I love junk food too much

[NGC1300]

Are you overweight? If yes then you should cut back. If not then eat away. I always think we should eat what we like. But if it endangers health like smoking or drinking, drugs, then we should moderate it.

 

Spot on.

 

There really isn't any such thing as "junk food". Donuts, candies, fast food, pizza, they're all comprised of the macronutrients protein, fat, and carbohydrates, just like any other "healthy" food. The difference is in the small percentage of additives and preservatives that people immediately proclaim "unhealthy" even though they generally pass harmlessly through the body.

 

Over the years there have been many experiments where people have actually lost weight and improved their bloodwork eating nothing but fast food or "junk food".

 

Here is one such example: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/

 

The body is very efficient in using whatever you put into it. Overindulgence of ANY food is where you can run into problems.

Edited January 21, 2014 by NGC1300

[iris219]

There are thousands of web sites, blogs, and apps filled with recipes. You don't need someone to teach you how to cook; all you need to know is how to read. It may take some practice, but just start with simpler recipes that only have a few ingredients and you'll do fine.

 

This^. No one taught me how to cook. I figured it out. It's not rocket science. While you may never be a great chef, if you can read you have the ability to make simple dishes.

 

Browse some recipe websites, decide what you'd like to make (start out fairly simple), make a grocery list, go to the grocery store, and cook a meal by following the recipe you selected. You may find you really enjoy cooking.

 

Once you haven't had the junk food for a awhile you won't want it as much. It becomes an addiction that you have to break.

[regine_phalange]

I love it too but makes me sleepy.

I get very sleepy with home cooked white pasta/rice too.

I also love fried foods but they really upset my stomach.

[Mr Scorpio]

I can do things that astound some people, like I can jog 7 miles without stopping, whereas most guys my size can't. I feel like I have it in me, I just need to go all the way.

 

That is more than enough for you to lose weight. Do that more often.

[KatZee]

I need to eat healthier, but find it difficult to cut back on the fast food. Every week I'll pick up either a pizza or a burger with some fries. I also like buying candy and chips at the grocery store. My diet is poor thanks to these bad habits.

 

Who else struggles with this?

 

Has anyone been able to successfully kick the habit? I'd like to hear success stories too. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, but I love junk food and am finding it difficult to reduce.

 

 

You don't "love" junk food. You're ADDICTED to junk food. That's what happens. Junk is so full of crap, and it's actually been found that people get addicted to it if they consume it on a regular basis.

 

Back when I was in college I lived in an area that had legitimately NO restaurants or places to eat healthy. I didn't often have time to cook a meal, so I would run out of my house and my options were: Wendy's, McDonald's, Panera Bread, Taco Bell, KFC, Domino's, etc etc. Every day I would be having one or multiple of those things.

 

I blew up from 110lbs to 150lbs and every day I actually CRAVED grease, junk, garbage, fast food.

 

You need to just cut it out. Stop eating it. You need to cleanse your body and actually feel what it's like to eat healthy. Fruits, veggies, and water. Lean protein, grains. You're going to notice a huge difference in the way your body feels, you may drop some weight very quickly, in my case once I moved out of that area I went from 150 to 130 almost overnight.

 

Now I find that if I eat a lot of crap, I feel sick. It makes my stomach queasy and I feel awful and sluggish.

[MissBee]

Are you overweight? If yes then you should cut back. If not then eat away. I always think we should eat what we like. But if it endangers health like smoking or drinking, drugs, then we should moderate it.

 

Overweight isn't the only or even necessarily a sign of not being healthy.

 

It is insane to me that people think that if you eat the same foods an overweight person eats but you don't get fat you're healthier...err no. Unhealthy food is unhealthy food, some people just don't put on weight or take a long time to do so while other people gain weight very easily so it "shows", but a poor diet is a poor diet and one is insane to just look at the scale to determine if you're unhealthy. As high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes etc. affects people who are not overweight but nevertheless unhealthy.

 

I wouldn't say I was particularly addicted to junk food. I love food...good food and not necessarily fast food. But I liked food and lots of it and how healthy it was didn't matter to me. I started a healthier lifestyle by making small changes gradually and they say it takes about 17 days to form a habit, so I told myself if I stuck to it for 17 days it would get easier and it did. I made it a short term goal first and just a 17 day challenge to cut out all drinks and juices and just drink water and if I was drinking anything other than water it was tea, coconut water or unsweetened almond milk and I also challenged myself to make 17 days of healthy food and healthier alternatives to foods that are junkier and only eat clean (no processed foods). Well, I stuck to it and oddly enough, after 17 days I lost the taste for junk food. I didn't crave junky food as much and I remember having a piece of fried chicken after, which I normally love, but finding it just too greasy and heavy.

