Junk: what's easier for you- moderation or none at all?

katielouhoo

most things i have just cut out. (haven't had a french fry or hamburger since i started dieting almost 6 mos ago)
& the saying " an open bag of chips is an empty bag of chips" certainly works for me. (haven't had any of those since august either)

but- i can have one glass of wine with friends and stop. take a couple bites of something sweet & stop (if someone else is eating it and offered me a taste) do not want to tempt getting a dessert, or sweet & trying to stop at one bite without someone there to take it away.

i try to keep a variety of sweet & savory snacks that range from 10 to 100 calories in the house, so i can indulge without messing up my daily intake. i've done ok, so far, but it is very hard sometimes. overall, i just say no to myself ( and go get another glass of water) & maybe try to substitute something i'm allowed to have.

LiterateCulinarian

Moderation. I keep a bag of hershey mini's or kisses and eat one or 2 when I need a fix. I am not a chip eater so I am able to count out a serving when I have a sandwich or something...ice cream I don't care for, BUT when we were in So. FL I WOULD buy a birthday cake from publix "just because" - yea just because they taste so dang good! Fortunately here on the West coast there are not only NO Publix stores, but also NO ONE that makes a decent cake! LOL

lwebsmfp

Since I'm starting out I have my cravings in moderation but I hope to eventually be able to eliminate them. I may not be able to give them all up though. I like ice cream although it's not at the top of my list. I love chocolate and some other candies. I also love baked chips but haven't bought any in weeks and instead bought baby carrots to snack on when I feel that hunger kick in.

LittleSpy

At first I cut my major problem foods out altogether (candy especially, also chips, cookies). I've slowly added a few things (chips, pizza, I had a few cookies over the holidays) back in moderation and I have no problems with them now. I don't even crave candy anymore so that solved that problem -- no moderation needed.

Overall for me I know complete deprivation results in failure. Even when I cut out candy, I allowed myself a sweet substitute I used frozen yogurt and diet soda cupcakes to wean myself off chocolate candy & other baked goods (suffice it to say I can relate to driving to the store at 3am to buy cake). Now 1/2 a cup of frozen yogurt is my usual sweet snack (I try to make sure even my sweet stuff contains valuable nutrition).

ilike2moveit

None. Once I start I can't stop.

spikess

I've never been a big junk food eater. my problem is the size of my portions, so if i fancy something junky I usually just got for it. I'm much better these days, instead of two slices of cake i'll just have the one!

dax58

None at all for me.

When it comes to bad food its all like pringles for me "once you pop you cant stop"

And all the best things tend to be on offer so i get best value saying that will last till next week..... 2 hours later ive eaten the whole lot

HealthyChanges2010

:bigsmile:

When it comes to things you either shouldn't be eating or need to eat less of, do you find it easier to have a little once in a while or to give it up completely?

None at all works best for me:noway:

I'm learning to be ok with that though, because truly the longer I stay away from it the easier it is, to the point I don't even miss it.

One of my goals is to fuel my body in as many healthy ways as possible, junk food has never felt like clean fuel to me even as I ate it, especially when I ate it. . When I've binged in the past I would go through the same exact thing each time, it got old, feelings of failure, guilt, feeling like crap, waking up like crap and realizing what the withdrawals would be like all over again:frown:

Sugar/Salt seem hard to withdraw from, but as it's leaving my body and I'm downing more water my body begins to feel good again, what a huge difference it makes in my energy level after it's out of my system, even my self esteem as I realize I'm growing stronger and making progress and learning I can trust myself.:smooched:

I know refined foods are not healthy and I want healthy to be in my life!! After I'm off it for awhile (sometimes within 3 days) the sugar craving is killed as long as the rest of my foods are healthy, I don't seem to crave the junk..

Then other foods become treats to me, healthy foods such as an apple, some raw almonds,1/2 banana etc. Foods that I know are healthy for me seem to work for me to stay off the simple carbs.

I lose the urge for it, but once on it, it's tough to get out of my mind and I'm liable to binge rather than moderate.

Everyone has a different idea of what a treat is, for me, now it's a handful of almonds and a portion of Raisins tossed in a sandwich bag, but it didn't used to be that way.. So I do eat sweet foods but they aren't 'junk foods' like I've eaten in the past.

Raisins have never caused me to binge!

Great topic, love it...you always come up with some good ones!

thanks:flowerforyou:

CABERGLUND

i have tried to just not have any. I understand the all or nothing mentality, I have NO self control! Went to a banquet the other weekend and sure enuf as soon as they put that chocolate mousse in front of me, I inhaled it. And it was awful! It was dry and gross, but I ate it anyway. The hard thing is that we have some sweets here cause the kids get stuff for Valentine's Day and they are of a normal weight so they can have a sweet a day and it's here with me ALL DAY LONG...whispering my name..but I have not had any. My "bad" recently is that I have started "finishing" their plates which I have not done since the end of December. Portion control has been a big problem!

angel_eyes17

moderation. I have about 3 low cal snacks every day. I have 60 cal puddings and 40 cal fudgesickes. I'm a big 100 cal snack fan. But sometimes I have high cal like cheesecake and chocolate cake, but I just don't have the other stuff that day and I stick to smaller portions of high cal stuff.

chanstriste13

i *must* eat junk food. if i don't, i rebound whatever i'm doing and eat nothing but junk food for months. but i'm pretty good at portioning and all that - a little dab'll do me, so long as i had a little dab yesterday or the day before, you know? if i haven't had my little dab in a few weeks...binge city, here we come!

cmriverside

Great topic, BrendaLee! Keep it going, guys.

