Less Junk, More Healthy Snacks

arabianhorselover

This is something I have to change. I have lost the weight, but I'm still eating way too much junk. I have changed the categories of my food diary so that I have one for healthy snacks and one for Junk Food instead of just having generic snack categories. Maybe this will make the amount of junk a little more obvious for me to look at.

Has anyone else managed to change to more healthy foods and less junk? Eating the junk is such a long-standing pattern for me, that sometimes it seems like there's no hope of my changing.

AJ_G

Junk food is a relative term. What I consider to be healthy food may be considered to be junk food by some. It's all about context when it comes to food. Don't judge individual foods as healthy or junk on their own without looking at how they fit into your diary for the day.

arabianhorselover

Believe me I know all about what constitutes junk food for me. I have a 40 year history of eating a LOT of sugar and fat every day. And plenty of sodium, also.

If I list it under junk it will be candy, chips, ice cream, baked goods, etc. Basically the types of things that I I prefer to eat rather than reaching for real food.

Need2Exerc1se

I don't care if you call food junk. I do it too.

I don't really snack a lot, so I do still tend to go for junk (chips, mostly) when I snack. But I also like nuts and raw broccoli w/spinach dip (that might be junk for some, I suppose), or peanut butter, either by the spoon or on wholemeal toast, string cheese, reduced fat cheese and crackers, apples w/ hummus or pb.

I actually think tortilla chips and salsa is a pretty healthy snack, if I can keep myself from going crazy with it.

lucys1225

arabianhorselover wrote: »

This is something I have to change. I have lost the weight, but I'm still eating way too much junk. I have changed the categories of my food diary so that I have one for healthy snacks and one for Junk Food instead of just having generic snack categories. Maybe this will make the amount of junk a little more obvious for me to look at.

Has anyone else managed to change to more healthy foods and less junk? Eating the junk is such a long-standing pattern for me, that sometimes it seems like there's no hope of my changing.

Yes! I was a huge snacker....usually pretzels and gummy candy (swedish fish, gummy bears, twizzlers...) I no longer eat any of them and haven't in the past few years. Now when I am in the mood for crunchy i go for nuts. When I'm in the mood for sweet, I go for roasted vegetables. I bring small baggies of each with me to work so they're easily accessible.

lemurcat12

I find I don't eat much "junk" (or whatever you want to call it, I don't really mind junk) if I don't snack, and that snacking isn't that helpful for me anyway. I sometimes do like to have a scheduled snack in the afternoon if I'm planning to work out mid-day or eat really late (which can be common), and I sometimes add a snack before breakfast if I eat breakfast after a workout. The trick there is that the snack has a purpose and I plan for it, it's not just "hmm, I'm hungry, wonder what's around."

I do eat desserts sometimes but think of them as more part of the relevant meal, and again planned (and only foods that are worth the calories!).

Don't know if this is helpful, however, if it's a high priority for you to feel more spur of the moment about it. What I find is that if I'm not used to eating outside of meal times the desire to do so generally goes away.

acheben

I know that when I am at work, I like to snack. To solve this problem, I plan for a morning and an afternoon snack every weekday. When I'm prelogging my day, I figure out what snacks I'm going to have to meet my calorie and macro goals and then pack it up so I just have to grab it in the morning.

My usual snacks are babybels, deli meat, nuts, yogurt, raw veggies, pretzels, and hard boiled eggs. When I buy pretzels, nuts, etc from the store, I divide them into individual snack baggies when I get home.

TheVirgoddess

I don't consider any food junk, but that's more for my mental health than anything else

I really (really, really) think the key is to pre-log your days. Log snacks that you consider healthy, then eat them when hunger strikes. It's much easier when you already know what you're eating for the whole day. And sometimes, after logging the whole day, you find you have extra calories - that you can spend on junk if you choose.

arabianhorselover

Well, I've never done pre-logging, just like I never plan meals for the week. Either I don't have the time, or I guess I'm not that organized. I do agree that it would help, though. I'll try to do it a little more.