 

What you feed your body with is what you begin to crave I find. Once I just tried to only eat healthy foods I actually started to prefer those foods and lost the taste for junk food. Once in a while a craving hits but it is fewer and far between and since most of the times I eat healthy, if I wanted to indulge I don't feel as bad and I also portion control unhealthy foods to make sure I am not going overboard as when you actually count calories/pay attention, most fastfood meals have more than your daily caloric intake in one meal! So eating it multiple times a day and several days a week is really too much. I also admit I like feeling full and I found say 500 calories of healthy food was A LOT more quantity of food than fast food and junk food...as with junk food, one burger can be 800 calories or more, then if you get fries and soda, that's upwards of 1500 calories, and later on you will still be hungry and need more food.

Edited January 22, 2014 by MissBee

[FitChick]

Youtube has loads of cooking demos. Lots of TV cooking shows as well.

[lino]

Eating healthy is just a habit you have to get jnto.

 

It isn't so hard and cooking for yourself isnt a requirement but it does help.

 

Like some others have said, having a day or two where you eat crap is OK and can help. Most people do this on the weekend.

 

If you aren't exercising... you should start.

[Teknoe]

2 nights in a row now where I've worked out

 

I did cheat yesterday though when I ordered out for lunch at work. But, I am going to make that my cheat of the week. Not kicking myself over it. It happened, and at least I worked out later that night.

 

First time working out on back to back nights in a while!!

[MissBee]

Are you concerned about health or just not being fat?

 

I ask because eating unhealthy food and working out doesn't really negate the fact that food is unhealthy, esp if the food is of low nutritional value and has tons of sugar and sodium.

 

So you can be skinny and work out all the time so your body looks okay but in reality you are malnourished, i.e. you aren't getting essential vitamins and nutrients because you hardly eat vegetables or foods rich in vitamins and minerals and mostly eat a high carb, high fat, high sugar, high salt diet. Working out may make it so that you burn off the calories but that doesn't really have an effect on what unhealthy food does to the rest of the systems in your body and your organs and how it presents elsewhere in your body outside of just weight.

 

Hence my point that the scale isn't a marker of "health" necessarily and you can be thin and in the gym but still consume foods that are poor nutritionally and aren't giving your body what it needs and slowly making you ill.

 

I'm no health nut in the least and it's all new for me, but when I started out with my nutritionist her big thing was health at any size and really encouraging feeding your body well over obsessing about weight as weight is not a good indicator of actual wellness and good nutrition and she sees rail thin people who have poor nutrition and it shows in their teeth, their nails, dull eyes, hair etc as well as those overweight.

Edited January 23, 2014 by MissBee

[Ninjainpajamas]

There's no way around having to learn to cook unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of cooking either...but when you're in the routine of grabbing whatever is ready and available then you tend to grab fast food or junk food rather than cooking...especially if you don't know how to cook in the first place, how are you going to feed yourself? so you don't, unless you just figure that it's easier to "pick something up" on the way home or what not...then you're pounding more calories than you realize.

 

Also, once you let yourself get really hungry...forget it, you'll eat more and worse...so having a routine and eating before you reach that point can really save you.

 

It's a hard habit to kick salty and sugary foods, but when you eat unhealthy/bad food then it just makes you feel also lazy and you tend to eat too much of it...therefore you don't feel the desire to move around, also your portion sizes can be too much...if you're someone who eats past the limit where you are full then that's a big problem for some people as well...they can't stop until they finish whatever it is that is on their plate, always order the same amount of food each time instead of less even if it's too much for them or they take out the whole bag of chips or snacks.

 

Not to mention you're probably taking in your share of soda too, not drinking soda will easily net you some weight loss as well, but don't be fooled either...sugary juices are basically the same thing.

 

All in all, it's not about not eating the foods you like anymore or not drinking soda, it's just have your main diet squared away and only having those things on occasion and not in such excess where you feel inebriated...control your portion sizes, cut out some of the french fries and sodas, then start doing a little more exercise and making your own food so you know exactly what goes in it and it'll be much less crap then if you bought it anyway...just little by little, but most importantly learn how to make yourself some chicken breast, whole grain pastas, brown rice and the like...I love a good sandwich myself, but again you've got to be smart, some bread can really rack of the calories...I like lettuce wraps, but I love breads so in that case I just eat the bread...I don't stop eating bread, I just account for the calories it'd cost.

