Done with being a "healthy" junk food junkie...

nisharae

So,

I have been on this journey since late december and am not doing tooo terribly bad.... However, I realized as I've really upped my workouts lately and am really enjoying becoming what some would consider "fit" and maybe even "athletic" that as hard as Im working at the gym, my diet is totally sabatoging all I am trying to do.

While in the past few weeks I have stayed in my calorie range most of the food I have consumed are low calorie junk foods.. or "healthy" junk foods.... sugar free pudding, frozen yogurt, and alot of real suggary treats that I could fit in because I had extra calories because I wasn't eating real nutritional food..Eating alot of frozen meals, and protein bars..... Over the past couple of days I have realized just how my efforts in the gym, and how the food im shoving in my mouth are doing two totally different things.

So tommarro Im going shopping for real food, good fuel for my body, and throwing out alot of my "healthy alternatives" that keep me stuck in a world of artificial sugar, and unhealthy cravings. I guess I just needed to share, now dont get me wrong if you eat alot of these "healthy" alternatives... Im not telling you what to or not to do because, you are your own person, Im just saying for me... I can feel my body crying, and my mind telling me Im being counter productive... If I really want to be this fit healthy, athletic person I better start eating like it too and not just shoving the most convenient craving buster in my mouth.

So I guess with that said, if anyone else is at this place, or has any really truly healthy snack ideas to let me know as I'll need them.... LOL.. This isn't saying that I wont have chocolate cake once in a while, but that my daily diet will reflect the way I want to live, and my body to function.

Im about half way to my goal, and am determined to get through this other half and being really truly healthy doing it.... Sometimes eating real food is worth the calories that the processed versions just doesn't offer.... yeah.

So thanks for listening all.. If you have any tips, advice, recipies, or just wanna friend me and give/ or get some support on this journey Im up for it... Thanks!

God Bless,
Tanisha

xraychick77

try to stay away from the 'i need snacks' mentality. i dont see food in this way. i see food as a tool. or a fuel source to be used to better my body and healthy. I eat apples, bananas, pears, mangos etc as my 'snack' food at work. I do eat yogurt, but its fat free greek. it does have a lot of sugars in it, but i'm not worried about that. i eat it for the protein. nuts are good snacks but higher in calories. pop corn is good for snacks. drink lots of water to help you feel full so you dont feel the need to snack. and processed foods tend to have more calories..of course i am a vegetarian, so my real food doesnt have much calories in them.

sugarbeans

congrats on trying to cut out the "healthy" junk food and moving on to real food. It takes a lot to look back at your food diary and realize some of the faults. I find that a lot of people look at the "healthy" junk food as healthy not realizing how bad it might be. I used to think fat free, sugar free and frozen dinner's (smart ones) weren't that bad, and then I started MFP and I too realized that these healthy choices are not as healthy as I thought. First off fat free is full of chemicals for the most part, same with the sugar free (a huge % of them) and then there are the frozen dinner's. The healthy ones that are 160 cal a box but when you read the label they are loaded with sodium. (wow rant sorry). So good on you.

As for healthy snacks.

I have a fast paced, physical job so I usually try to include protein into my snacks. I usually pack freshly cut up vegtables, fruit, I will have a cloverleaf 85g can of tuna usually flavored. If I don't feel like tuna then I will either have half a chicken breast, or 15 almonds.

I must commend you for your attitude it's great!!!! Instead of denying yourself chocolate cake you know that there will be days where you need a slice and that there is nothing wrong with that. Congrats on being half way to reaching your goal.

OBXGal

Good for you for realizing that you need to make and change and tackling it! I'm a HUGE snacker as well...and have been a slave to processed foods for years. Even after reviewing my daily food intake now I feel like I'm eating too much processed foods. The big thing for me is to plan!!! Plan for snacks..healthy snacks, nuts, fruit, veggies, etc. that can be packed up easily and keep them with you. Grabbing a granola bar is easy, but full of crap that we don't need.

Check out the recipe section on here..I'm craving sweets BIG TIME right now so I found a recipe for ice cream (made from soy milk) and a pineapple angel food cupcake recipe - which I made tonight and ate two cupcakes. (again processed, but helped with the craving and I didn't grab the jar of nutella out of the cabinet haha!)

I'm now trying to eat when I'm hungry, not out of boredom, etc. It's working! And definitely drink tons of water.

Good luck and let us know if we can help!

hchristine

I was the same way...I would do Weight Watchers and my whole diet consisted of how many snacks I could fit in to my allotted points . I have come a long way, but my diet still needs work!

kwardklinck

I get what you're saying. I still love my diet sodas (but I've cut back). I'm bad about eating the frozen "healthy" entrees for lunch. They're yummy and easy to just grab for work. I do have my little "diet" treat at night. I am good about taking in fresh milk, eggs, veggies, and fruits though. I'd say I balance the "junk" with the actual healthy food. I know I could do better but I'm happy with what I'm doing for the moment.

canaussie

I'm with you... I stay away from as much processed food as I can. My snack are usually: nuts, fruit, homemade tortilla chips, popcorn, veggies, cheese.... I make 99% of my meals from scratch and then put them in the freezer. Then when I need food to take to work it is ready to go... my faves are indian food and soups. I feel so much better eating this way instead of all the processed diet "food". Good luck, I am sure you will feel so much beter.