Why can't I stop eating rubbish?
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siobhanalana23
Posts: 1 Member
Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
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Replies
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Do you like fruit?2
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What foods do you call rubbish?4
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siobhanalana23 wrote: »Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
Do you have a medical reason to need to avoid sugary things?7 -
Plan your day to cover your nutritional needs then spend any spare cals on sugary things.
Exercise cals can be always useful for this
Cheers, h.11 -
siobhanalana23 wrote: »Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
I had good success with planning my meals to be balanced across my macro needs. (some of each fat, carb, protein).
if I have a meal that is heavy on one of the macro groups, I'm more likely to find myself craving a something or other within an hour.
That's my experience; I've read many different posts answering this kind of question, and there are a lot of different tricks people use to help themselves.
it's really an individual solution, although it can certainly look alot like what worked for someone else.
Nothing works in a single day, and most habit changes can take a month or more to settle in.
good luck to you!2 -
Can you create some structure? What works for me is to get into the habit of only eating at mealtimes (however that is defined for you), and once I'm used to that I stop really thinking about in between meal snacks (if I want to eat I just remind myself that it's coming up whenever). I also save a little room for an after dinner treat of some sort, and eat it pretty soon after dinner, as not being hungry I am less likely to overindulge. If there are foods that are harder to control than others, I'd take a break from them for a while and not have them in the house, if possible.
What doesn't work for me, especially if I'm just getting back into watching what I eat (or just starting out) is to grab a pint of ice cream and tell myself I will just have a little. If I measure out a small amount and put it away, and tell myself if I want more there's tomorrow, then it works. Similarly, if there is food out at work (peanut m&ms or actually good baked goods which sometimes are there), I generally don't start eating it since I know I'll be going past all the time and want more. I especially don't if I'm hungry -- if I decide to have a little of something special I do it right after lunch and log it.2 -
What do you consider rubbish, and what do you consider healthy? Your issue may be that you are two narrowly defining what "healthy" is. There's a lot more out there that's healthy than kale and quinoa salads. You can have rich, flavorful meals that still meet your calorie targets and have balanced nutrition. You shouldn't have to sacrifice your taste buds to maintain a healthy lifestyle.4
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Eating sugary things leads me to wanting to eat more sugary things. I get around that craving by eating a piece of fruit as dessert and by eating enough in general.
If I have a well-balanced meal twice a day I am less likely to crave sweet things. I make sure to get enough protein, fats and vegetables.3 -
You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!8 -
Or as Eric Helms says, "Once our nutritional needs are met, we don't get extra credit for consuming more nutritious food".You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!
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siobhanalana23 wrote: »Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
Falling in line right behind you. This time of year is always difficult to fight cravings because the temptation is everywhere.0 -
Sweets can fit into an otherwise healthful diet. I have something sweet almost every night for desert...it doesn't undo all of my other nutrition for the day. It's not an all or nothing thing and that's what it sounds like you are mentally. That mentality generally doesn't get one very far because it's pretty much humanly impossible to be on "plan" 100% of the time...so you plan should maybe include some sweet treats in moderation.
Also, fruit is nice and sweet.5 -
cmriverside wrote: »Eating sugary things leads me to wanting to eat more sugary things. I get around that craving by eating a piece of fruit as dessert and by eating enough in general.
If I have a well-balanced meal twice a day I am less likely to crave sweet things. I make sure to get enough protein, fats and vegetables.
Yup, my sugar cravings went away when I upped fruit and focused on getting more protein. (Getting enough fat has never been an issue for me.)
I think my brain misinterprets "more protein" as "more sugar" so I can eat and eat and eat sugary foods and never feel satisfied, because what I really want is protein.1 -
siobhanalana23 wrote: »Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
Visiting my mother for the weekend.
Stocks up on ice cream, cookies, cheeses chips... 🐖been here less than 24 hours and my MFP log is at like -1500 for day already 🤦♂️2 -
For me the fruit suggestion doesn’t work AT ALL. Yep I do love fruit as well as sweets but let’s be honest... is an apple the same
thing as a brownie? I’ll eat the apple, and still want a brownie.. and end up feeling dissatisfied because I didn’t want an apple I wanted a brownie lol. I tried cutting out processed sugars for a month, I didn’t cheat, I just ate fruits and it didn’t curb my appetite for cookies at all. What works for me is eating tasty treats in moderation, I fit things into my daily calorie allowance. And if I want a 800 blizzard from DQ I’m not going to starve myself for it... just go for a run and then treat myself after or bank some calories during the week for it 😋.
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Or as Eric Helms says, "Once our nutritional needs are met, we don't get extra credit for consuming more nutritious food".You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!
Very true, but for people on lower calorie diets, the calories needed to meet nutritional needs take up a larger % of total calories. There may still be some calories left for "low nutrient/less nutritious foods" but maybe not as many as some people would hope for.2 -
I always thought Eric Helms was wrong for saying that. How can you tell that your nutritional needs are met? It's hard if not impossible to consume in one day 100% of the rda of all your essential vitamins and minerals, fatty and amino acids and that was created by governments to stop debilitating diseases like rickets, pellagra, beri beri, scurvy, etc. not for optimal health. If you aren't watching your micro-nutrients, you are probably working on getting a deficiency. I guess you can take a multivitamin but real food helps the body more.
Or as Eric Helms says, "Once our nutritional needs are met, we don't get extra credit for consuming more nutritious food".You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!
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I disagree The Devastator - I think is is extremely unlikely that anyone eating a half decent balanced diet is going to get scurvy or beriberi or pellagra or rickets ( biggest issue for rickets is not getting enough sunlight.).
I think most people IRL do not watch their micronutrient intake at all - they just try to eat a reasonably balanced diet - and they do not all have these deficiency diseases at all.
You post seems unneccesary catastrophising to me.12 -
I know a lot of people are not fond of them, but I really like standbys like Halo Top, Fibre One Brownies, Quest Bars etc as a healthier fallback. My sweet tooth is probably never going away, but I can at least ameliorate it with replacements like these.1
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