 

So just start with small changes and improvements and be consistent and you'll make progress...also look into websites that provide you with the calorie amounts of foods that you love to eat to get a general idea of what you're putting inside of your body, not to mention the ingredients which might gross yourself out once you find out what you're actually asking your body to do...it's pretty phenomenal that our bodies can even digest or process this crap, keep yourself motivated by reading forums and interacting with people who are also motivated.

 

You don't have to be going for the gold, most people aren't but you do have to put some energy into it if you want to succeed...and that's the hard part, the will is not always there even though the desire is...at least to some degree...but who knows, you might just like it!

[Haydn]

Do people really have nutritionists? Sorry being flippant. Maybe its a US thing. Ok i am sure here in the UK as well. I am slim to skinny but i eat loads. Veggies, junk food etc.. I cook for my daughter and we eat together. I make sure she has a balanced diet and treats are spaced out. She does like things that are not good for her teeth and i moderate these things. But i think its all a balance. I have cut out mayo with her by trickery. And back to ketchup. I have never really worked out. My parents were like rakes and ate a huge amounts. I orignally come from a very poor background where you ate everything put in front of you. Dont know if that is relevant......

 

 

Are you concerned about health or just not being fat?

 

I ask because eating unhealthy food and working out doesn't really negate the fact that food is unhealthy, esp if the food is of low nutritional value and has tons of sugar and sodium.

 

So you can be skinny and work out all the time so your body looks okay but in reality you are malnourished, i.e. you aren't getting essential vitamins and nutrients because you hardly eat vegetables or foods rich in vitamins and minerals and mostly eat a high carb, high fat, high sugar, high salt diet. Working out may make it so that you burn off the calories but that doesn't really have an effect on what unhealthy food does to the rest of the systems in your body and your organs and how it presents elsewhere in your body outside of just weight.

 

Hence my point that the scale isn't a marker of "health" necessarily and you can be thin and in the gym but still consume foods that are poor nutritionally and aren't giving your body what it needs and slowly making you ill.

 

I'm no health nut in the least and it's all new for me, but when I started out with my nutritionist her big thing was health at any size and really encouraging feeding your body well over obsessing about weight as weight is not a good indicator of actual wellness and good nutrition and she sees rail thin people who have poor nutrition and it shows in their teeth, their nails, dull eyes, hair etc as well as those overweight.

[John83]

I love the odd junk food binge, but Junk food tastes far better when you dont have it as often.

I remember being obsessed with training in late teens and for a few years had never strayed from the bland chicken/tuna/oats ect diet and a mate persuaded me to have a slice of pizza and i couldnt believe how great it tasted the flavour was immense.

These days i like a balance, try and eat good most of the time but dont deny self the odd bit of junk food. Life is for enjoying after all

[radiodarcy]

I LOVE junk food and to some degree - - am addicted to it as well. At one point it was all I ate. Especially once I went to college and was out from under the eye of my parents - - who thought the best strategy was to restrict my junk food intake or - - if that didn't work - - hide it from me.

 

So I took it as the opportunity to gorge myself on pizza, burgers, french fries, chocolate, whatever I wanted. Up until then I getting a little chubby but by the time I graduated college I was 60 pounds overweight and tipped the scales at 172 pounds! I'm not even 5 feet so I may as well have been 200 at that point.

 

But by then the cycle was too powerful for me to break. As MissBee says, I would addicted to junk food. And because it had little to no nutritional value, I always felt hungrier when I ate it, so I ate more, which just made me fatter. It was so bad, I actually had no idea what to eat other than McDonalds.

 

Finally, when I was a few weeks shy of my 30th birthday, I decided I was fed up of feeling like the junk I had been eating. So I joined Weight Watchers, started going to the gym and within a year, I had lost the 60 pounds, had more energy and had to buy a whole new wardrobe.

 

It's been eight years and I have kept up my eating habits and continue to go to the gym but I still enjoy eat and enjoy junk food (in fact I'm (unsuccessfully) trying to ween myself off a wicked Pez addiction this week). But in moderation only. I actually find I enjoy it more on those cheat days, than when I was eating it 24/7.

