How to avoid overeating while working from home

With all the running up and down that comes with my job, the urge to eat was well controlled. However, with the lockdown, my working routine has changed and I have had to deal with a few things. One of these is my eating patterns and I wonder what I will look like when it is all over. I am certain that there are several in this basket that for one reason or another have found themselves eating in a manner veering off the usual.

Dr Benedict Akimana, a psychologist, says people tend to eat a lot when faced with stressful situations.

“You may seem relaxed but the fact that you do not know when your life will return to normal is enough to irk you a bit. Another maybe worked up by the neighbour that seems to never stop sneezing as they wonder if it is normal flu or Covid-19.”

Dr Akimana says this is because stress leads to high cortisol levels hence a higher appetite. “In response, the body craves for high sugar and calorie foods to provide short-terms energy bursts. These foods kind of give you a momentary relief from the despairing situation you are a facing.”
Other causes of such eating is uncertainty as well as lack of control which for once are riding high world over. That is not forgetting boredom that is eating up many as some or most of the things they used to do are not there. He gives an example of a teacher who previously conducted three classes daily, but today only conducts one online or none.

“The activity they were used to is gone not to mention a drastic change in routine. To fill the gap, they may so easily resort to snacking on high calorie food such as crisps owing to boredom,” he says.
When all you can do is look on and hope things will get better, emotional eating helps to cope. However, it only offers a short-lived relief as it is followed by guilt which leads to stress and the cycle continues.

Remedies
That said, not all hope is lost. You do not have to leave lockdown with issues of obesity yet you have to be up and about again. Here is a way out:
Keep communication lines open
Emotional eating comes with boredom, therefore, Dr Akimana advises that talking to friends, workmates, supervisor, and family throughout the day will keep you active hence look less to food. “You could choose to update your friends about your day, keep your supervisor abreast with assignments, share some jokes with workmates and the like. For those with celebrations such as birthdays, and anniversaries during this time, you can still celebrate them by a phone call, or a Facebook post to keep the spirit alive.”

Maintain a routine
Despite being confined at home, he also advises that you do not have to behave as one confined to a bed. Therefore, creating a routine that will have you see to different things in the home will help you in fighting emotional eating. “For example, get up as early as usual and do those activities you would before leaving home. Then carry on with any assignments at hand. You could introduce activities such as gardening to take care of transit time. With a routine that is not far from the normal, lack of control will barely bite.”
Dr Akimana adds that you could also use this time to bond more as a family, for those with families. ”One of such ways is having all your meals together rather than each eating as and when they feel like. It creates something worth looking forward to.”

Know your triggers
There are various things that cause us to eat emotionally. It could be emotional buildup after watching news, change in sleeping patterns, or any other thing. Whatever it may be, the onus is on you to identify it and work around it. That is because, with the whole world is experiencing this pandemic, there is no telling when it will end. Therefore, understanding what is causing you to binge eat is important in order to avoid the problems that come with it.

Keep a food diary
Isaac Kabami, a nutritionist, says it helps to take note of what you eat, when you eat, how much and what you are feeling when you eat. This activity will also help you to identify what prompts your emotional eating and hence find a solution to it.

Find a way out
An alternative to binge eating ought to be something you can do and get real and positive results. For example, you cannot suggest meeting up with a friend seeing that we are in lockdown. The same goes for taking a walk, unless you have a huge expanse of home ground to walk on. However, Dr Akimana says you could replace watching depressing news with a phone call to that high spirited friend. You could dig up those novels you had kept away for later when you start feeling bored. ”You may also start exercising to release stress,” he adds.

What you should be eating
Joshua Kyasi, a nutritionist, says with a lockdown, many people bought processed foods because it lasts long. “Eating only these is unhealthy as they are high energy foods.” However, if one can get the chance to buy food stuffs, buying foods such as beans, groundnuts, peas, eggs, and yoghurt, to boost our protein intake is ideal. “You could also buy silver fish (mukene) for more proteins. These can be eaten either whole or in powder form,” Kyasi advises.
In addition to that, he urges people to try to have lots of fruits and vegetables. “But seeing that they are not in high supply lately and perish fast, buying items such as bitter berries (entula), and egg plants (biringanya) will help,” Kyasi says.
More to that, Kabami says it will be helpful to stick to regular meals and try as much as possible to reduce eating in between meals or rather late.

Joshua Kyasi, a nutritionist, says emotional eating, in this lockdown could also be one eating less owing to worrying about where to get the next meal from.

“However, when the body is starved, it starts storing food in preparation for the next ‘drought’. This can also cause weight gain in due time.”

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