How can I stop my addiction to fast food? Need help...
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Actually if you read the labels and look a little into the methods employed in food industry, you figure out that fast food is basically made of ****. When it tastes like **** to you it only means that you taste it for what it is :-)0
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Heroin is addictive
Nicotine is addictive
Food is fuel for our body. It is not addictive. You like it a lot.
First step, remove the thinking that you have an addiction, all that does is make you feel powerless
Plan your day, measure and weigh everything and log it. Read the stickiy threads and read them again. Look at the success stories. Ask yourself if you are ready to change your lifestyle and how much do you want it0 -
Sugar is one of the most addictive substances there are.
Accepting that you have an addiction doesn't make you powerless. It's quite empowering actually: when you realize it's not your fault that you are where you are, you stop wasting your energy beating yourself up. You don't beat yourself up when you slip either. You're free to focus all your energies on healing yourself. (Beating an addiction is not just about "accepting what you can't change", but also about "changing what you cannot accept" and "having the wisdom to distinguish between the two".)
So the first step is figuring out why you became addicted, what is there in your life that's forcing you to overeat. Once you know - remove it, fix it, change it. After that losing weight is not a struggle anymore, it happens automatically.
Unless you fix the underlying cause you cannot change your lifestyle - you can struggle, make yourself and others believe that you changed. But ask yourself - are you willing to struggle for the rest of your life? Because that's the only way to ward off extra kilos, unless you figure out why you're so bent on gaining them and remove the reason for doing so.0 -
Today was going just fine until I ate a burger from a fast food chain. I had this temptation of getting it & I couldn't resist.. I think I'm addicted to the actuall carbs, sodium, & sweets that come with a burger combo, not the actual taste. Could anybody share any ideas on how to substitute fast food with healthier meals?
Did you at least get a diet coke to go with it? I'M KIDDING! The only way is to avoid it, unfortunately. Food cravings are real, but they are not an addition.
A lot of people have already said this, but just try eating at home and not getting food to go. If you are so hungry when driving that the car starts steering itself through the drive through, trying keeping a bottle of water and healthy snacks in your car that you can grab to eat instead of fast food.
Also don't beat yourself up about it or let it detail you. It's just one meal. Get back on track and let it go.
(For me, also, weighing myself the day after I eat crap is a big motivator to avoid it because by the next day I'm usually retaining about 2-3 lbs of water and that really ticks me off)0 -
The third and fourth words in your question.0
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Try reading "50 Ways to Soothe Yourself without Food" by Susan Albers. I read it recently and realized how true my food addiction ways. I'm sorry for the people who say you just don't have self control. Binge Eating Disorder is now a recognized eating disorder and being unable to control what you eat is one of the symptoms. Good luck to you.0
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I agree with the others who stated to just stop eating it. I personally stopped about 3 months ago now the thought of it sounds nasty. Just leave it alone for a few weeks and see how you feel about it after that. The calorie count is really not worth it either. You couldn't pay me to eat a McDonald's Burger...ok maybe you could pay me lol....but you get the point.0
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watch some documentaries on netflix such as: supersize me, food inc, forks over knives, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.
After watching them I can't bring myself to eat anything fast food- even if I'm starving. only exception "might" be chick fil a's chicken sandwich but thats if I'm so hungry that I'm gonna faint.
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I used to eat bags 1/2 bag of potatoe chips at a time, a lot more than that 2 tablespoon of peanut butter per seving and the fast food (Mickey D's, Wendy's, Zaxby's, Pizza Hut, Cinabon, the list goes on and on..) I thought I was addicted to potatoes, crust, bread, salt and of course anything sweet.. Anything in a box, drive through fast food (it was easy and fast, can't beat that), and did I mention just easy and fast!
My diet was horrible. I did not realize any of that, until I did two weeks of logging what I ate and I was floored.. It was not addiction, it was convenience and it was right there always available.
If logging your food in the very beginning is not enough to scare you out of making really bad food choices, I do not know what will. And maybe for some, it won't do a thing, but when I saw much lunch and dinner was in calories and how much I was eating, this was enough for me. The transition was slow to wean out years of eating like this. Counting the calories was my savior.
Now I really can't stand Mickey D's (except the French fries) but I do still love pizza, peanut butter, cake, etc.. I just now have it within reason, and it is much much enjoyable because when I eat right during the day or week and get to treat my self to something I love, then it makes it all in the end much much better and for my waistline too.
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Heroin is addictive
Nicotine is addictive
Food is fuel for our body. It is not addictive. You like it a lot.
