How can I stop the craving of junk food?

sandrareyes39750121
sandrareyes39750121 Posts: 11
in Food and Nutrition
I have beed working out hard and eating as clean as possible, but I still have lots of cravings for chips, cookies, ice cream and so for. What can I do to stop the junk food cravings. Any good tips?!?!?!

Replies

  • amandacowan1978
    amandacowan1978 Posts: 50 Member
    How long have you been not eating that stuff? I find the longer I go without eating it, the less I want to eat it. I know it's different for everyone, but perhaps you just need a little more time?

    For what it's worth, I'm a believer in trying to give in to your cravings, just a little bit, to ease the craving. I believe if you deny yourself strong cravings that you're more likely to overindulge later.

    I also don't believe that our bodies crave these foods and that means we're deficient in nutrients, because in my opinion, if that were true we would all crave fruits and vegetables.

    I believe cravings are the results of outside influences (ads, friends, social, etc). So I say give in just a little bit. Try to avoid buying it to keep it at home though.

    I keep the makings for homemade cookies. Cookies are something I crave the most. but when I want them, I actually have to work hard on them. It's not as easy as 'opening the package'. So sometimes, even if I decide to go ahead and mix and bake them, by the time they're ready I've got my feelings under control and just eat one (and I stock up on recipes that allow me to only make like 4-6 so even if I don't stick to just one, I can't go too crazy)
  • volleygirl1980
    volleygirl1980 Posts: 121 Member
    I realized that I could curb my 3 main cravings with healthier/low cal alternatives..

    1. Salty - rice cake with peanut butter on top
    2. Sweet - a cup of mango
    3. Tart - lime yogurt

    And I also try to distinguish when I'm hungry versus wanting a snack or thirsty. If I'm hungry I'll have a lot of healthy nutritious food, if I want a snack I go to my list above, if it's just thirst, a glass of water...

    I think it's important to have healthy go-to snacks to curb cravings that give you the flavour you're looking for...
  • wnbrice
    wnbrice Posts: 244 Member
    I would weed myself off of them. I found that once I completely eliminated MSG from my diet about two weeks later I stopped getting cravings.
  • dmkaczma
    dmkaczma Posts: 1 Member
    Like others have said here, weaning yourself off junk food will gradually change your palate and you'll crave them less. When I have cravings, I try to find a healthy substitute—if I want something sweet, I'll go for fruit; if I want carbs, I go for roasted chickpeas. (Also helpful: searching around healthy food sites, or even Pinterest, for nutritious snacks so you have good places to turn when the cravings come on.) There's charts you can find online that will identify what nutrients your body is craving based on the junk you want. I've seen a few examples of them—here is a link:

    http://healthwellness808.com/?p=1180

    Aside from these, I've used two additional solutions:

    1.) I have ZERO self control, so I just don't keep snacks in the house, because if it is there, I WILL eat it. Occasionally I will get a huge, huge craving and actually go out for a walk to get whatever snack I'm going crazy over, but since this takes physical effort (I'm also lazy), I'm less likely to do it, especially not on any kind of regular basis.

    2.) Preparing healthy stuff in advance. Like way in advance, before being hungry is even on your radar. Because then when you ARE hungry, or craving snacks, you have a good place to turn that you've already prepared for yourself.

    Hope this helps!
  • sandrareyes39750121
    sandrareyes39750121 Posts: 11
    Thank you for all the great tip!s!
  • sandrareyes39750121
    sandrareyes39750121 Posts: 11
    I usually don't eat all the junk food, only once in a blue moon, but know that I need to stay away from them is when I crave them. Funny but true. Lol. =). Thank yo for the good advice!!!
  • TexasBridgett
    TexasBridgett Posts: 84 Member
    Try a sugar detox. I did one after coming off a 3 week vacation where I lived off fast food, junk food, and restaurants. It really helped with the cravings.
    I also have a friend that swears by the Dr. Oz smoothie detox (I think it's a green smoothie detox) which you drink every meal for 2 or 3 days. It's super packed with vitamins and helps really decrease those negative cravings.
  • sandrareyes39750121
    sandrareyes39750121 Posts: 11
    That sounds great! Thank you!

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