Fast Food Addiction

research whats in it....
*shudders* 10 times a week? do you even have food in your house? even 'healthy alternatives' from fast food are crap. m Mcdonalds bread has the same chemicals as a yoga mat. their french fries have 14+ ingredients- all chemicals. watch Fat sick and nearly dead on netflix and other documentaries. You overcome one addiction, replacing it with fast food (in my opinion) is WORSE then smoking cigs haha. I quit eating out and eat organic & natural (usually one ingredient pure foods) but still smoke. The answer is simple, just don't allow yourself to pull into a fast food place. as an adult you are responsible for your actions, you had enough will power to quit smoking, now identify your problem here and fix it. take control of your own life and make alternatives to fast food.

track your foods before you eat if you have to go out. I would probably read all the ingredients first too so it would sicken me enough that I wouldn't want it anymore.

Saying "Try to do that or not to do that" will not help. It seems like some kind of addiction (like sugar, coffee and etc.). I just recommend to try Paul Mckenna and his stuff. About 80 percents of people helped his videos and self hypnosis. I had enormous craving for ice cream and sugar, I tried "I Can Make You Thin" (I am not sure this is exact title) video sessions. I can not say, that I definitely do not eat sugar now, but somehow I felt more power to chose what I put in my stomach. Google about him and about videos. You can download all his material.

First post on this website advertising a product...seems legit.

Thanks everyone, at least the positive people. It's hard when you juggle work, publishing research, teaching two classes, and going to school at the same time, all while trying to maintain a life at home. When your schedule is literally booked from 7am to 8pm Monday through Friday, while devoting almost all weekend to readings, I guess it's easy to let things slip. Summers are always tough because it's when my academic career path really catches up with me. I think the problem is really overworking myself, and maybe the weekends are a good place to start meal prepping. I really hate the idea, but maybe it will help.

I really like the idea of just leaving money at home. I think I will start that. Anything to change up the routine. The upcoming transition to grad school has really made my life a lot less functional, so fixing the problem now is what I need to do.

I know what it's like transitioning to grad school; currently a student myself. If you start bringing your food, put that loan money to good use (I'm an extreme couponer, so I stock up on healthy foods for next to nothing!), and get into a habit of better choices to fuel you through those 13hr days, you can make some huge changes.

Meal prepping is an awesome tool, and I'd definitely recommend it. About to go do it myself! Now that's good fast food to grab during the week. If you want some recipe ideas, shoot me a message!

Thanks everyone, at least the positive people. It's hard when you juggle work, publishing research, teaching two classes, and going to school at the same time, all while trying to maintain a life at home. When your schedule is literally booked from 7am to 8pm Monday through Friday, while devoting almost all weekend to readings, I guess it's easy to let things slip. Summers are always tough because it's when my academic career path really catches up with me. I think the problem is really overworking myself, and maybe the weekends are a good place to start meal prepping. I really hate the idea, but maybe it will help.

I really like the idea of just leaving money at home. I think I will start that. Anything to change up the routine. The upcoming transition to grad school has really made my life a lot less functional, so fixing the problem now is what I need to do.

I guess I'm not surprised that there would be *kitten* on top of nice people, but goodness. Things that put people down don't help, and do nothing. Were you not ever once struggling against something that felt impossible? It's not like I'm a newbie at this, I just have a problem I haven't been able to deal with on my own. I did Muay Thai, ran 60+ miles a week, and still strength train. I broke both ankles while trail running, and let me tell you, it's hard to pick up healthy habits when you're stuck like that, and with recurring bone edema due to an old fracture, it's pretty easy to beat yourself up. Don't judge people before you actually know them.

Thanks again everyone who was kind in their advice.

You know what the problem is? You.

You're looking for every single excuse possible. Quit doing that, and you'll have success

If I don't eat it, I get sick. If I eat it, I get sick. I know it's bad, and I don't even like the taste of it. It just feels like I have to have it, and I don't want it. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what did you do? How do you fight the urge when you're surrounded by fast food places (and hungry from missing breakfast or lunch) on your way to school or work?