[MissBee]

Do people really have nutritionists? Sorry being flippant. Maybe its a US thing. Ok i am sure here in the UK as well. I am slim to skinny but i eat loads. Veggies, junk food etc.. I cook for my daughter and we eat together. I make sure she has a balanced diet and treats are spaced out. She does like things that are not good for her teeth and i moderate these things. But i think its all a balance. I have cut out mayo with her by trickery. And back to ketchup. I have never really worked out. My parents were like rakes and ate a huge amounts. I orignally come from a very poor background where you ate everything put in front of you. Dont know if that is relevant......

 

Nutritionists exist everywhere lol, they often work in institutional settings though and most individuals probably don't see one personally, unless maybe it's recommended to them by their primary care physician or some gyms/wellness centers have nutritionists to help the clients.

 

Admittedly, I only began seeing a nutritionist because with the healthcare package I get from my university the service is free so one day I said why not. I didn't know what to expect, thought she would have just given me a pyramid chart with foods and call it a day, but she was very helpful and thorough. She asked about my goals for seeing her, my eating habits, eating patterns, even stuff since I was a child, how I feel after eating, what foods I crave, it was so interesting, and she created an entire profile of my eating -it was like therapy lol! She of course recommended the usual tips of portion control, talked about self talk, talked about cravings, health at any size, gave me a food journal, recommended supplements I should take, looked at my eyes, nails, teeth etc to see if I had any definiciences, for example: she recommended I take vitamin D supplements esp in the winter, gave handouts etc. And I go see her about once a month or so. I definitely think it's more of a "luxury" ---it's VERY helpful and more people should have access but unfortunately many people don't.

[somedude81]

Hey Teknoe, if you want to lose weight and be healthy and do it in a "Godly" way, I recommend you check out The Daniel Plan.

 

My mom bought me the book and I've read the first chapter. While it's a bit more religious than I prefer, it does seem like it will contain some good info.

 

You'd probably enjoy it more than I would.

[lino]

2 nights in a row now where I've worked out

 

I did cheat yesterday though when I ordered out for lunch at work. But, I am going to make that my cheat of the week. Not kicking myself over it. It happened, and at least I worked out later that night.

 

First time working out on back to back nights in a while!!

 

 

Well done! Keep up with what you're doing and the weight will drop.

[Teknoe]

SD, thanks for the share. Never heard of the Daniel Plan before. Interesting...

 

Well, I took a day off yesterday, but worked out today and was VERY tempted to stop by the drive-thru, but willed myself to drive home instead.

 

Today was day 1 of not eating out + working out.

 

I feel good And I feel more determined than ever to stick with DDPYoga and eat healthy for a change! (no pun intended...)

[D-Lish]

It's all about calories in vs what you burn off.

 

I never deny myself, but I'm always cognizant about what I take in vs what I work off.

 

I love cheesecake- and every once and a while I'll chow down on an entire cheesecake. I work out extra hard when I overindulge.

 

I remain thin.

[somedude81]

SD, thanks for the share. Never heard of the Daniel Plan before. Interesting...

Have you heard of Pastor Rick Warren?

 

Here's a recent article that covers everything.

[seekingpeaceinlove]

I firmly believe in the saying, you are what you eat.

 

I used to be addicted to fast/junk food. At one point I used to eat fast food 2xs a day....every day. I felt horrible, sluggish, gained a bunch of weight, had heart burn and digestive issues but I couldn't stop eating it. One day, I decided enough is enough and kicked the habit cold turkey.

 

I've learned to cook and try to eat as "clean" as possible (ie: no processed foods). Of course I snack and splurge occasionally but since fast food is like a drug to me I stay away. I do this by not keeping processed snacks in the house and load my fridge with fresh food..fruits, veggies, etc. I exercise 4-5 times a week and cook the majority of my meals.

 

My family has a history of diabetes so I'm tying to do everything I can to live the healthiest lifestyle possible and avoid suffering the same fate.

 

I feel fantastic. I've lost weight, have loads of energy and no longer suffer from heartburn or tummy issues.

 

You are what you eat!

[Taramere]

I need to eat healthier, but find it difficult to cut back on the fast food. Every week I'll pick up either a pizza or a burger with some fries. I also like buying candy and chips at the grocery store. My diet is poor thanks to these bad habits.

 

Who else struggles with this?

 

Has anyone been able to successfully kick the habit? I'd like to hear success stories too. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, but I love junk food and am finding it difficult to reduce.

