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That's my "secret," too. Just don't have the stuff around. My sister is one of those people who can buy Girl Scout cookies, eat two, and put the box in the cabinet and forget about. I can't, so I just don't buy Girl Scout cookies. I don't want to live in a world completely devoid of Doritos, so every so often I'll buy a small snack bag and enjoy the heck out of it. Other times I have to remind myself, "I can have those, but not today."
I actually have intentionally kept one of my nemesis snacks in one cupboard. Every time I see it I am reminded why it's past it's "best if used by" date. A little surge of satisfaction to be able to leave it there.
Anytime you get stressed or anxious, your body starts to have cravings. And when you feed into the cravings, you do feel temporarily better. It's a strong urge. And sometimes just meditating doesn't work especially if you aren't great with meditating. So at that point, you're stuck. It's not easy.
Are there any things you can reasonably do to look at this issue differently? We are in a society where people will just say either do it or tough luck.
About the only way I can handle it is not to have the junk food available when I want it. That includes not buying it, not having it in the house, not going down the junk food aisles when I am shopping.
I've found that if it's in the house, I'll eat it, all of it, until it's gone.
So for me the battle field is in the grocery store. That's where I have to exercise self discipline. I'll deliberately look the other way when I pass the Entenmann's display.
It helps to have a shopping list and stick to it. When I'm tempted to buy snacks and sweets, I try to remind myself how expensive it is, both in money terms and in health terms.
Absolutely. I started a no-sugar diet (among other restrictions), and the first thing I did was clean out my cabinets of anything processed. The weird thing is that after seven weeks, I no longer even have sugar cravings.
One good snack you can have that's easy and quick is to keep Lindt's 90% chocolate and some strawberries on hand. Whenever I have an urge for something sweet, just melt two squares of chocolate, wash the strawberries and you have an instant, no fuss treat. The chocolate is bitter, but the natural sweetness of the strawberries makes up for that.
Depending on your age (the older you are the more it sinks in), take a serious look at unhealthy relatives or friends that are going through health issues (due to poor lifestyle habits - not issues that they cannot help), diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and let the realization that if you don't change unhealthy junk habits, it will happen to you. I watch 600 Pound Life, particularly the beginning of the episode and I listen and pay very close attention to the pain and suffering these individuals are dealing with. Also diabetes runs in our family and I watch and listen to how these relatives are affected. I was a sugar addict and when I found out I had borderline high blood sugar and that my brother is recently diagnosed with diabetes, I finally convinced myself that sugar is poison. I don't eat junk anymore.
First, find other ways to reward yourself and unwind. (A good workout helps me deal with stress!) You need to break the emotional relationship with food.
Second, I agree with Navyshow- look at the consequences of eating too much junk. I'm 65, very active and on zero prescriptions. It's partly luck or the grace of God, partly genetics and partly discipline. I don't want to look like the people I see in Denny's or the ones riding scooters through the grocery store, with an empty sock where their foot used to be. (And the cart is filled with pork ribs, Little Debbie cakes and a case of 7-Up.)
I do have a "short list" of things that I will eat on rare occasions: bakery cake with frosting, pecan pie, good wine.. but because I don't keep those things at home and rarely encounter them outside the house, I don't indulge often enough to cause damage. Even in restaurants where those things are on offer for dessert, I'm usually too full from dinner. I'm also very picky. I know that packaged cookies and cakes leave a chemical aftertaste and a greasy residue in my mouth. I'd rather have something made from good, honest ingredients- butter and sugar, not partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and high-fructose corn syrup.
A friend who's recovering from a serious stroke and was also diagnosed with diabetes after the stroke, just told me he missed eating "normal food". I told him that what he considered "normal food" was the kind of crap that created his health problems and that he needed to re-think "normal".
I actually have intentionally kept one of my nemesis snacks in one cupboard. Every time I see it I am reminded why it's past it's "best if used by" date. A little surge of satisfaction to be able to leave it there.
Kind of like mounting the head of an animal you successfully hunted on a wall?
I sort of go the other way. For those foods I truly enjoy and would miss if completely removed from my life, I indulge but only in measured amounts. I love ice cream but literally measure out a portion so that I don't overindulge. Although an extreme example, my wife just bought me my all time favorite ice cream ever for my birthday, Haagen Daz Vanilla Swiss Almond. I'm resolved to eating it one spoonful at a time over a two-week period. I would hate myself for consuming 1,000 calories quickly but can easily indulge an extra 50-100 calories per day in pure, icy-cold perfection.
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A second on the lips
