do you find it necessary to keep unhealthy snacks out of the house to stick to eating healthy?

undohoney

can you cope with having snacks in your house and if you do, how do you have the will power? what sort of things do you say to yourself?

if you have to have unhealthy snacks out of the house, do you find it a successful way to curve cravings and stop over snacking?

MarieRosekenji85

I find it easier to keep certain unhealthy things out of the house. Ie. soda, chips, cookies. I'm lactose intolerant so no dairy, ice cream, milk. I can't stomach red meat or to much chocolate either. It really depends on the individual and what works best for them. I'm a carb junkie so my struggle is not over indulging on pasta and bread. I just find myself learning to portion control and fit them into my calorie needs for the day.

AlyssaP1987

I eat keto but have snacks for the kiddos (including my favorite chips and cookies) but I don't eat them. You have to want it more than your desire to binge eat.

sardelsa

I have all kinds of treats in my house. I personally don't get tempted by things not in my plan for that day, and if I do find myself wanting them I either keep them out of sight or I freeze them. Then I have them on a day where I have extra calories.

kimny72

I still eat things that you would probably consider "unhealthy snacks" I just log them and make sure they fit my calories. I get plenty of nutrition in my meals.

If there are specific foods you have trouble controlling yourself with, it's probably a good idea to keep them out of the house or maybe just buy a single serving when the mood strikes.

Also, make sure you aren't eating an aggressively low amount of calories. Under eating is sometimes the cause of a lack of self control, especially towards the end of the day.

I found prelogging solved all kinds of problems for me. Get into the habit of logging a food before you eat it. Seeing what it will do to your numbers can help you put on the brakes or see how this one choice can fit into the big picture.

Anna022119

No choice as I have teenagers in the house.
Logging my food and willpower will have to do.

cwolfman13

I look at my diet as a whole and don't break it down to eating 100% healthy or not. My nutrition is pretty on point...I don't see anything wrong with having a cookie for desert or a candy bar here and there. I crave healthy, nutritious foods more than I do "junk" food...but I do like having a desert.

JeromeBarry1

I live with three adult women. We have 4 different snack strategies. One hides hers in a closet. One manages hers in her bedroom. One (me) manages his in the pantry, fails, then does gobs of cardio to recover. One, Mrs, doesn't have a problem with snacks. Her problem is sugary fizzy Coke. The recent development of Coke Zero has, for the first time in her 6 decades of life, given her an opportunity to reduce her sugar intake.

njitaliana

I plan my meals and snacks the week before. Then I buy only what I am going to eat on my plan. Then I log it all. And then I only eat what my food diary says to eat. It works well for me.

AustinRuadhain

When I got started on this journey, I had a talk with my family about some foods I needed out of the house for a while. I talked to everyone about how very important it is to get healthy, and then explained that I needed to keep my trigger foods (specific list) out of the house for a while. hey were great about it. Months later, I have gotten to where I can relate to those as "not my food," and they can be back in the house without my needing to expend willpower to not eat them.

pinuplove

Since I live with other people (all of whom have higher calorie needs than me) it's unreasonable for me to expect them to forgo their treats. What I find works best is keeping the treats they like but I'm indifferent to, and keeping a stock of individually portioned treats I can easily fit into my day so as not to feel deprived.

lemurcat2

I don't buy junk food (or whatever term we want to use) I don't eat. I don't really snack, and I'm not a potato chip fan, so I don't have those at home. I don't buy candy (which I don't care about much) except for giving out at Halloween. I don't like packaged cookies, so don't buy them, and if I (rarely) bake some kind of dessert it's for a specific purpose (cookie exchange, dinner party, holiday meal) and I'll not make lots of leftovers since that's the kind of thing I have low self-control with.

If someone else in my house buys the former things, I mostly think of them as not my food. There are junk food options at work all the time and I see that as a place of more temptation, but mostly avoid them by thinking that I don't snack.

For some reason (because it's in the freezer), I seem to be okay with keeping ice cream around and will do that without a problem.

If you have trouble controlling yourself having tempting treats around I'd limit it if you can. If you cannot, my thoughts are:

Keep it out of sight (in the cabinet is better than seeing it all the time)

Have a plan -- a set meal pattern and plan for what you will eat at meals. If you want, try including moderate amounts of the hard-to-control treat, but don't just grab it with the intent to have a little, that doesn't work for me at all. Some people do well just grazing, but for me it's important to eat at planned regular meals.

If the stuff is at your house, think of it as your spouse's or kid's or mom's or roommate's food, whatever applies. Maybe buy your own more "on plan" options and think of that as yours -- at least if you can get buy in from others in the house.

Lillymoo01

As I have others in the house that don't eat as I do there are all sorts of things in the house but I am no longer tempted by them. I have decided that no foods are unhealthy or off limits in moderation but I do ask myself if the enjoyment of eating that particular food is worth the calories it contains. If the answer is no then I actually stop craving it. If the answer is yes I work out how to fit it into my day (or the next). This requires prelogging everything first thing in the morning and making the necessary adjustments as the food is properly weighed.
I also have my own stash of treats, all with various calories that I can easily fit into my day.

Safari_Gal

If it’s not on my diet - it’s not in my house! ☺️

JBanx256

No. In a way I wish I could, but I'm not going to restrict what my husband & kiddo eat.

estherdragonbat

I keep snacks around that I can moderate. So, no to potato chips, but if I want something salty, then roasted chick peas, Simple Protein "chips", or popcorn. I buy ice cream treats that come individually wrapped instead of a tub (it's often hard to find gram weights on scoops where I am; everything's in mls) or an occasional single-serve cup from Baskin-Robbins. Fiber One bars. Dry cereal

There are foods I find easier to moderate now than I did starting out, and I'll portion them out when I want them and have room. Stuff I don't trust myself around I don't keep around.

whatalazyidiot

I used to think that would help, but it never really did. Weirdly enough, I find it easier knowing I *could* have them if i wanted, but in moderation. When I used to say NO to stuff, it messed with my head, and the cravings got worse. Once you remove "bad" and "good" labels from food, it loses a lot of its power.

missiontofitness

No; my partner is a gym rat, and I swear food goes through him without having any calories absorbed. There are a ton of snacks/sweets in the house for when he stays over. I used to have a lot of trouble with having snack foods in the house, but I've gotten a lot better about it. Logging my calories has helped, as has having willpower.

Running2Fit

Not really. It is nice not to have the temptation around though. I usually just buy snack foods for my husband that he likes but I don't really care for.

JohnnytotheB

I can't keep it in the house. I don't buy it unless if it's a snack size and it's for immediate consumption. If it's there I probably will eat it. I believe I have a obsession with the stuff. I'm not successful or never was keeping it in the house and having willpower.

anwade01

Stocking up on my fav treats is a no-no for me. When I’m lacking on willpower, it doesn’t help to have numerous servings of my FAVORITE treats readily available. However, having a box of snacks that I just consider “okay” doesn’t get me off track. This is because I don’t like them enough to overindulge lol.