Yesterday I made a post called unconventional tips. In a nutshell, it was about simple things that did/do to help me along in my journey. One of the tips I made was to pay for your snacks (with exercise) before you eat it. In response to that Hyla from Bloggest Loser (great blog check it out if you haven't already) left me a great suggestion which was to not buy junk food at all and she gave some healthy alternatives and great suggestions on how to make it more convenient.
This was the comment left by Hyla:
How about Buy better snacks dont buy the junk and keep it in your home. Stop buying that and buy healthy things, like fresh fruit and veggies, cheese, eggs. Then when you get home, take the time to prepare it, so when you go to snack it is easily accessible.
Fruits: wash and cut them up, place them in a bowl with plastic wrap on the top, you can easily see it and it is easy to get too. Baby carrots and snap peas, rinse and eat cheese, cube it and put it in a see through container
Eggs, hard boil them, very easy to grab and eat and great for protein which equals energy and slower absorption on sugars, so an egg and some fruit is a great snack. Nuts and seeds have protein and are great like eggs
Like I said before I agree 100% with what she wrote but the reason why I didn't make that suggestion was because that was something that we always read about. It is one of those tips like drink more water. You can read any health tip and without fail drink more water will be there. I chose to "pay" to be able to eat unhealthy junk foods because I am a recovering sugar addict and it was unrealistic for me to say that I would never eat junk foods again. There is no way, (and this is my present frame of mind) that I could give up sweet stuff cold turkey. I had to ween myself off it them. I could say that I won't buy junk foods but it is hard for me to actually do it. This is the case of some things are easier said than done. I found that by making myself workout for the snack I was able to burn "earn" it because the exercise that I did to eat the "snack" did not count as my daily workout. I still had to do that too and as much as I love exercising there came a point where junk food wasn't worth it. This way helped me to drastically cut back on the amount of junk foods that I was eating and I thought maybe it would help someone else.
Another thing that I have learned from experience is that if I am craving chocolate for example, I have to eat chocolate. I have tried substituting it for maybe a banana or green tea (for the caffeine) but the craving only grows and I had to get the chocolate. The results of that was that I consumed calories by eating a banana (or whatever substitute) I ate and it didn't kill the cravings so I ended up eating the chocolate still but if I had just eaten the chocolate instead of the substitute then I would have eaten less calories. I know that part is kind of confusing but I hope you get what I am trying to say.
Finally, I definitely think that not buying junk food at all is best but I also believe that everything has to be done when you are ready to do it. If you aren't ready to do something it gets that much harder because you are not only fighting against what you are trying to change you are also fighting against yourself. (this part was a bit off topic right?)
I agree! Cold turkey clean eating isn't for everyone! I still have sugar cravings that I DO satisfy! You know yourself and figuring out a way to enjoy things that you love without overindulging is what it's all about!
ReplyDeleteI stopped by learning what was in my fast food choices and junk food, but also and this was my major turn off, paying close attention to how my body felt after eatting fast food and junk food.
ReplyDeleteI noticed, for myself, that I would have lots of energy but crash an hour later and feel depressed and crave more junk food and it was an endless cycle for me. I noticed headaches when I crashed and stomach discomfort.
It can seem a bit overwhelming at first, but if you pay attention to your body and try the ecperiment more than once with one type of food, you might see that you are feeling a consistent discomfort after eating a certain food. And it might take an hour or maybe 30 minutes to recognize these discomforts. And if that is true, then you might choice to cut out that one food bc you dont want to feel like that. And then try it with your next food.
Eventually you might find you arent buying the stuff you used to bc you dont want that discomfort.
Now I have not given up chocolate, however I now choice to eat just the serving size instead of binge like I used to you and I only eat it once a day instead of all day long.
@Miesha That is definitely my motto eventually I want to get to the point where I can say no to ALL Junk Foods but at this point there will be times where I indulge but I will set limits. I am not going to eat like a gallon of ice cream in one sitting but I would have a small scope from time to time.
ReplyDelete@Hyla Thanks for sharing. I have been paying a lot of attention to how I feel after eating certain foods and I talk about this in my next post(i will post it tomorrow probably) and I think its important that we do listen to our bodies because spend way too much time listening to our minds when its the body and not the mind that knows what we should be eating. I have cut back a whole lot with eating junk foods but I get cravings for it still and I give in if it is not out of boredom because I know that nothing else will satisfy that craving. Eventually I want to get to the point that I only eat clean but it takes time.
I have done the same exact thing: tried to substitute what I want with something 'less than'; I end up eating the substitute, then something else and still end up craving the food I wanted in the first place - and eating it. For some people it's better to just have a respectable amount of what you desire and be done with it. As long as you're eating consciously, that's all that matters.
ReplyDeleteHey Ellen! Yea I am one of those persons too who has to eat what I am craving because the craving doesnt got away by eating a sub. But I think sometimes ppl are under the assumption that all cravings are bad sometimes when we crave something its because the body is looking for a specific nutrient which is probably found in the food that you are craving...
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