How to combat the 3pm energy slump
The mid-afternoon munchies strike again! Here's how to tell if you're actually hungry, and a selection of healthy snacks to eat if so.
You've done it by the book all day. But now it's 3pm, the dreaded afternoon slump hits, and you've got a full-blown case of the munchies. What happens next? You find yourself gobbling down chocolate chip cookies like there's no tomorrow, waving your Points® budget goodbye.
Why do we want sweet treats around this time? Perhaps you had an inadequate lunch or skipped breakfast (sure to make you starving later in the day). The late afternoon is often a frazzling time—and stress sends many people straight to the cookie jar. You could be tired, bored or blue, and snacking is a way of passing the time.
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The fact that these cravings are often related to specific foods—cakes, candy bars, chips—indicates that the problem may be a craving rather than a response to genuine hunger. So how to ward off that mid-afternoon snack attack?
Sometimes, snack attacks are conditioned responses to cues associated with sweet treats, such as a mid-afternoon coffee break. To identify such cues, American Dietetic Association member Jackie Newgent, RD, suggests drawing a chain. "Write in each link the activities that lead up to inappropriate snacking." This might include:
3 p.m. Stomach growling.
3:30 p.m. Anxious to go home.
4:10 p.m. Go to kitchen to get a hot drink.
4:15 p.m. Help yourself to a biscuit. Or 5.
"The best way to break this chain is to do it at the earliest link possible," says Newgent. "In this case, you might want to plan a healthful snack at 3 p.m. since you're hungry."
