Recently, I have become more conscious of my eating habits. I’ve not only become more aware of the foods I’m eating, but the time during the day when I eat them. Just being more aware of my eating habits has helped me tremendously in keeping my blood sugar under control. Simply asking myself the question of whether I’m really hungry or if I am simply anxious and looking for a distraction has been incredibly helpful.
I’ve noticed that the hours between 8 pm and 10 pm are the most tempting for me to reach for a snack, regardless if I’m hungry or not. I have taken the precautionary step of never bringing Doritos or Lucky Charms into the house. Those were my go-to snacks while camped out on the sofa watching ESPN late at night.
Instead, I will reach for some peanuts or almonds. These may not be the best choices as it’s quite easy to eat too many of them, but they do satisfy my fix for something crunchy and salty. But they taste so good that it’s easy to carried away and eat a lot more than you should. Occasionally, I will enjoy a sugar-free soda instead of water while snacking on these, although I am also aware that I should be drinking the water instead. But having a bit of variety keeps me from craving those sweet things I used to enjoy.
Focusing on drastically reducing my carb intake has paid dividends. While my main goal was to get my blood sugar under control, eliminating those late night snacks of chips, cookies, milk, and other carb-loaded foods has resulted in my losing quite a bit of weight. Since I started replacing those kinds of snacks with healthier alternatives, I have lost roughly thirty pounds.
Losing the weight was not something I specifically set out to do. It was simply a byproduct of my initial goal of drastically reducing my carb intake and getting my blood sugar under control.
