Speaker 1: 0:40

I think the time I realised I was boredom eating was during COVID, and do you remember all the lockdowns? Suddenly we were all working from home and I'd be at my desk, you know, typing away, sending my silly little emails, and then suddenly I'd get an urge. Oh, maybe I just go check out what's in the kitchen, open the pantry, have a snoop around and I knew I wasn't hungry. I mean, I'd really just eaten lunch not long ago. But there I was grabbing a little snack and sauntering back to my computer. All right, I'll do a bit more work. And then I think I was kind of using food as a little bit of a reward. So, okay, I'll do another hour of work and then next thing, you know, I'm back in the kitchen and recognizing this boredom eating for what it is is a really crucial part in getting in control around it. And maybe you know boredom eating intimately because I think to some degree we all do some boredom eating. It is a normal part of our experience. But sometimes it gets a little bit out of control and we find that we're bored of eating all the time, every day. It has become our go-to coping strategy. So let's talk about it in today's episode.

Speaker 1: 1:56

Hey everyone, if you're new here, I'm Lindy Cohen, dietitian nutritionist, and I'm not one of those people who has it all sorted with food all the time. In a way, I'm just like you. I used to struggle with my weight. It used to be something I guess my Roman empire that would keep me up at night. In fact, I tried all the diets countless diets over a decade, and all it did was lead me to feel totally out of control around food, which is now what this podcast is geared to help you do. I'm collating all the research and my experience as a dietitian helping thousands and thousands of people feel normal around food, to help you do the same. So I'm so glad you're here. Stick around, let's get into it here. Stick around, let's get into it.

Speaker 1: 2:47

Number one place to start, I think, is why the heck do you eat? Out of boredom. You can probably guess a few of these, but let's go through them real quick. The first thing to note is that when you eat food, it releases feel-good chemicals and that can help you shake the boredom, so I think that's probably a really good explanation. Like me, creeping into the pantry, I was sick of feeling bored, and it's a really quick fix for getting rid of boredom. And number two it starts to become a habit, a conditioned response. So every time you feel that twinge, that slight discomfort of being a bit bored, you run into the kitchen. It helps to soothe it a little bit. Things just feel good hormones, and then you go all right. Well, that worked as a strategy, it was a solve, and that reinforces this habit. So it can be something that you end up doing every day, multiple times a day, and I think that's when it becomes a real big problem.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Another reason why we eat out of boredom is food noise. So if you're someone who restricts certain foods and then you obsess about what you eat, then food might already frequently be on your mind. What you're probably finding is the very food that you tell yourself you're not allowed to eat. Well, that's the food that you're going for when you are bored, and so I think, if you are someone restricting, food will always be on your mind and it's going to further enhance boredom, meaning how ironically because it's the thing you're trying to do less of I know what a pain. Let's fix that.

Speaker 1: 4:04

Number four is I think boredom eating is a coping strategy, because boredom eating is a type of emotional eating. There's been a lot of debate in psychology about this, but I guess the growing consensus is that boredom is an emotion just like any other emotion that you experience, like anger or sadness. So, as I said, there is a discomfort in experiencing an emotion boredom which doesn't feel so good, and food is a way for us to try and pull ourselves out of it a solve, although it is not a healthy solve. So then, what to do about this boredom eating that's getting in the way of your healthy intentions and your consistency? Well, I've got a few tips and tricks up my sleeve. Number one is to do the apple or the carrot test. Now, I do laugh about this, because I remember going to my dietician when I was 16 and she'd say something like if you don't feel like eating an apple, then you're probably not hungry. And I've seen some non-diet people recently being like you know what? Sometimes I am hungry and I just don't feel like eating an apple. But here's how the test works. I really do think it is valid. You pick a food that you feel neutrally about. It could be an apple, it could be a carrot, it could be a piece of bread, whatever it is. You feel neutrally about what you think you feel like eating and you ask yourself if you're going, am I actually hungry? Would I eat an apple or would I eat a carrot right now? And I think it's kind of just a really easy solve. I give you an example Last night my toddler was screaming at 9pm saying he wanted chocolate.

