Why can't I stop eating rubbish?
siobhanalana23
Posts: 1 Member
Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
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Replies
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Do you like fruit?2
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What foods do you call rubbish?4
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siobhanalana23 wrote: »Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
Do you have a medical reason to need to avoid sugary things?7 -
Plan your day to cover your nutritional needs then spend any spare cals on sugary things.
Exercise cals can be always useful for this
Cheers, h.11 -
siobhanalana23 wrote: »Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
I had good success with planning my meals to be balanced across my macro needs. (some of each fat, carb, protein).
if I have a meal that is heavy on one of the macro groups, I'm more likely to find myself craving a something or other within an hour.
That's my experience; I've read many different posts answering this kind of question, and there are a lot of different tricks people use to help themselves.
it's really an individual solution, although it can certainly look alot like what worked for someone else.
Nothing works in a single day, and most habit changes can take a month or more to settle in.
good luck to you!2 -
Can you create some structure? What works for me is to get into the habit of only eating at mealtimes (however that is defined for you), and once I'm used to that I stop really thinking about in between meal snacks (if I want to eat I just remind myself that it's coming up whenever). I also save a little room for an after dinner treat of some sort, and eat it pretty soon after dinner, as not being hungry I am less likely to overindulge. If there are foods that are harder to control than others, I'd take a break from them for a while and not have them in the house, if possible.
What doesn't work for me, especially if I'm just getting back into watching what I eat (or just starting out) is to grab a pint of ice cream and tell myself I will just have a little. If I measure out a small amount and put it away, and tell myself if I want more there's tomorrow, then it works. Similarly, if there is food out at work (peanut m&ms or actually good baked goods which sometimes are there), I generally don't start eating it since I know I'll be going past all the time and want more. I especially don't if I'm hungry -- if I decide to have a little of something special I do it right after lunch and log it.2 -
What do you consider rubbish, and what do you consider healthy? Your issue may be that you are two narrowly defining what "healthy" is. There's a lot more out there that's healthy than kale and quinoa salads. You can have rich, flavorful meals that still meet your calorie targets and have balanced nutrition. You shouldn't have to sacrifice your taste buds to maintain a healthy lifestyle.4
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Eating sugary things leads me to wanting to eat more sugary things. I get around that craving by eating a piece of fruit as dessert and by eating enough in general.
If I have a well-balanced meal twice a day I am less likely to crave sweet things. I make sure to get enough protein, fats and vegetables.3 -
You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!8 -
Or as Eric Helms says, "Once our nutritional needs are met, we don't get extra credit for consuming more nutritious food".You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!
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siobhanalana23 wrote: »Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
Falling in line right behind you. This time of year is always difficult to fight cravings because the temptation is everywhere.0 -
Sweets can fit into an otherwise healthful diet. I have something sweet almost every night for desert...it doesn't undo all of my other nutrition for the day. It's not an all or nothing thing and that's what it sounds like you are mentally. That mentality generally doesn't get one very far because it's pretty much humanly impossible to be on "plan" 100% of the time...so you plan should maybe include some sweet treats in moderation.
Also, fruit is nice and sweet.5 -
cmriverside wrote: »Eating sugary things leads me to wanting to eat more sugary things. I get around that craving by eating a piece of fruit as dessert and by eating enough in general.
If I have a well-balanced meal twice a day I am less likely to crave sweet things. I make sure to get enough protein, fats and vegetables.
Yup, my sugar cravings went away when I upped fruit and focused on getting more protein. (Getting enough fat has never been an issue for me.)
I think my brain misinterprets "more protein" as "more sugar" so I can eat and eat and eat sugary foods and never feel satisfied, because what I really want is protein.1 -
siobhanalana23 wrote: »Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
Visiting my mother for the weekend.
