Karen Hiser Healthy Travel Network

Crunch Before You Munch

It’s late, and you’re sitting in your hotel room, tired, bored, and stressed all at the same time. Nothing would taste better than a candy bar from the vending machine. You know you shouldn’t, but your resolve is weakening quickly.

Instead of reaching for your wallet, try this great tip from our reader Olalah “O” Njenga of Make It Write, a marketing writing and consulting partnership.

O practices “Crunch Before You Munch.” Having found herself frequently heading to the kitchen while working from her home office, O committed to herself to do 20 crunch sit ups before allowing herself a snack.

Not only do the extra calories burned help offset some of the chips, cookies, or whatever goodie you’ve selected, but more importantly, O found that once she did the sit ups, she wasn’t interested in eating anymore. She felt better about herself and was less tempted to snack for no reason.

People snack for different reasons (or, if you are like me, for any reason) including boredom, loneliness, stress, and habit. Crunch Before You Munch helps you break the cycle of reaching for food when one of these feelings kicks in.

O applied Crunch Before You Munch to her home office setting, but it’s also a great tool to use while you are on the road. To make it effective, spend a few minutes analyzing why you snack on the road. If it’s habit or boredom, simply finding an alternative activity (whether exercise or not) may meet your needs. If it’s stress, assess what types of things help you unwind; perhaps exercise, relaxation, or chatting with a friend relieves your stress. By selecting activities that will counteract your emotional snacking “cues,” you’ll be less likely to start eating.

Try any of your favorite exercises or one of these 10-minute activities as a snack alternative:

1. Take the stairs down to the lobby, walk up five floors, and then take the stairs back down to your room.
2. Do 20 sit-ups.
3. Walk your entire floor of the hotel, and count the number of rooms on the floor.
4. Turn off the TV and call a loved one or old friend. Talk for 10 minutes.
5. Do 50 jumping jacks.
6. Drink an 8-ounce glass of water.
7. Turn off the TV and read a non-work related book or magazine for 10 minutes.
8. Taking no money, walk down to the front desk, say hello to the clerk, and walk back up the stairs to your room. If the gift shop is still open, say hello to the shop clerk too!
9. Turn off the TV, radio, and cell phone; get into the yoga corpse pose, and relax for a full 10 minutes. Concentrate on relaxing each part of your body from toes to head.
10. Make a cup of tea or decaffeinated coffee, or drink a caffeine-free diet soda.
11. Taking the stairs, find the hotel pool. Wiggle your toes in the water, and take the stairs back to your room.

Ultimately, the goal of Crunch Before You Much is to avoid unnecessary snacking, so select what works best for you.

News and Links

-- Two new web sites provide directories of hotels with fitness options. InRoomFitness lists hotels that have in-room treadmills available. FIT for Business lists brief descriptions of hotel fitness facilities.
(http://www.inroomfitness.com/fortravelers.php)
(http://fitforbusiness.com/getlogin)

-- The Cheesecake Factory recently introduced a sugar-free cheesecake, sweetened with Splenda®. Alas, their customer service person couldn’t provide any specifics on calorie or fat content, which I am sure, are not low!
(http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/default.asp)