Speaker 1: 5:41

And I was like cool, cool bro, nice story, things that aren't happening. And I simply said to him chocolate's not on the menu right now, it's just not on the menu. Remember, I didn't say chocolate's bad, I didn't say we don't need chocolate at 9pm, it's too late to eat chocolate. I just said simply chocolate's not on the menu right now. Because my gut feeling was he was trying to avoid going to sleep and he was feeling a little bit frazzled and bored that sleep wasn't coming, and so he wanted to try and get himself out of that feeling by having chocolate. So I said to him well, cool, do you want a carrot? And he said, yeah, I'd love a carrot. And I brought him the carrot and he didn't eat the carrot because I don't think he was hungry, I don't think he wanted the chocolate because he was hungry, I don't think he wanted the carrot. I think he just said yes.

Speaker 1: 6:24

But I've done this test with myself multiple times and I find that when I am actually hungry, I do, I will eat. I will eat a carrot, I will eat an apple, I will eat pretty much anything that's palatable that you throw at me because I have genuine hunger. Now I'll be honest, I don't think boredom eating is at all about hunger. So we can kind of just use that strategy. If you're kind of going, oh, am I hungry, am I bored, I think that's a very useful strategy. But let's move on to another little tip.

Speaker 1: 6:51

Strategy number two is the distraction-free test. You ask yourself the question would I be willing to eat this distraction-free? Sometimes we say to ourselves I only want to eat this in front of the TV. That's what I'm really looking forward to. I want to open this, I want to watch my favorite show, I want to chill out, and that's the joy for me. And I think totally there are times where we're going to do that and that's going to be within the realm of a healthy, balanced approach to food.

Speaker 1: 7:16

But if that is how you genuinely feel about these foods, then I think it's a really good sign that you are using them as a way of distracting yourself, of becoming unbored. And it's just a little bit of a clue. And even if you are going to do a little bit of boredom eating, you're going. Okay, I know I'm bored, I'm eating right now. I'm not hungry, lindy silly apple carrot test. But if you can go, all right, I will at least sit and I will eat it free from distraction. I think that's really pretty brilliant. So already we've shifted the boredom eating from mindless boredom eating to mindful boredom eating, and I know I giggle, but that is a huge improvement. That is a huge increase in your attention intention around food. So can you sit down free from your phone, free from the TV, and sit at the table and, better yet, put it on a plate? Cause I find most boredom eating is like all emotional eating it's happening on the couch, it's happening crouched in the pantry, it is chaotic.

Speaker 1: 8:14

Eating and changing your boredom eating will instantly help you feel like you're more in control. If you're going, I really don't want to do this. This is the thing I talk about in Binge Free Academy, which is my program to help you stop binge and emotional eating. I give you lots of tips about how to actually do this a little bit more well, a lot more than what is currently in the podcast. So if you feel like you are ready for a little bit more support in dealing with your out of control eating, then I highly recommend Binge Free Academy. You get that support from me inside it with group coaching, so highly recommend. I'll leave a link to it in the show notes, if you like. All right.

Speaker 1: 8:49

The third strategy I want to talk about is something I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Really I haven't. I've been thinking about it all the time. It is the antidote to boredom. Eating or emotional eating, is to build a fun life, a life where you don't need to try and run away from, where your life is filled with things that bring you joy.

Speaker 1: 9:13

I had a realization a while ago that I was doing some emotional eating. This is a good few years back, lots of emotional eating. I was feeling like, oh, it was a bad week. And then that weekend I went for a walk, put on an AirPod, ran into some friends. I totally forgot to eat. I forgot about eating. I say this because my life that day was filled with goodness. I got my little exercise in, I saw some friends, I was in sunshine, I was genuinely, really happy and, as a result, I didn't feel like I needed to use food as a crutch and I didn't do a boarder meeting because I was doing something that I really, truly enjoyed.

Speaker 1: 9:53

And now I know this is tricky, because life is not all flowers and lollipops and butterflies. There are some very hard things that we need to deal with in life and sometimes there are things in our life that we can't change. Whether you're a parent with kids who are really young and your partner flies away for work, or you're a carer for someone and it's just a constant slog, I think those situations are really tricky. However, I don't think you are stuck, because I think there are options about making your life more fulfilling and more fun and more joyful.

