How to Stop Eating Junk Regularly
/I have a confession to make… I've been eating foods regularly that I tell you not to eat! Like cake, (4 times in one week, ahh!).
My guidelines for treats are to eat them on special occasions only (chocolate on Valentines day, cake on grandma's 80th birthday etc.) and to eat them outside of the house to avoid over-eating which will impede on your health and weight-loss goals.
Why did I not follow my own recommendations?
Like you, I have A LOT going on. Working full-time on an organic veggie farm, building my business, keeping up with relationships, moving and the list goes on (sound familiar?).
At work, the organic veggie farm, there tends to be a lot of 'junk' food in the break room… donuts, cake, ice-cream bars etc. on an almost daily basis. Which normally, I honestly do fine around. I don't care that it's there and don't care about eating it. I'm not even a big cake person and after eating so well for so many years, not being addicting to fat, sugar and salt, treats rarely tempt me.
However, towards the end of the summer when I was exhausted, physically worked and with everything else going on in life, I walked into the break room and you-betcha, there was cake. And you know what, I ate some!
Within that week, after that first initial sugar blast, I ended up eating a chocolate muffin, a donut and another piece of cake all within 5 days.
How to Stop Eating Junk Regularly
How did I stop this pattern of destructive behavior?
1. First off, I made up my mind that I just needed to stop because I couldn't let myself go down the junk-food path again.
2. More importantly, I sanitized my environment or removed myself from unhealthy eating environments to not tempt myself and decrease my chances of eating treats.
This means that at work, I just stopped going in the break room for lunch. I can't remove other people's food and treats, so I removed myself from them instead (I ate lunch under a tree and enjoyed the beautiful view).
3. You should never keep treats in your home as well. This way, if you have a rough day and are hungry and tempted you can't eat ice-cream because it's not there!
When you try and use will-power to eat healthy, it's only a matter of time until you give-in to foods you shouldn't eat. That's why it's so important to set-up your environment so it works for you, not against you.
If your husband still eats junk food and you're trying to stop, ask him to move all of the food you don't want to eat into a separate cabinet or to a place in the house where you don't have to see it and know where it is. Out of sight, out of mind.
4. Lastly, if you do end up eating some junk don't beat yourself up about it! Just brush it off and try again.
5. If you eat a healthy, plant-based diet 90% of the time and end up eating some cake like I did, it's not that big of a deal (especially because I don't have any diseases). I eat so well the rest of the time that a piece of cake (or 4) isn't going to do much damage.
However, if you're eating cake and donuts weekly, meat, cheese, oil and refined flour products daily, you're going to be in trouble and it's highly likely you're going to gain weight or are setting yourself up for diabetes, cancer or heart disease later in life and I don't want to see that happen to you or your family!
If you're interested in adopting a health-promoting and permanent weight-loss diet learn what to eat here and here.
Take Control Now
How have you stopped eating junk in the past? What's your biggest insight from this article to share with others?
Answer in the comments section below.