Stocks up on ice cream, cookies, cheeses chips... 🐖been here less than 24 hours and my MFP log is at like -1500 for day already 🤦♂️2 -
For me the fruit suggestion doesn’t work AT ALL. Yep I do love fruit as well as sweets but let’s be honest... is an apple the same
thing as a brownie? I’ll eat the apple, and still want a brownie.. and end up feeling dissatisfied because I didn’t want an apple I wanted a brownie lol. I tried cutting out processed sugars for a month, I didn’t cheat, I just ate fruits and it didn’t curb my appetite for cookies at all. What works for me is eating tasty treats in moderation, I fit things into my daily calorie allowance. And if I want a 800 blizzard from DQ I’m not going to starve myself for it... just go for a run and then treat myself after or bank some calories during the week for it 😋.
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Or as Eric Helms says, "Once our nutritional needs are met, we don't get extra credit for consuming more nutritious food".You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!
Very true, but for people on lower calorie diets, the calories needed to meet nutritional needs take up a larger % of total calories. There may still be some calories left for "low nutrient/less nutritious foods" but maybe not as many as some people would hope for.2 -
I always thought Eric Helms was wrong for saying that. How can you tell that your nutritional needs are met? It's hard if not impossible to consume in one day 100% of the rda of all your essential vitamins and minerals, fatty and amino acids and that was created by governments to stop debilitating diseases like rickets, pellagra, beri beri, scurvy, etc. not for optimal health. If you aren't watching your micro-nutrients, you are probably working on getting a deficiency. I guess you can take a multivitamin but real food helps the body more.
Or as Eric Helms says, "Once our nutritional needs are met, we don't get extra credit for consuming more nutritious food".You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!
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I disagree The Devastator - I think is is extremely unlikely that anyone eating a half decent balanced diet is going to get scurvy or beriberi or pellagra or rickets ( biggest issue for rickets is not getting enough sunlight.).
I think most people IRL do not watch their micronutrient intake at all - they just try to eat a reasonably balanced diet - and they do not all have these deficiency diseases at all.
You post seems unneccesary catastrophising to me.12 -
I know a lot of people are not fond of them, but I really like standbys like Halo Top, Fibre One Brownies, Quest Bars etc as a healthier fallback. My sweet tooth is probably never going away, but I can at least ameliorate it with replacements like these.1
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You didn't really understand my post. I only mentioned the diseases because that's why we have recommended daily allowances in the first place. First world countries don't have much of a problem with these diseases with fortified food. They are not the best source of the nutrients but it will stop rickets with vitamin d in milk as one example. I also guess that most people do not watch their micros and that can be a problem since they aren't even sure of most of the names of vitamins and minerals. Night blindness can be stopped with good amounts of beta carotene or having liver once a week as an example. Most people aren't getting all their micros and diseases start and cause problems for them when a little knowledge and checking the USDA database or any other site that tells you what foods are high in certain micros could fix these problems. In a way, Eric Helms is right. Say you ate 1000% of vitamins A and C. That should be plenty for the day. But the way that he is wrong is that you can always need more nutrients because getting all the essentials is more calories than you can eat in one day. I know I'm always trying to eat the most nutrient dense foods and still it's impossible. Choline I think is one most people don't get enough of.paperpudding wrote: »I disagree The Devastator - I think is is extremely unlikely that anyone eating a half decent balanced diet is going to get scurvy or beriberi or pellagra or rickets ( biggest issue for rickets is not getting enough sunlight.).
I think most people IRL do not watch their micronutrient intake at all - they just try to eat a reasonably balanced diet - and they do not all have these deficiency diseases at all.
You post seems unneccesary catastrophising to me.
Just look at the list of all the nutrients in the USDA database and you can see it's impossible to get all those in one day.
https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/nutrients/index
These are just the essentials and it would still be too much.
whfoods.com/nutrientstoc.php6 -
Sugary things can be healthy. You might need more vitamins and minerals in your diet. Dried apricots for one example are loaded with potassium but also very sugary.siobhanalana23 wrote: »Am I lacking in something ? Or is it just a mental thing? Every time I tell myself that I'm going to be eating more healthier, I start to crave sugary things.
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Yes I did understand your post - I just disagreed with it.
I think most people don't watch their micros and for most people this is a non problem.