Speaker 1: 10:27

Now, when I was a dieter, my life, my hobby, my passion was food. It was a very good way for me to cover up my disordered eating, just to be like I'm really into fitness, when really, aka, I have an eating disorder that's undiagnosed. Anyway, dieting became my personality, or at least I thought it was. I thought it was a hobby and an interest, and it is not. And what I realized is that I needed to be more fulfilled. That watching TV at the end of a day and reading up on diets and scrolling on social media just wasn't making me feel fulfilled. And so I turned to food at the end of the day because I was looking for something. And I realized, after I kept going back for chocolate after chocolate, after chocolate, that I just wasn't finding it in the chocolate, that the chocolate wasn't going to give me the thing, that what I really needed. And I think, if you notice you're doing this, we kind of keep going back for something. At some point you got to go. It doesn't matter how much of this food I'm going to find, I'm not going to find what I'm looking for at the bottom of the packet. And I had that big realization. And I still have this big realization. I keep coming back to this.

Speaker 1: 11:36

So I, after I had my children, I had a um, an identity crisis, not a little identity crisis. I had a good couple of years there of feeling quite lost and feeling like I didn't recognize myself. And that's when I decided that I needed to invest in more me time and as a mom, I feel like I don't get that much me time. So I went on pursuit of trying to work out what the heck I liked. So I started beach volleyball, I went to improv classes, I started salsa dancing, I started sewing, I started reading and I started actually getting hobbies. I invested in friendships as well. I've gone through a period of really trying to make my life feel fulfilled and full with things that I truly like and enjoy, not stuff my husband enjoys or my friends enjoy, like what do I want to do? And I do these things to fulfill myself because I know there's advice out there. That's like, when you feel like emotional eating, just go and meditate, just go for a little walk, and I'm like cool bro, nice advice, but I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that at all. And if you ever had that sensation, then I think let's talk about this.

Speaker 1: 12:41

Number four is the piggyback method. Once again, I teach you about this inside Binge Free Academy, but I'll share it with you now. Piggyback method is basically, if you find yourself emotional eating, it's very tricky for me to just say to you all right, just stop emotional eating and go meditate. It's silly, it's silly and it's just try it and if you can hack it, amazing. But for most people that's just not going to fly.

Speaker 1: 13:03

So piggyback method is about introducing a new, healthier coping strategy for your emotions. So let's say you have a really hard day, you're feeling really tired, you might still go, I'm still going to do some degree of emotional eating, aka also boredom eating, but now I'm going to introduce a healthier coping strategy in addition to it. So then, after I've eaten, I'm going to go like whip out my phone and just write down what I'm feeling. Or I'm going to go like whip out my phone and just write down what I'm feeling. Or I'm going to go for a walk, or I am going to meditate, or I'm going to do one of those cliche things that people talk about, like having a bath, and what we do is we slowly integrate this little habit, this healthier habit, piggybacking off the emotional eating, so that at some point you go oh, this time I actually found that I didn't emotionally. I went straight to the other coping strategy, I went for a walk because I just knew that was going to make me feel better. So this little process of introducing something new can help you lean less on emotional eating and transition into a place where it's not your sole coping strategy. I think this is really important. I will teach you more about this in Binge Fear Academy if you come over and join us.

Speaker 1: 14:06

Number five I think you've got to supercharge your pantry and you do have to have stuff that is healthy and that you truly actually want to eat. That is a very key piece. You hear me talking about that all the time. We have to make healthy eating enjoyable if you want to be consistent at it. Otherwise it's a bore. You might find that even your boredom eating isn't fulfilled by the boring foods you're trying to eat, and that is when you are going for that more exciting food. So we've got to strike the balance between our food being, like, truly a little bit enjoyable and fun. So I like, I like popcorn. I like a nut mix. I love Brazil nuts. I'm into a Brazil nut phase. I like dates. I have my homemade muesli. I think sometimes a nut bar can be a very convenient grab and go option. I think that is something we don't talk about enough is those grab and go options that sometimes, yes, you could go make yourself a piece of avocado toast, but that requires a few steps and sometimes it's just too many steps. I think that's fair for us to be realistic about it.

