Hunger? Not always

I wanted to title this post Hunger games but someone else already used that title. It's true there are many reasons we eat besides hunger, though. Perhaps the game - or trick - is to find ways to accomplish the same thing without necessarily always turning to food. Here's my brainstorming checklist of reasons I eat:

• hunger
• family & friends - social / celebration
• boredom
• comfort * (this can be a big one)
• variety - many good foods I like

What are your reasons? And what can we turn to instead of food? No great answers here.

A key item on my list is comfort. Another way I find comfort is through reading a good book. Let's face it, eating a cookie takes a lot less time than reading a book. :-) 
For variety, I tell myself there are 365 days in a year and try to space out the good food. For example, last night we had tacos. I love just a plain fried tortilla. But I had a tortilla with my taco, so I told myself one day this week for lunch I can have that plain fried tortilla. I still get the food, but I space it out over time.
To counter boredom, I try to keep enough going on to keep my mind occupied, even if that means multi-tasking or not using computer time as well as I might. Moving around helps break up tasks, too, and keeps my mind active. So there's a load of laundry started and another load to wash. That means every 30 minutes this morning I'll be getting up to keep the laundry going.
Some things there's just no getting around, for example, family birthday celebrations or other social occasions. The last two weekends, though, hubby and I have found ways to do some fun things that don't involve quite as many calories. Weekend before last, we went for a hike, mid-afternoon. That means, after lunch and before dinner. So our food was planned at home, with no snacks along the way. We just enjoyed the hike and took some pictures (we did take plenty of water, having learned the hard way in Kauai!). This past weekend, we did go out for dinner Saturday night: a deli sandwich, then a walk uptown, and I got dessert to take home for later. We like to combine activity with eating out whenever possible, and have smaller meals or split a meal.
I've found I can maximize enjoyment as well as health by planning ahead. That reminds me, I need to set out ingredients for today's lunch and dinner so I can follow my plan!