What ONE food habit... would you go back in time to stop.

OutsideCreativ
OutsideCreativ Posts: 143 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I know it's never just one particular food, activity or lack thereof that contribute to weight gain... but what ONE food habit do you look back on, pinpoint it's beginning and wish you could go back in time to stop?

For me... 12th grade, I developed a habit of eating a pack of Pop Tarts or an Otis Spunkemeyer Bananna Nut Muffin... EVERY DAY during the 3rd hour announcements, despite having had before school and looking ahead to lunch at 10:30am. So unnecessary-- I look back now and wonder whatever was going through my head.
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Replies

  • Heather1899
    Heather1899 Posts: 179 Member
    My bad relationship with food began as a kid. We had no junk food in the cupboard of the origional house. There was a big....chest? in the basement. It was a wooden thing that you could put stuff in. Dad would put junk food and snacks in it (of course anything that didn't need refrigerated) and it....LOCKED!!!
    These foods were only for him! He would pack his lunch to take to work and put that food in his lunch box but otherwise this food was LOCKED and forbidden almost.
    If you were good, you might get a cookie or a cracker or whatever. But I don't remember it happening often.
    Around 4th grade, mom started getting smart. she started buying her own food for us separate and made us our own version of his chest in my sister's old room. Whenever he left for work, then we would snack.
    I think this is where my bad habits started. I would think I might not get anything to snack on for a few days if he didnt work while I was out of school...so I would always binge on that food!! Even if we had just eaten dinner, even 9 pm....
    I kind of wish that we never locked food up in the beginning.
  • CharRicho
    CharRicho Posts: 389 Member
    Always drinking juice instead of water. SO unhealthy, and led to a crazy sugar addiction. I almost never have it now, but I still have to treat myself every once in awhile because I start to crave it! Just wish I'd never been drinking so much of it in the first place.
  • iheartpolkadots
    iheartpolkadots Posts: 20
    I would change my rewarding myself with food. There were so many days where i had a stressful day so i would order pizza, get chinese, or drink a bottle of wine (or maybe all 3).
  • KathrynCatlady
    KathrynCatlady Posts: 86 Member
    My bad habit of bringing the whole container of something to the couch or computer, and sit there mindlessly eating.

    Now I portion out whatever I should eat, and stop when the portion is eaten (most) of the time.
  • LuvHinesWard86
    LuvHinesWard86 Posts: 104 Member
    Snack before bed. Started when I was a young kid - normally ice cream. UGH!
  • ajs03
    ajs03 Posts: 32
    Cookies have been my food addiction since I was little. I still have a hard time passing up a cookie.
  • IsleEsme
    IsleEsme Posts: 175 Member
    eating at night. I'm fine all day and then 8pm hits and BAM-the pantry is calling my name! Stupid pantry!
  • verdancyhime
    verdancyhime Posts: 237 Member
    I would change my rewarding myself with food. There were so many days where i had a stressful day so i would order pizza, get chinese, or drink a bottle of wine (or maybe all 3).

    This. The problem is I am not really sure what to replace this habit with- I am the only one in my house who cooks. I am broke but get food stamps so I can afford crappy food at the end of the day but not to go out or do many other "special" things. I don't even have a bath tub, although I haven't had one for 5 years and at this point taking a long, hot bath would be the most epic thing ever.

    Exercise relieves stress but a really stressful day often involves more physical effort at work than I think it will and I'm too exhausted to think which is why I just eat whatever easy to cook junk-y food is available. Cooking ahead is out, too, because my kitchen is tiny and I don't own a nukebox.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    Being allowed seconds for "hot lunch" at school during 5th and 6th grade. It was the beginning.
  • bluskies01
    bluskies01 Posts: 72 Member
    Thinking it was okay to have soda all the time...I started drinking it when I was a kid and my parents didn't care. Definitely eating mindlessly in front of the TV or computer. I see my son doing the same thing and these last few weeks I've been making him have all snacks at the table. Also just depending on food in general when I'm emotional; angry, sad, even happy food was a reward. Sigh. I still have a long way to go...
  • Superchas
    Superchas Posts: 129 Member
    Cereal
    I once was asked by a dietician how many Weetabix , the UK number 1 cereal, I would eat at breakfast
    I knew she wanted me to say two I could not say there was no limit but was thinking twelve for breakfast why bother her with all the other times I might eat them like at night
    So I pitched her eight - wrong answer as that is broadly all the carbs anybody needs in a day