Speaker 1: 15:06

You can also meal prep some stuff that is going to be healthy snack options, ready for you to go. So if you are that way inclined, a reminder that diet culture doesn't own meal prep or meal planning. That is something that you can own, that can be healthy, but it doesn't have to feel like a sad, boring loser. Chicken and broccoli. I said it here, so that's the way I think about that stuff. So in my Back to Basics app, I give you lots of healthy, easy snack options that you can store in the fridge, that you can meal prep ahead of a week, because I think when you are creating these options that truly feel satisfying, that make you feel balanced, that integrate some of your binge or trigger foods into your diet, I think you stop feeling the need to emotionally eat, to boredom, eat nearly as much and of course you've heard me talk about this it is so key to have a balance of nutrients on your plate, and this also relates to a snack plate.

Speaker 1: 16:03

I know, I know all the nutrition girlies these days are talking about why you're not allowed to have carbohydrates. Boo them. I think that having carbohydrates, protein, fat, the fruits, the stuff that gives you the antioxidants. I think the mix of it is what we really need, and I know people have been saying that for years and it sounds boring and cliched and blur. But tell you what, guys? This advice is timeless. It's classic because it works. It's not going to go out of style like this high protein absolute obsession at the moment.

Speaker 1: 16:32

So I like to build myself a little bit of a snack plate and I'm including a mix of these things on my plate. There's something I teach you how to do in my Stop Struggling With Food Guide, so you can kind of get a little bit of this, bit of that bit of this and you sit down to a meal that's actually satisfying. Now, this is particularly relevant. If you are the kind of person who finds that you are constantly snacking while you're making dinner and you're going oh my goodness, by the time I get to dinner, I'm actually not even hungry because I've snacked the entire time. Then I really want you to try this method. I think it's really important to build out that healthier snack plate, giving yourself permission to have more during that snack time, or even moving your dinner earlier. There are options, but I talk about that in Stop Struggling With Food Guide. I'll leave a link to that down below as well, because I think it is mightily helpful and useful.

Speaker 1: 17:19

And last thing I want to talk about is mastering the art of intentional eating. Now, intentional eating, what is that? That's mindful eating, it is. It is just being aware of what you're doing. We talked about the fact of simply noticing that your boredom eating is powerful. The other day yesterday actually I had a really bad night's sleep. I got about six hours of sleep that was interrupted multiple times by a baby and a toddler, and I woke up the next day and I found my thoughts just kept coming back to food. I kept wanting chocolate. The cravings were really intense. So this is a reminder that if you feel like you can't stop eating, that you can't stop thinking about these foods.

Speaker 1: 17:58

Do not underestimate the importance, the value of getting enough sleep, enough high quality sleep, and how it affects your energy levels, your mood and your emotional or boredom eating. This is really crucial and really key. There is research to say that typically, we've been recommended that seven to eight hours is appropriate, or enough sleep, and now new research has come out saying, yeah, that research was well and good for men, but for women they need more sleep, and I'd certainly noticed this for myself. I personally need around eight to nine hours of quality sleep to feel well rested. So it's about working out how much sleep you need to feel energized and good, and part of the equation for me is exercising. If I move my body and however that looks for you it could be a walk, it could be a jog, a run, whatever intensity you want that to be and I find that I sleep so much better and I don't get stuck in that bad cycle of failing to fall asleep, not wanting to exercise because I don't have enough energy. And just a reminder there that if you're not getting enough rest from sleep, you will seek out energy in the simplest form, and typically the simplest form is from food high energy food, high sugar food, and that really reinforces the boredom eating. So I know it sounds simple, but focusing on sleep really can be a very important thing, something I talk about with the hierarchy of healthy habits. If you've read my book, you're going to know exactly what that's all about.

Speaker 1: 19:23

I hope you have found today's episode useful. There are so many strategies. Give them a whirl. Let me know how you go. Write to me on comments and on Instagram or send me an email. Hello, at Lindy Cohen, you can ask me a question. If you want me to answer a question on the podcast, I would love to hear from you. I really enjoy hearing from you, so please do reach out and thanks for listening. I'll see you next time. Bye.