My biggest problem is that I have spent 30 years snacking at work to help me get through the long boring days. I was in the habit of grazing all day long, generally on various chocolate treats. It's a hard habit to give up.

SuggaD

I'm still a huge snacker, but my snacks are higher quality now. My favs are nuts, energy bites (I make them mostly for cycling, but they make a great healthy snack), cheese, fresh and dried fruit, hummus, baby carrots, cucumbers, celery stick w/ nut butter and raisins, nut butter, slice of gluten free bread w/ salmon and avocado, mini heirloom tomatoes, smoothies, kale chips (homemade), popcorn, plain greek yogurt w/ fresh fruit, cottage cheese, anything I bake at home (always healthy); fat-free frozen yogurt. The possibilities are really limitless.

arabianhorselover

SuggaD wrote: »

I'm still a huge snacker, but my snacks are higher quality now. My favs are nuts, energy bites (I make them mostly for cycling, but they make a great healthy snack), cheese, fresh and dried fruit, hummus, baby carrots, cucumbers, celery stick w/ nut butter and raisins, nut butter, slice of gluten free bread w/ salmon and avocado, mini heirloom tomatoes, smoothies, kale chips (homemade), popcorn, plain greek yogurt w/ fresh fruit, cottage cheese, anything I bake at home (always healthy); fat-free frozen yogurt. The possibilities are really limitless.

Sounds like it's working for you. You've lost a lot of weight.

I did bring some healthy snacks to work with me today. Apple, granola, and cheese sticks.

af_wife2004

I LOVE "junk" food, but I hate how it makes me feel after eating it. I'm in the process of changing things around in small steps. I never stick with change if I do a complete 180. I switched regular ice cream for Blue Bunny Sweet Freedom ice cream. I always grab a "bar" and now a piece of fruit for breakfast. I've recently starting changing my bars (oatmeal squares, 100 cal pastry crisps etc) for high protein ones like Quaker protein baked bars, Nature Valley protein, etc. I make a lot of my baked good from scratch so I can alter the recipe. My favorite is homemade white bread. I still eat it on a regular basis but I weigh the slice on my kitchen scale and count the calories. For me this is a lifestyle change, so I never want to feel deprived. My vices are pizza and nachos, so now I make taco salads and crush one oz of chips on the top. I use Portobello mushroom caps as the base for my pizza. I actually find that snacking on grapes takes care of my candy/sugar craving, and while I don't really care for them Quest bar will take care of my chocolate craving. I've been "pinning" protein bars to try and see if I can make one at home that I like better.

arabianhorselover

I actually really like a few of the Quest bars, and usually have one as an afternoon snack at work. I limit myself to one, since they are so expensive. I eat them for the fiber as well as the protein.

jpaulie

I have a 'junk free' diet by your definition of junk. My diary is open. it is currently based around a cut/fat loss/maintain muscle. I am switching over to bulk starting Feb 1 so the diet and cals intake will change quite a bit then.
Feel free to friend me if you have any more in depth questions or want the support.

arabianhorselover

jpaulie wrote: »

I have a 'junk free' diet by your definition of junk. My diary is open. it is currently based around a cut/fat loss/maintain muscle. I am switching over to bulk starting Feb 1 so the diet and cals intake will change quite a bit then.
Feel free to friend me if you have any more in depth questions or want the support.