    I managed to stop eating bread and cereal finally in April 2012 as a way of shifting from my first plateau and now reward myself once a month if I can not resist so guess this has now stopped
  • newmein2013
    newmein2013 Posts: 674 Member
    Bingeing on chewy chocolatey stuff when I'm stressed. I have no idea when it started and I'm just now becoming aware of it as I'm paying closer attention to my eating patterns & behavior. It must go way back to high school b/c snickers bars have always been my favorite & I was seriously addicted to them during my first pregnancy at 21. It's really bad too. There's no stopping me when I get like that. I have a theory I'm going to test out the next time I get super stressed.... I'm going to take one of my chocolate peanut butter protein bars & cut it into many, many precise tiny pieces & pop them in my mouth like I would with chocolate covered raspberries. I think this will actually work in tricking my mind.
  • raeleek
    raeleek Posts: 414 Member
    Not being in tune with my body on what full and comfortable was rather than full and stuffed!
  • angelams1019
    angelams1019 Posts: 1,102 Member
    Emotional eating. I remember the FIRST time I ate to feed my emotions. I was in the 4th grade and my mom didn't let me go to my friends house. I was upset and ate a pickle (Random, I know lol Two completely separate things)...and then I ate another....and then another....Until the whole jar was gone, and I felt better. I've been using food to comfort me ever since.
  • orangelobster
    orangelobster Posts: 151
    Eating too fast - not savouring the moment. A habit I'm still working on fixing today.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    Oh this is good! I wouldnt have let my fear of ridicule stop my from doing sports in high school. I would have tried out for the swim team. I would have moved in with my Grandma. Learned that I didnt have to gorge on food because food would have been in the house. I would have taken my lunch to school everyday not waited until the end of the day. I would have got counseling for my emotional issues. I wouldnt have hidden and binged on food. I wouldnt have eaten until it hurt. I could go on and on.

    God, I wish I could go back in time. Oh well, if wishes were horses...sigh.
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    ''it doesn't matter because...' itis....

    - it doesn't matter because i've already eaten so much crap today that a bit extra won't hurt
    - it doesn't matter because i've had such a stressful day that I deserve it (this ones still valid, but not when you're having a stressful YEAR, just the odd day'
    - it doesn't matter because i'm not skinny and so who cares if i put on another kg?
    - it doesn't matter, because my friend is eating it and SHE'S thin so it must be okay
    - it doesn't matter, because I want it and it will make me feel better ...

    and so on.
  • michaela4910
    michaela4910 Posts: 544 Member
    Drinking soda and eating late at night.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    RUSHED EATING. Eating fast after having my second kid. To keep up with him to be "Ready" in case he cried or anything. For some reason I was like ON DUTY all the time with him, maybe cause he was in the NICU after being born I felt like I had to be ready for anything and plus I was nursing so I just barely allowed myself time to eat. I nursed with the first one, but the second one seemed more fragile or vulnerable it had me on eggshells.

    As he got older and mobile I continued this habit to be ready to catch him or predict accidents. He seriously was more active than my 1st kid but I don't think I needed to start out this way and it wouldn't have gotten so out of hand. There was a time when he was about 3 when hubby asked me, "did you even taste that?" and that's the first time I realized I was doing it. "why HAVE you been doing that lately?" he asked and it all came out. I got over it during the following year as he outgrew his terrible two's but I wish I'd never gotten in the habit of rushed eating because I think I could have lost some of the baby weight naturally if I hadn't eaten that way for so long. I think I'd have about half the weight to lose right now than I currently do.
  • robeyb1212
    robeyb1212 Posts: 1
    I spent two years working in a bakery, putting myself through college. Then I changed jobs and worked in a gourmet restaurant for 6 years before graduation. That's 8 years surrounded by rich, fatty unhealthy food. I acquired a love for anything rich, and sugary or covered in sauce. I've been working on breaking this habitual love fest with food for over 30 years now. It's still a struggle from time to time, but I've got a handle on control. My secret is if I don't log it, I don't eat it. My food diary keeps me accountable for what I eat, and it works for me.
  • verdancyhime
    verdancyhime Posts: 237 Member
    I spent two years working in a bakery, putting myself through college. Then I changed jobs and worked in a gourmet restaurant for 6 years before graduation. That's 8 years surrounded by rich, fatty unhealthy food. I acquired a love for anything rich, and sugary or covered in sauce. I've been working on breaking this habitual love fest with food for over 30 years now. It's still a struggle from time to time, but I've got a handle on control. My secret is if I don't log it, I don't eat it. My food diary keeps me accountable for what I eat, and it works for me.

    I spent nearly three working as a finisher and LOST weight from so much activity. Plus when you're working with food you don't actually see it as something that goes into your mouth, it's a task that needs to be done. Might be different if you were the one coming up with the recipes, though.
  • mmaoz
    mmaoz Posts: 6 Member
    RUSHED EATING. Eating fast after having my second kid. To keep up with him to be "Ready" in case he cried or anything. For some reason I was like ON DUTY all the time with him, maybe cause he was in the NICU after being born I felt like I had to be ready for anything and plus I was nursing so I just barely allowed myself time to eat. I nursed with the first one, but the second one seemed more fragile or vulnerable it had me on eggshells.