Thanks everyone. This post was really hard for me to write down. I feel better just sharing my struggle with others.

don't skip meals..........?

this isn't an addiction, it's hunger. Do you eat low salt low fat the rest of the time? If so your body's craving salt and fat because it needs salt and fat. And fast food is the most convenient way to get that salt and fat.

What you have to bear in mind, is that Homo sapiens is mostly like our recent ancestors, Homo erectus, but we have bigger brains and in particular bigger frontal lobes. If Homo erectus wasn't eating enough, he or she had no idea how much to eat,,,, so would get hunger and cravings and this would make them go and seek out whatever food they were craving, so if they weren't getting enough fat in their diet they'd go out and seek out fatty foods, like maybe kill an animal and eat its brain and bone marrow (very fatty parts of the animal) - this increased food seeking behavior is a normal response to insufficient food intake.... only Homo sapiens, with our bigger frontal lobes, would plan to do something as illogical as deliberately deprive ourselves of food, and then label the resulting increase in food seeking behaviour as a psychological problem of some sort. The same response that would make Homo erectus go and kill another animal to eat (or, if they were deficient in certain micronutrients, to seek out particular fruits or whatever) makes Homo sapiens go seek out McDonalds, or whatever happens to be the most convenient place to buy high calorie food. And if the Homo sapiens is on a low fat diet, then that's only going to increase the cravings for fatty food and the likelihood that they'll get strong cravings for fast food, because it's high fat and high calorie, and as far as your body's concerned, you're a Homo erectus and don't know how much food to eat and hunger is the "eat some food now" signal.

Also, if eating fatty foods is making you ill, yet you still crave fatty foods, that usually comes from not eating enough fat the rest of the time. Suddenly increasing the amount of fat in the diet can cause all kinds of digestive issues... it needs to be reintroduced slowly. But you'll also be getting cravings for fat because you're deficient in it. So my advice would be to slowly reintroduce fatty foods in the diet... start with ones that are rich in essential fatty acids and fat soluble vitamins. If you've been eating low salt as well, maybe increase your salt intake a little too. And also plan to eat fast food maybe once a week so you still get to enjoy it, just in a controlled way without going over your calorie goal.

And in terms of skipping meals, you have to plan your meals in advance. Make lunch to take to work the day before, and make sure it includes enough calories, protein and fat to actually sustain you... if you're making yourself low fat low calorie foods they're not going to satisfy you or provide you with the nutrition you need. You need to aim for slow, steady fat loss, so you eat enough to sustain you through the day. Unplanned overeating, and in some cases binge eating, is the number one danger from eating too little.... and it's not an addiction, it's a normal physiological response that stopped our ancestors accidentally starving to death.

If you feel that you have a legitimate addiction to Fast Food, please consult a licensed addiction therapist and consider joining a 12 step program and reaching out to a sponsor that has dealt with fast food addiction.

Start grocery shopping and cooking your own meals. Problem solved.

It's one of those "when the student is ready the teacher appears" things. When you want to give it up, you will.

Trust me, as a food addict myself, I understand that there are things you just have to have. At the same time, when you "make the decision" or life makes it for you, you know when it's time to "behave." Until then, the inner child is driving the car. That inner child will always get those fries. Wants it, craves it, must have instant gratification, can't turn it down.

We don't let kids near fires. We tell them, "Don't go there, it'll hurt you." But when there's 18 fast food places on your way to work or to school, and you purposefully don't have breakfast thinking you're being good, you're really turning the reigns over to that inner child because you get so hungry that you'll eat anything you find....in one of those fast food restaurants on the way. When you're hungry everything sounds good.

There are things at fast food restaurants that aren't as bad as others. It's all about choosing your doom. Do you choose the big breakfast platter with the biscuit, hot cakes, syrup and sausage that are all NOT food journal friendly, or an egg mcmuffin that's not quite as bad, and the added bonus of being protein friendly?

Once you really make the decision of the path you're on and want to be on, the decisions of what to choose at the fast food restaurant become a lot easier.