Although we’re almost three weeks into 2023, the spirit of the new year, and specifically new year resolutions, still hovers among us. I set goals annually, but each 1st of January there’s a pack of goals that I carry over from the prior year into the next, lead by the infamous “Lose x pounds by x date”. I started working out fairly regularly in 2022, but still barely made a dent in the numbers on the scale. This is what sparked my curiosity around nutrition, and how the type, quantity and timing of the food we eat impacts whether we shed or gain a couple of pounds. With this in mind, between 01/14/2023 and 01/15/2023, I set off to discover the different scenarios in which I would either snack in between meals or eat more than I needed to during a meal, and what triggered those patterns.
The first thing I discovered that a lot of my snacking was indeed done in my room. Snacking seemed to be something I did regardless of whether I was bored, doing a mindless task or as a reward/break in between study sessions. Depending on how bored or stressed I was feeling, the snacking levels increased or decreased accordingly; but the snacking was constant. I also discovered that my binge eating increased depending on how readily available the snacks were. My on campus job has a kitchen that’s quite stocked up; and I hadn’t realized just how much I snack at work until I started measuring it. My mental state also affected how much and how often I snacked, and the times I felt the most stressed or anxious, especially surrounding school work or social interactions (respectively), I used food almost as a source of comfort, and as a way to keep my fingers and mouth busy.
