I am eating too much junk and processed food while watching movies and youtube videos. I want to stop as it affects my health. Any suggestions.
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Following as I’m in the same boat as you… for me the only thing that helps is when I’m doing one of my hobbies or something else, although usually I end up forgetting to eat in that scenario 😢
@PostWatchBot@lemy.lol
Stop buying it. That’s how we slowed down / stopped.
This is the way. It’s easier to have will power at the grocery store. Stop buying that crap and you’ll have a harder time binging.
It’s also buying the right stuff.
Veggies and protein take a long time to digest. So you feel full longer.
Junk food is way more calories and easily digestible, so you eat more of it.
Soda is an extreme example. You can take in 500 calories in fluids and your stomach feels completely empty.
A serving of kidney beans will stay in your stomach most of a day. Throw some hot sauce on them and you’ve got a cheap easy snack that will keep you feeling full all day.
People always want to focus on calories, but not all calories are created equally. You need to pick stuff that’s also slow to digest or your body is going to keep telling you that you’re hungry.
Especially when changing your eating habits
Also, using a shopping service like Instacart helps me avoid impulse purchases. I make my list, put it into the cart, and don’t add anything not on the list.
It does cost more, but I actually spend less per trip because I can take my time to comparison shop and look for items on sale. “Do I need beans, or do I have some in the cupboard?” “Oh, they have that seasonal cookie I love, I should grab a box whil they are available.” If I’m not at the store, I don’t have that problem. I justify it to myself by the time saved times my normal wage being far more than I spend on the delivery fees. Reducing the bad snacks in the house is just another perk.
For me, just going to the grocery store after a full meal eliminates virtually all of my impulse buys. I typically go out to eat during that shopping trip, so it’s less effective for OP’s concern, but if they took the extra step to cook a healthy meal at home first I think it would be a helpful stopgap.
I really like the idea of shopping services, but going to the store with a paper list feels like less work than messing around with the shitty apps, answering the shopper’s “is this substitution okay?”, and then interacting with the shopper when they deliver.
Laziness takes many forms. 😬
Also eat before going grocery shopping. It helps with the impulse.
Agreed. Perhaps buy/prepare healthier options and have them conveniently available. Like popping your own popcorn for example vs getting microwave popcorn. I have an air popper. After popping some I add olive oil and salt. Store it in a ziplock for the wk. or I’ll buy Skinny Pop, ingredients are the same: popcorn, oil, salt…I really like popcorn.
+1
I’m a little overweight and I avoid buying any kind of chips and snacks because I know I have almost zero willpower.
Also, eating a bit less than usual on each meal, like knowing when you’re feeding and when you’re just eating for pleasure.
Maybe I won’t lose any weight but I hope to gain as less as possible.
And once you’ve stopped, listen out for the voice that says “just this once, as a treat, I’ve been good” because that voice lies
(You’ve not been good)
You could try to start replacing individual things with better alternatives. Its much harder to just suddenly change your diet
This is my trick. Keep lots of fruits and healthy crackers around, especially ones that are easy to eat - grapes, berries, apples, etc.
This helped solidify my next post/series aha, thankya
don’t buy it. ever. and if people bring it over make them take it back. make grocery lists before going to the store with healthy snacks you like on it or meal plan filling meals. and eat before you go to the store so you shop with your head, not your stomach lolol.
and if people bring it over make them take it back
Forgot to mention it in my post, but absolutely this too. People loooove pawning off junk food to friends. It’s an easy gift.
Just stop buying that kind of food if you can’t control your consumption of it. If that’s too extreme for you, buy less of it, and when you do eat some, put one serving in a bowl and eat it out of the bowl. When the serving is gone, no more, no refills, you’re done snacking on that food.
This is ultimately about your willpower.
I love me some salty food so I feel the pain. I’ll echo the sentiment of not buying it in the first place. Will power is an exhaustible resource.
I find that it almost doesn’t matter what I snack on I just want to snack. I will literally buy a huge bag of carrots and just eat those. Or my other favorite is toss a couple of strained cans of garbanzo beans in an air fryer, spray a bit of cooking spray, toast those suckers for 25 min, and salt/season them for a protein heavy snack that actually has fiber. Cheap, easy, and gives me similar vibes to a potato chip in an incredibly more healthy way.
Thanks for the chickpea recipe! To add to your carrot tip: when I buy them I peel them straight away and store them in a sealed container in the fridge. They stay crispy and juicy that way.
I get them whole and eat them whole. So dang cheap. Like $3 for a 5lb bag. I get made fun of endlessly by some, but I joke that if it were a bag of Doritos no one would bat an eye and that says a lot about the state of things. My wife joked that I have “car carrots” and just leave a big bag of carrots in the car if the weather permits.
I am never hungry for a snack if I eat 2lbs of raw carrots.
Car carrots! Genius.
I was able to curb my nervous/bored eating and drinking with bitters and sours. Instead of reaching for food I now reach for some tea (with just lemon), coffee (decaf black), a glass of water with lemon, or just suck on a lime wedge. The lime thing is mostly to curb alcohol cravings.
PS: My wife’s answer was Kombucha. Everybody is different.
