't know how to put together.)

Before even that... if you are not a skilled cook, you could make a list of all meals you can cook, and put it on your fridge. So when you are out of ideas, just look at the list and pick something you haven't cooked recently. You will get greater variety, and you will keep practicing all you have learned.

Another nice aspect of a CSA is the push to eat seasonally. I'm not sure it really matters, but I find it aesthetically appealing.

Of course, the downside is that I now have to figure out what to do with fennel for the 6th week in a row...

Alternate between steaming it and eating it raw. Rotate through sauces, including none, just some oil, and then fancy stuff.

I skip fancy stuff myself and nibble on them raw. Makes for a good Netflix snack.

Bit late now (in the UK at least) if you want it all in season, but I like it in a pie with sweet potato and leek, and just a bechemel sauce, optionally thickened with egg or cheese.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com