Obsessive compulsive snacking disorder

We've probably all had fervid unhealthy love affairs with junk food. Seedy trysts at inappropriate hours, quickies in every shape, size and colour. With Mum out of town for December, there was nothing standing in my way of living the secret fantasy of every other man, woman or child on the face of the planet. This wanton lifestyle was doing my highly dysfunctional sleep cycle and already-undisciplined work schedule no good, which needless to say, I was completely and utterly oblivious of. Until now.

Having successfully reached the bottom of my fifth, and hopefully final, gratifying box of sugary refined carbohydrates, I have decided to put an end to a turbulent (and extravagant) romance with processed breakfast cereal, in spite of the misery it may cause my local minimart storekeeper. Yes, it's time to say goodbye to the tureen-sized cereal bowl that's kept my bed warm all throughout this winter season. No, it has nothing to do with the fact that Mum's coming home and I can't keep sneaking in flashy plump cartons stacked to the brim with mouth-watering goodness. 

Variety is not the spice of weight loss

Diamond-shredded, multicoloured, planet-shaped –I had no remorse snapping up two or more brands of cereal, especially if they came in the cute and equally enticing mini-packs. Variety actually makes you eat more. But research shows that giving people simply three options instead of one, increases their consumption by 23%. And sure enough, back home I was mixing it up.

Instead, cherry-pick your favourite snacks and stick of picking up every alluring tube, packet and tin at the store.

Food labels

Notoriously low on fibre, we're promptly sold on the entire whole-grain charade that accompanies the front of most brightly coloured cereal boxes. In fact most of the packed snacks we buy are about 25% whole-grain, and about half of the carbs are just sugars. Food manufacturers want to make their foods appear healthier because they know that's what consumers want. It's reassuring for those of us who care about our health, but they're really just toying with our confirmation bias. Next time you're out shopping for snacks, keep an eye out for labels because sugar can be masqueraded under many confusing synonyms, including high fructose corn syrup or HFCS, molasses, and even fruit juice. Also, a recent study in the States showed that labels users who did not exercise displayed a greater likelihood of weight loss than non-label users who did exercise.

Leave the breakfast cereals for breakfast

I notice the fine-print on the front of my empty Honey Stars box as I am writing this article. It clearly says breakfast cereal. Now we all know late-night snacking is bad for you, but who was going to stop me at 4am in the morning? High-fat foods eaten during the night (when you should be sleeping) make you gain significantly more weight than during the day. The diet-takeaway here is to teach yourself to think of the kitchen as being closed for the night, and brush your teeth – you will want to eat less with a freshly cleansed mouth. If the craving's unbearable, wait around 10 minutes. If you're still famished, reach for something small like berries, mini apples or cut-up carrots.

Sugar blues

The sugars you should be looking out for are glucose, dextrose and sucrose, and highly refined sugars found in candy and packaged baked goods. These are rapidly used up and make your body break down stored sugar in the liver, leading to sugar highs and lows that make you fidgety, irritable, inattentive and even sleepy– all symptoms of what I was experiencing. Best sugars for the brain are complex carbs like starches and fructose that take time to break down and provide a long release of energy. Just remember, oatmeal, noodles and rice are better than cereals, biscuits and chanachur.

Make your own popcorn

The best way to stop yourself from overindulging is to make eating food more of a hassle and to change what's reachable. Got M&Ms at your desk at work? Keep snacks in your shelves? Have soft drinks sitting out? Move them out of sight. Don't bring in snacks into your bedroom, and take a walk to the cafeteria at work if you're feeling peckish. Swap your dinner plate for a smaller one, and never eat out of a can or a packet.

Also, try making your own food. The most readily available yet healthy cereal in the country is Quaker's oatmeal, so if you're like me, have some oatmeal with fruit and honey instead of the wheat curls and chocolate-coated corn puffs. Or stuff some popcorn in a bug and put it in the oven.

Popcorn and TV

I admit to refilling my ginormous cereal bowl three times in row while watching the Christmas special of Downton Abbey. Distractions of all kinds make us eat, forget how much we eat, and extend how long we eat - even when we're not hungry. Participants in a research ate 28% more popcorn if they watched TV for an hour instead of for a half hour. Never ever eat in front of the PC or the TV. But if you're in front of a screen a lot anyway, get up and walk around the room or office every 20 minutes. This is also about the amount of time it takes for the fullness signal to kick in – time to swig a couple more glasses of Pepsi. The same amount of food can make you feel or still hungry depending on how quickly you eat it. An easy trick is to chew on your microwave pizza 15 times instead of 12.

We eat because of packages and plates, names and numbers, labels and shapes, colours and smells – not because we're hungry. So next time you think food is the cure to all your ailments, let your body know who the boss is.