You Are Not Hungry.

Let me begin by saying that I am an advocate for food. I love eating. I especially love eating treats.

However, since this is a health blog, I feel like eating healthy is supposed to be good.

We, as Americans, have this nasty habit of eating food ALL THE TIME. Eat when we watch TV, eat when we do homework, eat when we do laundry... basically, we can't just do one thing at a time. We always have to do something and also eat. A party isn't a party without the food, right?

Like I said, I love food. I'll just reiterate that.

However, I saw something today that really made me laugh.

Whenever I don't have anything to do, my first instinct is always to eat. Always. I go look in my pantry for snacks, or my freezer for treats, or my fridge for milk. But most of the time, I'm not actually hungry. Eating excessively is a big part of the reason why we, as Americans, have a reputation for being obese.

I propose a solution. You don't have to cut out your snacking habits--you just have to buy more healthy snacks. Obviously, not too healthy, or you might go insane. But instead of a candybar after class (or work), eat a bowl of lightly salted popcorn or some grapes. Don't buy a lot of the candy, or you will eat it. (That's something I had to learn the hard way.)

As an added bonus, you probably won't get sighs from your dentist anymore. Two reputations saved with one simple lifestyle change.