First step, remove the thinking that you have an addiction, all that does is make you feel powerless
Plan your day, measure and weigh everything and log it. Read the stickiy threads and read them again. Look at the success stories. Ask yourself if you are ready to change your lifestyle and how much do you want it
I will say from a neuroscience perspective, fast food absolutely is addictive. It triggers many of the same neurotransmitters that the drugs you mentioned trigger. Something being an addiction doesn't make one powerless over it, that's AA's verbiage. It just means there's a physiological craving for it because of the effect in the brain.
OP, I think one of the best things you can do (assuming moderation isn't an option) is to completely cut fast food out of your diet for a while.0 -
Today was going just fine until I ate a burger from a fast food chain. I had this temptation of getting it & I couldn't resist.. I think I'm addicted to the actuall carbs, sodium, & sweets that come with a burger combo, not the actual taste. Could anybody share any ideas on how to substitute fast food with healthier meals?
First don't stress out about it. It happened. You survived. You can move on from here. Today can still go just fine starting with your next meal!
Second, check your calories for the day. How are you set for calories? Can you make the rest of today fit into your goals? You can mitigate the damage from a bad lunch by not going crazy at dinner. Sure you may end up over your calories by the end of the day, but it was only one bad meal!
Next, ease out of it. I eat out all the time. I used to have a fair bit of chain fast food in that mix. It all changed the day I decided to order fruit as a side instead of fries. I still had a burger, but it was a burger with fruit. I did that for a long time. The next step was to order less calorie intense burgers. I mean, a burger is a burger, so if I was going to eat a 1000 calorie burger, why not order a 700 calorie burger instead? Would that not satisfy my want for a burger? Then I started to get chicken or turkey sandwiches instead of the burger. After a few months, I noticed that my tastes were changing. The quality of the food was becoming more important. I still enjoy a burger and fries, but the craving is different now. I want a good burger and good fries. Most fast food chains don't satisfy that craving. I want the flavor and texture of fresh foods. When I bite into a grilled chicken sandwich I want to be able to recognize what kind of animal it came from. I want my beef to taste and feel like beef. It's hard to explain without you already knowing what I mean, but take your time and ease out of the junk food. The difference is amazing.
As for craving carbs and salts and fats... Look into the "why" of it. Is it a stress thing? Was it a "im getting out of my food comfort zone and need to fall into a familiar bad habit" panic attack thing? Is it a confidence/self-worth issue? Try to address the root cause. If it was completely inexplicable, you may want to talk with your Dr about it. I learned early in my journey (with a trip to the ER) that a big part of why I love love love fries is that I have a bad potassium deficiency. The deficiency was covered up by all the fries I ate. So... Yeah, I always suggest people with food cravings check with their Dr. Most of my cravings completely vanish when I take my vitamins.0 -
Sorry but no. Food is not addictive. You are not going to suffer withdrawal symptoms if you eat a sandwich instead of a Big Mac. Self control is the answer0
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Sorry but no. Food is not addictive. You are not going to suffer withdrawal symptoms if you eat a sandwich instead of a Big Mac. Self control is the answer
The statement that food is not addictive isn't quite true. I've watched enough TV shows about junk food over the years to recall being told many times that actual withdrawal symptoms occur in the body after the removal of sugar, if it was previously a constant and in excess (commonly the case today unfortunately).
The withdrawal symptoms aren't to the same degree as heroine of course, people don't need prescription withdrawal medication for giving up snickers bars, but they were still clinically described as withdrawal symptoms nonetheless. I watched a TV show called Food Matters that covered this, but I've seen it mentioned many times elsewhere.0 -
The statement that food is not addictive isn't quite true. I've watched enough TV shows about junk food over the years to recall being told many times that actual withdrawal symptoms occur in the body after the removal of sugar, if it was previously a constant and in excess (commonly the case today unfortunately).
The withdrawal symptoms aren't to the same degree as heroine of course, people don't need prescription withdrawal medication for giving up snickers bars, but they were still clinically described as withdrawal symptoms nonetheless. I watched a TV show called Food Matters that covered this, but I've seen it mentioned many times elsewhere.
Absolutely true. But if people want to deny science, that's their prerogative I suppose.
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The withdrawal symptoms aren't to the same degree as heroine of course, people don't need prescription withdrawal medication for giving up snickers bars
I think that's the point. To equate missing fries with heroin addiction trivializes real addiction and becomes a crappy semantic exercise.