I think I will do that. Thank you.

vddamico84

It's bed hard for me to eat healthy snacks. But I slowly limit my access to the junk food.
So at my old job there was a vending machine. And a soda machine. I knew when I would get hungry and after commiting to ridding junk food out of my body, I actually listened to what I was craving. Sugar? Lemme just snack on some fruit (in winter I am the king of clementines). Something salty? Celery with pb. Or pretzels.
I also bought a reusable water bottle because I realized that some of my hunger pains were actually me just being thirsty.
Yeah, sometimes I still have a small taste of chocolate or a small frozen yogurt. But that's okay. Occassionally indulgences isn't going to kill me.
I also don't feel guilty about what I eat anymore.
I think everyone has been in the same boat as you-don't worry we are all here for you

arabianhorselover

vddamico84 wrote: »

It's bed hard for me to eat healthy snacks. But I slowly limit my access to the junk food.
So at my old job there was a vending machine. And a soda machine. I knew when I would get hungry and after commiting to ridding junk food out of my body, I actually listened to what I was craving. Sugar? Lemme just snack on some fruit (in winter I am the king of clementines). Something salty? Celery with pb. Or pretzels.
I also bought a reusable water bottle because I realized that some of my hunger pains were actually me just being thirsty.
Yeah, sometimes I still have a small taste of chocolate or a small frozen yogurt. But that's okay. Occassionally indulgences isn't going to kill me.
I also don't feel guilty about what I eat anymore.
I think everyone has been in the same boat as you-don't worry we are all here for you

Thank you for your support. I actually do have a long-standing compulsive overeating problem, so it is probably harder for me than for some.

I've never had a vending machine problem because I'm too cheap. I refuse to pay those prices, so I've always kept plenty of goodies in my desk.

af_wife2004

I am also an emotional eater and keep a drawer full of snacks too. I've been switching them from candy bars to 100 cal Special K and nature valley/quaker protein bars. I keep cut up veggies and hummus in the fridge at work along with club soda. I don't really like soda though I drink a lot. I like the carbonation.

drabbits3

hummus and veggies, a small portion of crackers and low fat cheese, instant oatmeal--that helps my sugar cravings depending on the flavor, one slice low fat toast and almond butter, 100 calorie yogurts, a small portion of nuts--super high in fat, so measure carefully, carrots and guacamole--get the 100 calorie cups so it's a controlled portion, Skinny Pop popcorn or other air popped or microwaved-measure it out, bowl of cereal-cheerios dry are actually pretty satisfying and make me all nostalgic!!! What really helped me was to get out of the all or nothing mentality. I can totally have a small cup of ice cream and nothing bad will happen-I do NOT need to eat an entire pint of full fat Ben and Jerry's. I will feel crappy the next day which pretty much cancels out the joy of eating it the night before. ditto cookies--I could eat my body weight in bakery or homemade cookies. so again--I could have like two and not eat every cookie within a three block radius and that could be fine.
good luck!

arabianhorselover

I'm not too much of a fan of hummus, actually. I do eat dry cereal for breakfast at work all the time. I try to buy healthy ones. I've never been much of a soda drinker, actually.

dunnodunno

arabianhorselover wrote: »

This is something I have to change. I have lost the weight, but I'm still eating way too much junk. I have changed the categories of my food diary so that I have one for healthy snacks and one for Junk Food instead of just having generic snack categories. Maybe this will make the amount of junk a little more obvious for me to look at.

Has anyone else managed to change to more healthy foods and less junk? Eating the junk is such a long-standing pattern for me, that sometimes it seems like there's no hope of my changing.

You can eat junk food & still lose weight. I've lost around 150 pounds & eat some junk food nearly everyday.

There are some snacks that I still eat too much of without moderation & with those I don't buy until I relearn how to be satisfied with one serving.

If you have certain snacks that you can't moderate then you could just keep them out of the house until you can learn moderation or find some kind of alternative to satisfy for your sweet tooth.

arabianhorselover

I did eat junk food while losing the weight. At this point I'm not wanting to lose any more. However, If I'm going to maintain, I do have to eat them in moderation.

SuggaD

arabianhorselover wrote: »

I did eat junk food while losing the weight. At this point I'm not wanting to lose any more. However, If I'm going to maintain, I do have to eat them in moderation.

All things in moderation. It really is that simple.

arabianhorselover

A lot of things in this life sound simple, but they can be very hard.