What strategies do you use for avoiding junk food and too many carbohydrates?
I don’t buy them to keep in the house.
I limit them to the weekends.
I don’t beat myself up if I do have some on a Weds.
Keeping my goals in mind.
Being around sick people (not contagious sick) helps.
Fill up on meats and fat at every meal, with veggies.
Have a few food rules that eliminate some common sabotage, no soda or juice, no foods with trans-fat or HFCS ( I break these rules very rarely).
I break out my Bullworker and do reps until the urge goes away.
You don’t buy it.
Seriously.
Just restrict your own access to it.
[quote]LoRez wrote:
You don’t buy it.
Seriously.
Just restrict your own access to it.[/quote]
but, what about when the urge hits you hard when you’re driving by a gas station that sells your favorite ice cream… of course not buying it is the ultimate solution, but there should be things in place to prevent or decrease consumption.
Will power and discipline. That’s really all it boils down too… Would you rather eat the food or have the body? The one you want more will win out. After you have been doing this long enough I find that the craving for those things goes away, or actually reverses (I would much rather eat chicken and rice than a double cheese burger, for example)
Obviously don’t be an idiot and go to McDonald’s for a will power test and stare down with the menu to show it who’s boss… Just don’t go. Its that’s simple. Don’t Eat Shit.
Keep the stuff away from you and its easy. If you don’t have any junk food at the house its very difficult to eat it, right?
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Will power and discipline. [/quote]
This.
What everyone else said, plus…
Keep ingredients for healthy meals that you really enjoy around.
I really like rotisserie chicken so whenever I’m dying for something I’ll go and pickup one.
[quote]Jackie_Jacked wrote:
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Will power and discipline. [/quote]
This.
[/quote]
x2
Be mindful of calorie consumption and satiety. On food network I saw that skinnygirl author tell everyone to avoid baked potatoes, then watched as she shared a cocktail recipe. Something “clean” like a potato or serving of oats will have ~25-30 grams carbs but also be filling. I see people restricting themselves to half servings of oats and going potatoless, then binging with ice cream/alcohol/etc several times a week. If you eat enough “clean” foods to actually fuel yourself then the junk cravings will be reduced.
Plain old fashion avoidance, which is really hard with my wife baking cookies and cinnamon rolls. I am a full blown sugar addict. If decide to buy candy, I can’t buy just a little, I buy a ton and then smash it all. For the next several days my cravings for candy go through the roof, bottom line for me is to just plain avoid any sweets.
Or you could eat vaseline.
“It felt like I was on drugs,” he said. "I was shaking and I got angry.
“It also had an effect on my girlfriend who didn’t want to be around me when I had taken it.”
Vaseline rage?
It’s hard for me to avoid food that taste good. Therefore, I consider what I CAN eat… you’d be surprised how many nutritious foods are actually quite pleasing to the palate.
And as everyone else said, it starts with your shopping basket.
[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
I break out my Bullworker and do reps until the urge goes away. [/quote]
LOLOLOLOL
Will power and discipline around certain types of food comes much easier once you force your self to abstain from them - about a week or less.
The first step is to remove refined sugars and starchy carbohydrates and replace those calories with saturated and mono-unsaturated fats.
I honestly believe most people cannot use will power and discipline against unbalanced hormones as it is the satiety and metabolic hormones that help regulate hunger and the desire to eat.
The easiest way to quit “cold turkey” for me was on Day One, upon waking to just continue fasting (except for black coffee) and then eat a really high fat, moderate protein meal after sundown before going to bed. I did this again the next day and so on and then one day about a week later I almost forgot to eat before going to bed. I kicked my cravings for sugary and carbohydrate rich foods and have not had them since - even when I am around them in social gatherings. The first three days were the hardest.
Fasting throughout the day was also a revelation to me: I did not suffer loss of energy during intense workouts and had improved mental acuity despite not getting any calories for up to 20 hours.
I can do it very easily if I limit my free time, however a minute to think and I can’t resist. Social activities are difficult for me also.
Here ya go:
http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/02/16/magazine/100000001362755/how-to-break-the-cookie-habit.html
the book is really good as well
All the bases have been covered already, literally. (don’t keep it around in the 1st place, prioritize physique ahead of tastebuds, willpower)
Would also add to stop watching so much TV, esp commercials. (one can only watch so many DQ Blizzards/$5.99-large-dominos-pizza specials before going nuts)