Why You’re Snacking While Charting (Even When You’re Not Hungry)

Have you ever found yourself eating snacks during charting… even when you weren’t hungry?

You’re not alone.

I recently coached one of my clients—a brilliant physician, full-time mom, and leader—who told me she snacks on Cheez-Its every time she sits down to finish charts. The twist?
She doesn’t even like Cheez-Its.

So, what gives?

That day, she had just seen a particularly difficult patient with vague complaints and a long list of issues. She felt overwhelmed, irritated… and underneath it all, a creeping sense of guilt.

“Was it me? Did I do something to attract patients like this?”

She reached for the snack, not because of hunger, but because of emotion.

Welcome to the world of buffering.

Buffering is what happens when we try to avoid, numb, or distract ourselves from a feeling by turning to something outside of us—like food, alcohol, scrolling, or shopping.

And food is one of the most socially accepted and instantly available ways we buffer.

We think the snack will help us feel better. And maybe it does… for a moment.

But then the guilt hits.
The frustration is still there.
And now we feel even worse.

Why busy professionals are especially prone to this

Research backs up what many of us experience daily: mindless eating isn’t about willpower—it’s about our environment, emotions, and habits.

📊 In a 2023 Medscape Physician Lifestyle & Happiness Report, 47% of physicians reported trying to lose weight—yet cited time, stress, and inconsistent schedules as major obstacles.

📊 According to a 2021 study in Appetite, mindless eating is significantly more likely when individuals are under cognitive load—like decision-making, multitasking, or documentation.

📊 A 2018 study published in The Journal of Health Psychology found that stress and negative mood were directly associated with increased snacking, particularly in high-responsibility jobs.

As doctors, we are constantly shifting gears:

• From patient rooms to inbox messages
  
  
• From urgent consults to after-hours charting
  
  
• From “Do no harm” to “Do it all”
  
  

And food becomes a fast, accessible form of self-soothing.

Here's what I told my client:

💡 “The only thing you need to do with a feeling is feel it.”

Not feed it.
Not fix it.
Not flee from it.

Once she began to understand what was happening in her body—and in her mind—everything started to shift.

We worked together to:
✔ Identify the real emotion behind her snacking
✔ Understand how her thoughts about the patient were creating guilt
✔ Learn how to process the emotion rather than avoid it
✔ Create a neutralizing reframe: “Some patients are just challenging—this isn’t about me.

You deserve better than snack guilt and chart dread.

You deserve support and strategy.

Inside my Mama Docs Weight Loss Accelerator, I help physician moms create lasting mindset shifts around food, charting, and stress.
We don’t do shame.
We don’t do rigid diets.
We do real-life tools that actually fit a physician mom’s life.

If you’ve been eating Cheez-Its (or anything else) to cope with charting…
Let’s talk.

There’s nothing wrong with you.
You’re just buffering.

And I can help you learn a new way.

Call to Action:
👉 Curious what kind of emotional eater you are?
Take my free emotional eating quiz and get personalized insights + next steps to feel in control again.