Certainly we’ve all had temptations to just say “screw it” and eat a bunch of junk food. What methods do you use to keep yourself from giving in?
I’ve found the following thoughts to be helpful to me:
-You can’t just have one bite. One bite sets you up for a never-ending chain of having just one more. The end result is you can end up eating too much.
-Realize that you’ll never reach the point of being totally satisfied. You’ll always want some more, so eating something in the hopes of being satisfied is pointless.
-Think about how you’ll feel five minutes after you’re done eating. Will you wish you hadn’t eaten that? Will you wish you made a better decision? If so, don’t eat it.
-Think about your motivation. If you’re eating it simply because you want to, you shouldn’t be eating it at all. You should be eating according to the needs of your body.
-Think about what is more important: the fleeting enjoyment of the food and the lasting guilt, or the lasting pride from achieving a better body composition.
-Think about where eating that food will get you. You will not achieve your goals because of that food, and every time you eat more of it, you are even farther from achieving those goals.
(Granted, a cheat meal now and again is no problem, and a good way to stay sane.)
Basically if i am really craving junk food of some kind, it usually means i’m just hungry…or have missed meals…or didn’t get enough protein at my last meal…yadda yadda.
So i’ll just try to eat MORE of the good stuff.
I neve crave junk food after i’ve had a big, healthy meal typically.
Plus i’ll have cheat meals too, so i know those are coming.
[quote]Dark_Knight wrote:
Certainly we’ve all had temptations to just say “screw it” and eat a bunch of junk food. What methods do you use to keep yourself from giving in?
I’ve found the following thoughts to be helpful to me:
-You can’t just have one bite. One bite sets you up for a never-ending chain of having just one more. The end result is you can end up eating too much.
…
-Think about how you’ll feel five minutes after you’re done eating. Will you wish you hadn’t eaten that? Will you wish you made a better decision? If so, don’t eat it.
[/quote]
There are my favorite. I recall a few weeks ago when I helped myself to a slice of chocolate cake laft in the comapny breakroom by someone who thought they were being nice. I recall how “off” I felt for the rest fo the day.
I am not a junk food eater, but I have a different definition of what junk food really is.
The conventional dogma often associates food like burgers as junk food, which I believe is generally not true. But I don’t think a perfectly well made burger is junk food. So, in that sense, I don’t eat junk food, but I do eat burgers that are made with good quality meat, etc.
Are you trying to lose weight?
If you’re not, making your own double cheese burger at home isn’t junk, nor will it kill you. You can easily BBQ some burgers yourself. That should help with your “junk food craving.”
Same goes with pizza. If you’re worried about the trans fat content in pizza, make your own or get some organic pizza or whatever. They’re just as good.
I have a method that works perfectly for me and I have a high level of self-control in general so I’m sure that has something to do with it. But, when I see something that I’m hungry for, I remind myself of the following even if it is only a morsel of a snack:
“By eating that, I am just that much further away from my goal. It helps me in no way whatsoever to eat that and I want to reach my goal as fast as possible.”
This is what I use for bulking so it’s not only a thing used for dieting as pure sugar and candy bars are pointless to have. But usually, I’m not even interested in the food so it can sit in front of me all day long and I won’t care.
[quote]Cthulhu wrote:
I am not a junk food eater, but I have a different definition of what junk food really is.
The conventional dogma often associates food like burgers as junk food, which I believe is generally not true. But I don’t think a perfectly well made burger is junk food. So, in that sense, I don’t eat junk food, but I do eat burgers that are made with good quality meat, etc.
Are you trying to lose weight?
If you’re not, making your own double cheese burger at home isn’t junk, nor will it kill you. You can easily BBQ some burgers yourself. That should help with your “junk food craving.”
Same goes with pizza. If you’re worried about the trans fat content in pizza, make your own or get some organic pizza or whatever. They just just as good.[/quote]
I just had a beautiful burger today. I asked to change my fries to salad but the lady told me I couldn’t due to the special I got. I enjoyed the burger, looked at the fries, and said to myself, “I can’t eat this.”
I had 1 fry! Then, I just left the rest and paid for my meal. Besides all the tactics mentioned what happened to strong will power? Thats what I have. That’s how I resist junk food.
[quote]dhuge67 wrote:
One of the best ways to drown out cravings, in my opinion, is to drink a bottle of water and then eat something low-carb and high in protein.
Seems to work well, so if you are on a diet, give it a shot.[/quote]
I noticed that too. A lot of times when I’m really craving something bad, I also notice that I was real thirsty, and sometimes just satisfying the thirst is enough to curb the hunger.
I think my body sometimes mistakes thirst for hunger.
[quote]Dark_Knight wrote:
Certainly we’ve all had temptations to just say “screw it” and eat a bunch of junk food. What methods do you use to keep yourself from giving in?
I’ve found the following thoughts to be helpful to me:
-You can’t just have one bite. One bite sets you up for a never-ending chain of having just one more. The end result is you can end up eating too much.
-Realize that you’ll never reach the point of being totally satisfied. You’ll always want some more, so eating something in the hopes of being satisfied is pointless.
-Think about how you’ll feel five minutes after you’re done eating. Will you wish you hadn’t eaten that? Will you wish you made a better decision? If so, don’t eat it.
-Think about your motivation. If you’re eating it simply because you want to, you shouldn’t be eating it at all. You should be eating according to the needs of your body.
-Think about what is more important: the fleeting enjoyment of the food and the lasting guilt, or the lasting pride from achieving a better body composition.
-Think about where eating that food will get you. You will not achieve your goals because of that food, and every time you eat more of it, you are even farther from achieving those goals.
(Granted, a cheat meal now and again is no problem, and a good way to stay sane.)
[/quote]
I eat every 2-4 hours, so I am not hungry. That and the last time I had cake, I felt like total shit. I find it very easy to stay away from junk food. Don’t starve yourself, and eat well.
Chew gum. After every meal I immediately chew a piece of gum so I get all the sensations of eating (taste, chewing) without actually doing a lot of harm.
It helps me a lot, then when the gum wears out I drink some water and by that time it’s atleast 30-45 mins after I ate and I’ve had plenty of time to feel satiated by my last meal.
It took me forever to kick my chip addiction. I solved it by having a steak or hamburger everytime I craved a big bag of chips (which I could finish in about 2 minutes).
[quote]uberswank wrote:
It took me forever to kick my chip addiction. I solved it by having a steak or hamburger everytime I craved a big bag of chips (which I could finish in about 2 minutes). [/quote]
Try eating pickles when you seriously crave chips, too. It helps a whole lot.
[quote]A-Dizz wrote:
uberswank wrote:
It took me forever to kick my chip addiction. I solved it by having a steak or hamburger everytime I craved a big bag of chips (which I could finish in about 2 minutes).
Try eating pickles when you seriously crave chips, too. It helps a whole lot.
-dizzle[/quote]
I found that anything crunchy helps. It might be pickles, carrots, broccoli or even celery. The cool think with celery is that I can dip it in salsa and fool myself into thinking I’m eating chips. Sliced carrots will work as well.