It's all or nothing for me. If I start, a 500-800 calories free-for-all will ensue. Sugar "Bye-bye". Chips are okay, the baked ones - but six or seven are all I want.

NO bakery sweets. Bigggggg problem. Even bread or crackers; I have to buy only occasionally. As far as grains go, I try to only eat ones I have to cook myself.

I also stopped with the little low-cal (but still sweetened artificially) pudding cups and other sweet things. I still want several once I start, and then the artificial sweeteners mess with my digestion.

springgrl

I don't totally cut out bad stuff but I will not have bad stuff in bulk in my house. Too much temptation. I can buy a candy bar but not a bag of candy bars. Stuff like ice cream,cakes, and chips are only bought when I know there will be people to share it so I don't eat it all.

I find it easier to focus on what I should be eating than what junk I should avoid. How can I eat enough fruits, grains, veg and get the proper amounts of fiber and protein while limiting sodium? If I focus on questions like that, I tent to eat better and avoid negativity about the process.

dujennifer

Moderation, with the exception of Crack Scout Cookies.

Ditto...they sit in the freezer and taunt me.

dawguw2010

most of the time, its gone altogether. If i eat any of it, I'll just want more and more and more. ALso, if I do it in moderation, I tend to have the "one more bite" attitude- "I only had a bit, a bit more won't kill me." Then I end up eating the whole bag/box/container and that's that. Moderation is a slippery slope for me, so I tend to just avoid buying junk foods. When I do buy them though, I buy them one at a time - per week/every two weeks, depending on how many servings and how bad it is- and tell myself that it has to last for x days b.c that's all I get until then. Thats when moderation usually works. But if I have access to a large quantity or a variety, moderation gone. Also, my boyfriend has no idea what moderation means, so he tends to eat as much whatever whenever he wants, and seeing him do that its hard for me to just have two bites and then be done.

maurierose

It's definitely moderation for me - and mostly "planned" into my daily cals - if I skip it completely I feel like I'm missing out. :laugh: Works much better for me to just have a little here and there, and as the only person in a home of 5 who is watching my foods, sometimes that gets interesting. :noway: :bigsmile:

lvfunandfit

I can eat it now and then if it's not in my house. I can't have a batch of homemade cookies sitting there and me not eat 5 or 6 in a day. BUT, I can go to a birthday party or a BBQ and have just a little at events like that. Once it's out of site it's basically out of mind. I really wish they'd get rid of the vending machine here at school! I never craved chocolate until I had babies. I have to make sure not to have any money on me when I go to the teacher's lounge.

Nich0le

I have a horrible sweet tooth, no ice cream tooth at night and find that if it isn't in the house I will get past it. I have substituted See's lollipops because they take time to eat and are sweet but only 80 calories.

I have to keep the Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar crunch far far away though because for me that pint is a serving

My other thoughts on this is if it isn't healthy I try not to keep it in the house, I will take the kids for an ice cream cone or sno cone or something like that every now and then because no one in the house NEEDS oreos or chips or whatever. Stock up on fruit and yogurt and nuts and my kids will have that instead of junk most of the time.

Nikiki

I'm 50/50 I have gotten myself to the point that I wont eat something if its not worth it: ex: palmers chocolates (you know they do all the holiday stuff like bunnies & chocolate eggs or those eyeball things at holloween?) its not good. I mean its chocolate, but there's a million better brands out there that taste waaaaay better. therefor palmers chocolate is not worth it and I can pass it up. Same with french fries: 5 guys fries are waaaaaay better than McDonalds or Wendy's or BK fries, so I wont waste my time on those. HOWEVER I will eat an entire order of 5 guys french fries in one sitting. Also I'll devour a pint of ben & jerry's Phish Food icecream because it is SOOOO worth it.

I am not willing to entirely deny myself my favorite foods because they're high calorie so I make concessions. There's a 5 guys fries right across the street from the Red Cross that I donate blood at, I've heard that your body uses up about 600 calories replacing the blood donated so once every 56 days I get fries.

Also I have found that knowing I would get a treat later on in the day makes it easier for me to say no to the treat in front of my face, so i plan in a treat for the evening like those skinny cow icecream bars (90 calories), or a chuoa choco-pod (55 calories or 1 ww point!) both are delicious and definately worth it and half the time I dont even eat the evening snack.

BrendaLee

My other thoughts on this is if it isn't healthy I try not to keep it in the house, I will take the kids for an ice cream cone or sno cone or something like that every now and then because no one in the house NEEDS oreos or chips or whatever.

I agree, that's the way to do it. I don't believe in keeping junk in the house for kids. Parents think they're depriving their kids if they don't, but they're really doing them a big favor.

It's much more special for them if they don't have it all the time, and they learn early that junk food isn't a part of a daily diet- it's a treat to have once in a while. I wish I had learned that!

HealthyChanges2010

bump