 

I think a lot depends on your upbringing. We weren't allowed junk food very often when I was a kid. That's not to say that I never eat it, but with the odd exception it's more something I'll have with other people (especially child relatives) than something I'd generally have myself. I totally understand the temptation though. When you're particularly tired, hungry, feeling sorry for yourself etc junk food can really beckon - so it's important to try to load up on healthier food that'll keep quite well (frozen fruit and veg is supposed to be as good as fresh - if not better in some cases) to minimise the likelihood of going out/calling for takeaway or going to a nearby shop and buying crap that you don't even need to cook.

 

The thing about junk food is that it's quite addictive. Obviously not in a crack cocaine sort of way...but once people get really into the junk food habit I think it's hard for them to break. I rarely eat at McDonalds, but times I have I really find it pretty unpleasant. Those anaemic little patties of meat. They provide salt and fat, which people are designed to crave, but that's pretty much it flavour-wise. It's one of the reasons you want more and more. Your body is craving nutrition that the junk food is only giving it minimal amounts of. There's no short cut. You have to re-educate your palate. Let's say that like me, you love chocolate. Try to stay away from milk chocolate and instead content yourself with a couple of squares of dark chocolate. It might not have that comforting creaminess/fattiness about it that your body is asking for, but it has high doses of the cocoa it's also craving. A couple of squares will satisfy that.

 

Use a lot of spices in your cooking. Goat's cheese (if you like it, I know a lot of people don't), and sundried tomatoes are also great for adding strong bursts of flavour to food. If you look at the French diet - okay, it's getting more and more heavy on junk food too in recent years, but traditionally the French have eaten very well. They don't necessarly stint themselves on fat. Think of all those creamy sauces they use, and the liberal amounts of strong cheese in the French diet. When you're eating that well at mealtimes - and having food that contains some of the fat your body craves together with very strong flavours (beyond just salt, and reducing the need to have a lot of salt) the impetus to eat between meals diminishes.

 

So like others say, developing an interest in cookery could help. Experiment with different all those different herbs and flavours that junk food won't give you. If you don't have time to cook, or to prepare everything from scratch, that's no big deal. You can make something like pasta with pesto from a jar, sour cream, onions, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes in about 15 minutes. People might say "leave out the cream, don't use fat" but I think that can be counterproductive. There's no point obsessing about leaving fat out of your cooking if you're just going to sneak out and get a bag of fat filled chips to compensate when nobody's looking. Healthy eating doesn't need to be a miserly, fat-free experience - and you'll probably be a lot better able to sustain a healthy diet if you ensure that it's enjoyable and satisfying.

Edited February 5, 2014 by Taramere

[carhill]

OP, try eating slower, even if you're eating 'junk food'. Or, better yet, do as normal and set up your phone to video you while you're eating and really watch yourself. The people who are selling you the junk food have been doing this for decades, meaning watching you.

 

What I find to work, especially when busy in the shop and desiring a quick lunch or dinner, is to have some staples already made ahead where I can add a few fresh ingredients, some spices, and have a MRE in under five minutes, either out of the pan or microwave. As an example, for today, I made up a pot of spanish rice over the weekend and today will add some stewed tomatoes and chicken to it for a meal.

 

If I don't do that, when feeling rushed, I'll 'grab' something that's not as healthy and continue on, missing out on the opportunity for a nutritious and filling meal. The second part of the equation is feeling 'rushed'. I fix that by going back to the old union mindset that I get an hour lunch and am going to take all of it. No distractions. Sit down and eat slowly.

 

If you're surrounded by junk food, eliminating it can be hard. It's easier for those of us who have to provision it to have it around; we just don't buy it. Oh, suggestion: Always try to shop on a full stomach. I've experimented with this and find it far easier to stay out of the junk food aisles when not hungry.

 

IMO, if you don't drink alcohol, you've already eliminated one pronounced 'junk' item. I love my G&T's but know for sure those are junk calories just as surely as a bag of Doritos. Good on ya for that. Happy eating.

[ltjg45]

I am working on killing that fast food crap that I keep eating but regrets it every time afterwards. Even though I only gained 20 pounds in the last 10 years, I didn't feel much better as a result of it and I am sure I burned away way too much money in the process.

 

Unfortunately. I can't stomach eating a lot of veggies. I just can't. Maybe green beans, corn, and greens but not much more than that. Fruits, I don't have much of a problem. Nowadays, I only get a banana and a Mountain Dew Kick start drink for my lunch which is under 100 calories total.

 

It will be a fight for me but once this is over, my body and my bank account will thank me for it.

[FitChick]

OP, try eating slower.

I've noticed this with many obese people. It's like they don't even enjoy the vast quantities of food they are inhaling.