    As he got older and mobile I continued this habit to be ready to catch him or predict accidents. He seriously was more active than my 1st kid but I don't think I needed to start out this way and it wouldn't have gotten so out of hand. There was a time when he was about 3 when hubby asked me, "did you even taste that?" and that's the first time I realized I was doing it. "why HAVE you been doing that lately?" he asked and it all came out. I got over it during the following year as he outgrew his terrible two's but I wish I'd never gotten in the habit of rushed eating because I think I could have lost some of the baby weight naturally if I hadn't eaten that way for so long. I think I'd have about half the weight to lose right now than I currently do.

    I don't understand how eating fast would result in more weight gain. It's impossible.
  • kmsairam
    kmsairam Posts: 317 Member
    Eating at night. Correction: eating like a pig at night.
  • PapaverSomniferum
    PapaverSomniferum Posts: 2,670 Member
    I would have never developed my desire to have these massive portion sizes!

    Why am I never satisfied on something reasonable? It's always got to be huge or I'll just crave more, even if I'm not actually hungry.

    That habit started some time in my early teens. I should have developed a fitness habit instead.
  • dawnna76
    dawnna76 Posts: 987 Member
    I spent two years working in a bakery, putting myself through college. Then I changed jobs and worked in a gourmet restaurant for 6 years before graduation. That's 8 years surrounded by rich, fatty unhealthy food. I acquired a love for anything rich, and sugary or covered in sauce. I've been working on breaking this habitual love fest with food for over 30 years now. It's still a struggle from time to time, but I've got a handle on control. My secret is if I don't log it, I don't eat it. My food diary keeps me accountable for what I eat, and it works for me.

    I am a cake decorator and a baker, I work around this stuff everyday. However I have that part of my diet under control. My biggest past pitfall was soda. My mom drank tab (now diet coke) like a fish drinks water. It was the staple liquid in our home. My mom also was not a cook ( she nice burned a pan of boiling water) so I never learned to eat well. It was all hot dish and smothered and covered type stuff. Midwest meat and potatoes diet. Life is different now. I reached my first goal of 50 lost and am know hooding to cross the finish line this year.


    Oh and I do love my mom, so I am not picking on her in tHis post. She is my best friend and confidant now, just stating that I learned from I her who learned from her mother before her.
  • RickGrey4
    RickGrey4 Posts: 2
    Discovering Chick-Fil-A's spicy chicken sandwich! And of course I needed the associated fries and Coke to cool down my tongue!
  • 1987RFS
    1987RFS Posts: 57 Member
    I really regret skipping breakfast for pretty much all of my teenage and young adult years.
  • tsikkz
    tsikkz Posts: 404 Member
    I was overweight my whole life, and as a kid I would come home from school and eat like 4 slices of bread everyday before dinner
  • hulahooper17
    hulahooper17 Posts: 23
    Starting in middle school, I would immediately eat a huge snack after school. We're talking pasta, ice cream, popcorn,cereal, muffins, etc. Then after this 3 PM gorge, I would eat a full dinner. My rationale was that I had worked so hard all day and I was so hungry. When I started logging, I realized how many extra calories were being consumed needlessly and hurriedly. It was ridiculous how much crap I ate in a 2o minute span.I still have this innate craving for food driving home from school, but I stop it by eating a healthy breakfast and lunch and finding something active to do in the afternoons.
  • verdancyhime
    verdancyhime Posts: 237 Member
    RUSHED EATING. Eating fast after having my second kid. To keep up with him to be "Ready" in case he cried or anything. For some reason I was like ON DUTY all the time with him, maybe cause he was in the NICU after being born I felt like I had to be ready for anything and plus I was nursing so I just barely allowed myself time to eat. I nursed with the first one, but the second one seemed more fragile or vulnerable it had me on eggshells.

    As he got older and mobile I continued this habit to be ready to catch him or predict accidents. He seriously was more active than my 1st kid but I don't think I needed to start out this way and it wouldn't have gotten so out of hand. There was a time when he was about 3 when hubby asked me, "did you even taste that?" and that's the first time I realized I was doing it. "why HAVE you been doing that lately?" he asked and it all came out. I got over it during the following year as he outgrew his terrible two's but I wish I'd never gotten in the habit of rushed eating because I think I could have lost some of the baby weight naturally if I hadn't eaten that way for so long. I think I'd have about half the weight to lose right now than I currently do.

    I don't understand how eating fast would result in more weight gain. It's impossible.

    depends on if you're cooking what you shove in your face or not.

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