BLOG 237 DINNER PROBLEM
The trouble with dinner time…. well this can be complicated and it is a common problem. Do you have a habit of overeating at dinner?? There are a number of reasons why dinner can derail a diet and end a positive eating day with a plethora of bad choices in one meal.
1. Skipping meal prep: Most people tend to meal prep for the meals that are not at home for. They pack their snacks and lunch with the intention to come home and then make the healthy dinner they are planning to have. However, when work ends and errands start or appointments or driving the kids around, the window for dinner time preparation becomes smaller and smaller. Suddenly it’s easier to just grab fast food, order a pizza, or just have bowl of cereal or grilled cheese. Sound familiar??
2. Emotional eating: Food can be comforting. After a long stressful day, mind you of positive eating, you finally just break at the end of the day. Baked chicken or pasta and garlic bread?? One just sounds so much more appealing than the other after dealing with people all day, endless meetings, and all the stress that somehow accumulated. Sound familiar??
3. Time: After work doesn’t mean that the day is over. Say work ends at 5pm. You hit the gym, pick up your prescription, and then have to stop at the store, and now it’s 8:30pm. Time to cook?? Well by the time you do it’s 10pm and you are too hungry to wait. So fast food or warming something else up rather than what was originally planned is the easier solution. Sound familiar??
4. Cooking for the family: Cooking separately for yourself takes time and effort because not everyone likes your fish, rice, and vegetables. The kids want macaroni and cheese and your spouse says why do they need to eat like you are. Now you are cooking three different items instead off all in one. The effort and time make you frustrated so you cave into having what everyone else will be having. Sound familiar??
5. You didn’t eat all day: You got caught up at work and had to skip lunch. By the time you got done, you missed your snack too. You feel ravenous and could eat a cow. Dinner sounds amazing and you go into overdrive eating more than you normally would. Instead of eating throughout the day, you overate all at once at dinner. Sound familiar??
I like to think of these dinner mishaps as the number one reason why we have to plan ahead. We have to line up what we are going to do and take the time in advance. Some people just know that the afternoon is when life hits so they workout in the morning. Some people just know they have to take care of everyone else after work. Some people just know they are too tired after work. In our vulnerable, hectic, and most stressful times of the day, that is when our preparation kicks in the save us. Don’t wait on dinner time to suddenly make the right choice, because often time willpower has been all used by that time of day. On that note, what are you having for dinner tonight??