But hey, keep up the McDonald's circle-jerk hate ITT. It's fun to blame The Man for being overweight instead of yourself.
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I used to eat at fast food restaurants 5x to 7x week. I began to move away from eating fast food after I read the book "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001) by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser. The book opened my eyes to how this industry operates.0
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lessismoreohio wrote: »I used to eat at fast food restaurants 5x to 7x week. I began to move away from eating fast food after I read the book "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001) by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser. The book opened my eyes to how this industry operates.
I think it should start in school, all health classes should show movies about fast food (some of the ones mentioned earlier). Show kids early on how bad that crap is for them. Basically undo the brainwashing by the companies.0 -
feisty_bucket wrote: »But hey, keep up the McDonald's circle-jerk hate ITT. It's fun to blame The Man for being overweight instead of yourself.
You're not going to find many people who will blame drugs for people's addiction, just like I haven't seen anyone blame fast food for making people fat in this thread. Are there people that do that? Yes, but it doesn't make them right. Yes, food addiction is not as equatable as a heroin addiction, but ignoring the mental addiction that can happen with food is just blatantly wrong. Anything can be addicting if it is allowed to become that way to people. Videogame addictions, sexual addiction, and everything else are real problems. Not chemical dependency problems, but mental addictions that inhibit people from living fulller and enriching lives. The big problem people have is when they are told they have an "addiction" it immediately makes it not their fault. If you become addicted to something it is most definitely your fault. (Discounting children that were not given a choice in the decisions in their home life, etc.)0 -
ShrinkingScientist wrote: »Heroin is addictive
Nicotine is addictive
Food is fuel for our body. It is not addictive. You like it a lot.
First step, remove the thinking that you have an addiction, all that does is make you feel powerless
Plan your day, measure and weigh everything and log it. Read the stickiy threads and read them again. Look at the success stories. Ask yourself if you are ready to change your lifestyle and how much do you want it
I will say from a neuroscience perspective, fast food absolutely is addictive. It triggers many of the same neurotransmitters that the drugs you mentioned trigger. Something being an addiction doesn't make one powerless over it, that's AA's verbiage. It just means there's a physiological craving for it because of the effect in the brain.
OP, I think one of the best things you can do (assuming moderation isn't an option) is to completely cut fast food out of your diet for a while.
It may trigger similar reward pathways as drugs do, but let's be clear. That is not all that is needed to determine an addiction. No one has had to go to detox to prevent the dangerous withdrawal from a Big Mac. No one is selling their bodies to score some fries. Yes people have cravings for certain foods, but that's due to the reinforcement of the behavior and the result of said behavior. It's positive reinforcement in the form of "I eat McDonalds so I feel better".
You know how to break that habit? By replacing it with a healthier one. Such as "I go to the gym and I feel better". Or "I drink some water with lemon and I feel content".0 -
htimpaired wrote: »You know how to break that habit? By replacing it with a healthier one. Such as "I go to the gym and I feel better". Or "I drink some water with lemon and I feel content".
Which is pretty much what people with chemical dependency addictions have to do as well.
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TL:DR the rest of the posts, but just beware when using the work "addiction" in here. People get their ginch in a knot when that work is used for things other than drugs or alcohol.
You probably just need to plan better. Make your lunches, make healthier choices when you do eat out, etc. As with anything else, it's a new habit you need to form.0 -
I suggest a good read of Duhigg's book on habit.
Fast food works as temptation because it's a known reward. You know exactly what you are going to get, which includes a fat and salt "hit".
You need to change the temptation and reward cycle to get a different outcome. Someone suggested having a lunch prepared and ready to go.
Me, I still visit some restaurants where their meals fit in to my calorie budget. I don't go to Carl's Jr. or Red Robins because their burgers are WAAYY over my calorie goal. Hubby and I ordered a burger, no fries the last time we went to Wendy's. It worked just fine.0 -
All good tips. Another suggestion is to plan a day out of the week, say Saturday, when you'll allow yourself that (one) fast-food meal. Sometimes, knowing you will treat yourself at some point helps with self control.0
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Huh. So I go out of state to visit my parents for 2-3 weeks, and eat about 1000 calories of fast food every day off the dollar menu, the cheapest $/calorie/protein ratios. Alternating McDonald's and Taco Bell, to get out of the house. Have a wonderful time, because they have unlimited diet soda and will let me sit for an hour to read and enjoy myself. Such a resource in a town otherwise thin on "third-place" options. Much respect.