Spice also works. I find eating/drinking something with an intense flavor profile ups the satiety so you eat less without feeling like you ate less.
I still have some of it in my house, but over the past year I’ve cut down majorly, by refusing to snack during the day, and tracking my calories each day. Just being aware of what I ate made a huge difference. Also, instead of ice cream, I buy TruFru dark chocolate raspberries and just have a few each night. I’ve lost about 50 pounds since last January through diet and exercise.
So many people still don’t realize that weight loss comes down to 90% diet and 10% exercise.
I’d say it’s more like 70/30 personally. It also gives you some wiggle room with a low cal diet. But you definitely can’t just do some running then go out for bucket of KFC all the time.
Calories burned from running isn’t that great of a return.
An estimate is that a 200 pound person burns 792 calories per hour running at 5mph (12min/mile, or 8kph) on a firm, level surface. A 140 pound person burns 555 calories in the same scenario.
Source: https://captaincalculator.com/health/calorie/calories-burned-running-calculator/
It’s much simpler to not consume excess calories, if you maintain a caloric deficit and don’t exercise at all you will lose weight.
So yeah, with a 1500 calorie deficit diet, that’s about a 3rd of what you eat for the day, so like 33%. That’s a pretty big chunk, and easily allows you to snack on occasion and still hit your deficit. I’d say it’s pretty helpful, but diet is still absolutely necessary for any results.
Don’t have it in the house. Don’t buy it. Don’t even go down those aisles in the store.
This is the only way. I lack all self control to not eat junk food and sweets. I never buy them for this reason. Only eat dessert and junk food if I’m out or it is provided for me somewhere else.
I just want you to consider one more aspect of it. I’ve seen this discussed and backed up with scientific articles but I’m too lazy to find and include them in my post. Basically, all your cravings originate from your gut and your gut is ruled by the bacteria that have made your gut their home over the years. You’ve colonized your gut with a particular set of bacteria by giving them what you eat.
Now, if you change that food pattern, these bacteria, that control the gut, will make your body release chemicals that will make you crave for food that will keep them alive. Realise this and act accordingly. Being conscious about it has helped me overcome many food related ‘addictions’ i had like that of soda, of wafers. I still fall prey when I consume sweets continuously for a few days during festivities. Everytime it is the same struggle against the cravings, but I realise I’m just fighting against the settlers in my gut, brave it for a few days and notice my cravings become dull over time. Probiotics like kimchi, saurkraut, kefir, kombucha etc. help to some extent but ultimately it is more of a mind game.
Make what you will from my advice, but it does work for me. I wish you all the best in your fight against your gut settlers.
Are you hungry or just bored and looking for extra stimulation while enjoying some entertainment? Have you considered a fidget toy or something to keep your hands occupied? A puzzle? Knitting? Chewing gum?
Everyone is saying don’t but snack foods, which is one step. But if you don’t have some form of healthy snacks on hand, you’re just going to revert back to it. I suggest dehydrating fruits and having nuts and seeds available so you can still snack but not feel bad about it.
Dried fruit and nuts are all super calorie-rich options.
Fresh fruit will be healthier. It’s still possible to overdo it, just more difficult.
For something basically impossible to eat many calories with, vegetables kick butt. Cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, cucumbers, and so on are the way to go.
TruFru raspberries taste like frozen treats, and they are, but they’re mostly just whole rasperries.
I’ve replaced most of my sweet snacks with things like cheese or pumpkin seeds or cashews. It’s made a huge difference.
If I really want something sweet, like you mentioned, I usually have dehydrated fruit or Greek yogurt with fruit.
Definitely took time and effort to find healthier snacks but it’s been worth it.
Nuts have hella calories though, you shouldn’t go too crazy snacking on them
Most people here recommend stopping something not taking into account that it may not last long. One slip and you’re back. No addiction is cured by stopping immediately. You cannot simply get rid of a habit in one day. It has to be steady and progressive so that there’s zero stress during transition.
First, start combining junk food with healthier meals. Like once a week, have something semi-healthy. Find something that tastes right for you. It may be not completely healthy, but the main thing is that you should enjoy it. Then start expanding it to more days per week. Repeat until the week days are all “semi-healthy” food. Next step, do the same but lean towards even healthier food, repeat the same process. Start marking cheat days on your calendar, when you can eat whatever you want. At this point you want to make eating healthy food a habit, and cheat days (1-3 per month) as an exception.
I used to drink lots of Lipton Ice Tea. First I switched to some other drink but with less sugar. Then I switched to Cola Zero. Then I started drinking mineral water. Now I basically drink just water and occasionally some Coke Zero. Same scenario also worked for smoking.
TLDR: steadily find better alternatives. Never make sudden change. Make it a habit. Rinse and repeat.
I think that the real answer is that different things work for different people.
Personally when I make changes in my life I always go 100% straight away. I have a really hard time with half measures. Like when i wanted to lose 5 kg I started logging everything i ate and just was super strict with ny kcal intake for a year to not gain it back, no cheat days. And when i went vegan a few years later i did that cold turkey.
Talk to a therapist. Work out what’s really bothering you, or at least how to be more mindful.
