A nutrition scientist was hooked on snacks like chocolate and chips. She made 3 simple changes and now enjoys them without overeating.
Alex Ruani
- Alex Ruani used to overeat snacks that weren't nutritious.
- A few changes transformed her relationship with snacking.
- She started eating her meals at the same time each day and getting more sleep.
A nutrition scientist who was hooked on snacks like cookies and potato chips shared how she transformed her relationship with snacking.
Alex Ruani, a diet misinformation researcher at University College London, used to reach for high-fat, high-sugar foods like white chocolate and sugary iced coffees throughout the day.
Once she started, she struggled to stop eating. "Those of us who have this tendency to snack, we cannot stop until the entire pack is empty," she told Business Insider.
Now, Ruani said her relationship with snacks is healthier. She rarely snacks anymore, but when she does feel hungry between meals, she chooses something nutritious.
"It's a great opportunity for you to include more nutrients in your diet, more polyphenols, more fiber," she said.
"Snacking is not a bad thing, just keep an eye on what those snacks are," she said.
Ruani shared the three changes she made that helped.
Redesign your food environment
The first thing Ruani did was remove foods she wanted to stop snacking on. That way, she didn't have to rely on just willpower to resist the temptation.
"Redesign your food environments so they serve you, and they're not against you," she said.
In practice, this meant not buying chocolates and chips, removing them from the suggested items on her online grocery order, and avoiding the tempting aisle at the grocery store.
"I cannot be trusted near those things, so I just let my environment make those decisions for me," Ruani said.
Instead, she kept nutritious snacks such as fruit and nuts in her fridge or on her desk at work.
You're much more likely to eat what's immediately accessible to you, she said.
In a 2015 study published in the journal Society for Public Health Education, 710 households were asked which foods, if any, were displayed on their kitchen counters and what the occupants' heights and weights were. Researchers found that having fruit on display was associated with a lower BMI. While counters that displayed candy, cereal, or soft drinks were associated with higher BMIs.
Eat your meals around the same time every day
In the early part of her career, Ruani would eat at random times. "Some days at 8 p.m., some days at seven, some days at midnight, it was a disaster," she said. Once she started eating at more consistent times, she found that her cravings started to naturally subside.
Whether you stick to three meals a day or another setup, eating them at the same time each day can help regulate your hunger hormones, Ruani said. This, in turn, means you are less likely to crave food between meals.
There's a sector of nutrition science that studies how the circadian rhythm, which is our sleep and awake cycles, appetite signals, and food consumption are all correlated, she said. The body loves routine and predictability, she said, so when these elements are synchronized, it can run more efficiently.
"Let's say your dinner on Monday is at 9 p.m., then on Tuesday at 8 p.m., and then on Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. Your body is a little bit more confused, and that can also influence your hunger hormones, their production, and how they signal satiation to the brain," she said.
Get enough sleep
Going to sleep and waking up around the same time every day also helped Ruani to stop overeating.
"Consistent sleeping hours across the week have been associated with better hunger regulation," she said.
Research suggests that getting poor quality or not enough sleep leads people to consume more calories, mainly from snacking, especially in foods rich in fat and carbs, according to a 2022 review published in Nutrients.
A 2022 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that when a group of overweight adults slept 8.5 hours a night instead of their usual 6.5 hours, they ate an average of 270 fewer calories a day than a control group.
