having a hard time staying away from fast food

[ashlynn_lee]

I love eating junk food but want to stop what to do?

[USAF-Larry · Accepted solution]

What to do, @ashlynn_lee?  Stop Eating It! 

Are you talking about Fast Food, as in your Subject, or Junk Food, as in your message?  There are healthy fast food options, but there aren't many healthy junk foods.  If you are talking about Junk Food, get it out of the house and quit buying it. You'll eat healthy alternatives if there is no junk food available.

[betpchem]

I think we turn to fast food and junk food when we are tired. It's so easy to call and order food or pick up that candy bar. I've been falling into those habits too. My plan to combat this is menu planning. If I have healthy food to eat, I will eat it. If I don't, I'll call for that pizza. I am making a point to choose at the beginning of the week what I will eat that week, go out and buy the food and cook some healthy meals early in the week that I can warm up later. That's my suggestion - have the healthy food ready to grab when you get hungry.

[Trevino24]

Stop buying the junk food and once all the impurity of the junk is out of your system you won't be craving it as much. It'll be hard at first but it gets easier over time. You should start craving healthy stuff like fruits or vegetables once you've spent enough time away from the junk.

[emili]

You won't stop eating it until you are consistently not eating it. It will make you sick if you do. But I am curious what about it do you like? If you eat out there are so many altenatives to it that taste so much better. If its fast, there are lots of suggestions on how to plan meals on the cooking boards in this forum. If its the stuff they put in it to make you think its the best meal you've ever had- that stuff is ruining your health. I think you may want to read about junk food and its effect on your body- you will be horrified. I really hope you decide to give it up...

[ashlynn_lee]

Hi,

Thank you very much for the advice, the problem is that my mom is the one who buys food,

[betpchem]

I understand that. I, too, lived for a while with someone else who made the food purchases and cooked. That makes it hard to control what you eat. I would say try to have a stash of healthy food that you can turn to when you are hungry. Try to avoid the cookie and eat a carrot stick for example. It's not easy, but it's doable. Another suggestion is to take a nonhealthy food and package it into small servings, like your own 100-calorie packs. That will stop you from mindlessly eating the whole bag of chips (which I totally would do if I could.)

[bcalvanese]

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@ashlynn_lee wrote:

I love eating junk food but want to stop what to do?

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I recommend doing it slow and gradual. First replace one junk food with one good food. Once you get used to that, replace another. Then another. Before you know it you will be eating mainly good food, and having junk food once in a while (which is fine).

If a treat doesn't feel like a treat, you're probably eating too many treats...:)

[Gtkozik]

Always have water with you so that when you ready to eat junk guzzle down a bottle. That may fill you up for a while and buy you some time. Sometimes the urge may go away. People are often hungry all the time because the body doesn't get proper nutrition. Eat lots of fruits and veggies. Get vitamins and minerals in you. Fast food has lots of salt. Avoid that at all cost. It pulls water out of your cells.

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@ashlynn_lee wrote:

I love eating junk food but want to stop what to do?

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[Gtkozik]

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@bcalvanese wrote:

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@ashlynn_lee wrote:

I love eating junk food but want to stop what to do?

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I recommend doing it slow and gradual. First replace one junk food with one good food. Once you get used to that, replace another. Then another. Before you know it you will be eating mainly good food, and having junk food once in a while (which is fine).

If a treat doesn't feel like a treat, you're probably eating too many treats...:)

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@bcalvanese wrote:

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@ashlynn_lee wrote:

I love eating junk food but want to stop what to do?

---

I recommend doing it slow and gradual. First replace one junk food with one good food. Once you get used to that, replace another. Then another. Before you know it you will be eating mainly good food, and having junk food once in a while (which is fine).

If a treat doesn't feel like a treat, you're probably eating too many treats...:)

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Very good advice. Very smart.

[melaangus]

There are also healthier "junk food" options you can do at home to help with the cravings of junk food. Making them at home, even if you choose unhealthy ingridients, can still cut back a lot of the calories from having them made at a restaurant and you can control the portions much better.

So for example, if you love pizza, occasionally make pizza at home using pita bread (prefebly whole wheat) and plenty of veggies (I like to add tomato, onion, and spinach), you can even use low fat or vegan cheese instead of regular cheese to lower the fat content if you plan to make this a regular meal option at home. And it's easy to make and if you make it meatless, it cooks quickly (it's just melting the cheese in the toaster oven!) I made this yesterday with some vegetarian meatballs that have a lot of protein (since I'm a n ovolacto vegetarian myself) and it tastes great!

I'm sure that there are plenty of websites with healthier recipes for more traditionally 'junk food' You can try that, as well as not buying snacks or sodas for the house when you go grocery shopping. I try not to buy and recently slipped for a few weeks and gained weight because of that! It helps not having it around the house, so I eat way less of candy and when I do it's when I'm out and am walking a bit more.

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[kaelarenee7]

Or in my case, I just never want to cook! And when I always get coupons for the Burger King that is only a couple minutes walk away from my house, its hard to find the motivation to cook when its so easy to walk to Burger King and let someone else cook for me! I've started getting more fruits and veggies that I can just grab out of the fridge and snack on while I figure out what to eat for my meals. It seems to be helping with taking the edge off of my hunger while I cook something instead of going with the instant gratification method of fast food.