Then come back home and, cold turkey, make all my own food for the next six months, because at home I have my own kitchen. Yet my health stats are ideal. I'm so brave, I'm an addiction survivor, how can I do it with that terrible fast food monkey on my back? I should write a memoir and go on Oprah.
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feisty_bucket wrote: »Huh. So I go out of state to visit my parents for 2-3 weeks, and eat about 1000 calories of fast food every day off the dollar menu, the cheapest $/calorie/protein ratios. Alternating McDonald's and Taco Bell, to get out of the house. Have a wonderful time, because they have unlimited diet soda and will let me sit for an hour to read and enjoy myself. Such a resource in a town otherwise thin on "third-place" options. Much respect.
Then come back home and, cold turkey, make all my own food for the next six months, because at home I have my own kitchen. Yet my health stats are ideal. I'm so brave, I'm an addiction survivor, how can I do it with that terrible fast food monkey on my back? I should write a memoir and go on Oprah.
You don't have to be a jerk about it. This site is supposed to be a place where people can come for support, encouragement, and advice, because losing weight/getting healthy is really hard for many people. We should be building each other up and not mocking people. If you have never personally experienced the struggle of trying to cut back on unhealthy habits, that's great for you. OP asked for advice on something they're struggling with. If you don't have any advice to contribute, you don't need to chime in.
OP, I am struggling with fast food cravings too. For me it's T. Bell. Those quesaritos... What has helped me so far is focusing on my goal. When I get a craving, I do whatever it takes to remind myself why I want to lose weight: look at the long list of reasons that I made myself, look at photos of really fit people, window shop for cute clothes that I want to fit into, look at current photos of myself to remember how much I hate how I look, etc. All while chugging water to fill up my tummy. It just takes a few minutes of that and then I realize the short-lived pleasure of the fast food is not even slightly worth it. I also try to remind myself that I always feel disgusting, guilty, and ashamed immediately after I eat junk like that. A big part of it is just willpower, too. You just have to force yourself to make a healthier choice, you'll feel better and it'll be a tiny bit easier to resist the next time.0 -
Forgot to mention, I also do a very similar rewards system to what cizzim described. I set myself small goals each month, and one of my goals for January was not to eat any fast food at all, and I would give myself three "stars" if I did it. It was really, really hard (much harder than I expected, which was kinda disappointing but eye-opening), but I did it. I went the whole month, so on February 1, I ate about 1300 calories (more than my daily calorie budget lol, but I didn't care that day) worth of Taco Bell...and it was disappointing. It tasted good of course, but not as awesome as I had built it up in my mind and I realized the joy I get from eating healthy and staying within my calorie budget feels better than satisfying my craving for junk. So now I think it will be easier to go another month without it. Maybe you can try that. It's probably easier to go without it for shorter periods of time rather than quitting cold turkey. Then, if you reach the end of the month and you find you don't crave it that badly, keep it going! Good luck 0
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I just fit it into my calories. That means not having fries, and going with a smaller burger rather than the big ones.0
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Expatmommy79 wrote: »Log a typical meal from a fast food joint. Easily 1000+.
The. Log an entire day of home prepped meals for the same calories.
The choice should be simple after that.
If I have a full meal at McD's it would be a Big Mac 540 Calories, Side Garden Salad no dressing since I don't like it 40 calories and and coke Zero maybe 5 calories. Total 585 calories. That is far from 1000+. Go to some of the other lower calorie options, ask for half sauce and you can lower it even more.0 -
If you have never personally experienced the struggle of trying to cut back on unhealthy habits
No, I know all about that stuff, I was a fat kid. I thought the OP was being histrionic and demonstrating all-or-nothing thinking. I was trying to bring some perspective and be funny. I'll bow out now.0 -
Speaking from personal experience: when I blamed myself for being overweight, while struggling daily to live a healthier lifestyle I ended up increasing my body weight by 75%. After I started blaming everyone else for the situation and accepting it's an addiction, I dropped 10% of my weight in a mere 4 months (without a stitch of extra exercise), and it's still going down; 2 months ago I added regular daily exercise, because it makes me feel like I'm giving the finger to the people who put me into this situation, so it's fun (despite being difficult and sometimes painful). The thought of eating a big mac makes my insides knot up (though I'm still willing to sell my soul for a bar of chocolate - which is weird in a way, because if I have it, it doesn't bring me that same mental high as it used to).
I'm aware the above may not work for everyone, I might just have a weird mental makeup, but it may work for someone. So if someone manages to turn their life around by believing they're addicted to food - don't break this crutch for them.0
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