Just eating a half way decent diet will avoid the diseases you mention. People don't have to get them all in one day.
You are way exaggerating the situation.10 -
I don't think you understood my posts or you are just looking for a fight because our many disagreements in the past. People should know all the nutrients and what they do. Maybe it would cut down on some of the problems people have. I know most people don't really care that much until it's too late. They'll just say it's a non problem. Night blindness is easily correctable but a lot of people have it. Just add liver, braunschweiger, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, or spinach to the diet for a while and they can see better.paperpudding wrote: »Yes I did understand your post - I just disagreed with it.
I think most people don't watch their micros and for most people this is a non problem.
Just eating a half way decent diet will avoid the diseases you mention. People don't have to get them all in one day.
You are way exaggerating the situation.13 -
TheDevastator wrote: »
I always thought Eric Helms was wrong for saying that. How can you tell that your nutritional needs are met? It's hard if not impossible to consume in one day 100% of the rda of all your essential vitamins and minerals, fatty and amino acids and that was created by governments to stop debilitating diseases like rickets, pellagra, beri beri, scurvy, etc. not for optimal health. If you aren't watching your micro-nutrients, you are probably working on getting a deficiency. I guess you can take a multivitamin but real food helps the body more.
Or as Eric Helms says, "Once our nutritional needs are met, we don't get extra credit for consuming more nutritious food".You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!
Vegetables aren't high in calories. You can eat sufficient protein and loads of veg and some fruit and hit most of the RDA (or all) without needing that many calories. Issues may be D (although fortification may address that), but humans traditionally have got that largely from sunlight. I log on Cron and can see how I'm doing on the RDA (and really it's probably fine to not always hit everything so long as the diet is varied enough that you are hitting everything on average over the course of a week or so). Adding in some calories for extras -- by which I simply mean not eating only for nutrients, but cooking in olive oil, adding in some cheese for taste (or as a dessert at the end of the day), or saving some calories for something sweet if that's your desire. Or, choosing skin on chicken vs. skinless breast only or a high fat cut of meat on occasion -- these are all things that you wouldn't do if you ONLY cared about maximizing nutrients, but which most of us will have the calories to do, to make our diets more pleasurable and satisfying, as well as high nutrient.
I think it's odd when people ignore the extra calories from some sources (like cooking in butter or eating meat with the skin on or having some cheese) and say it's always bad, bad, super bad if from some other source (like chocolate, which has some benefits of its own, or ice cream, which is essentially high fat dairy like cheese for the majority of its calories).
Maybe you think we can only get sufficient nutrients if eating as high nutrient per calorie as possible and would eschew all the kinds of things I mentioned (some do, I think that's the Fuhrman eating plan). I don't think that's really consistent with human history and that not worrying too much is in itself likely more important (and exercise of course is even more so, and if you are very active you will have way more calories to fill).
I'd agree with Packerjohn that -- rather obviously and no one said otherwise -- that if you are trying to do 1200 or a similar low low cal diet, then of course you will have less room for any of these extras, which is why when I briefly did 1200 I not only didn't eat desserts, I also didn't eat cheese or butter or anything but spray oil and avoided meat with skin on it. I'd much rather live a more active life -- which is healthier -- and eat some of these things, and certainly at maintenance it's not an issue to fit in some. But most people probably don't need to be at 1200, or will have at least one day a week they are a bit more indulgent.7 -
For me the fruit suggestion doesn’t work AT ALL. Yep I do love fruit as well as sweets but let’s be honest... is an apple the same
thing as a brownie? I’ll eat the apple, and still want a brownie.. and end up feeling dissatisfied because I didn’t want an apple I wanted a brownie lol. I tried cutting out processed sugars for a month, I didn’t cheat, I just ate fruits and it didn’t curb my appetite for cookies at all. What works for me is eating tasty treats in moderation, I fit things into my daily calorie allowance. And if I want a 800 blizzard from DQ I’m not going to starve myself for it... just go for a run and then treat myself after or bank some calories during the week for it 😋.
I'm with you on apples, which I like to pair with cheese or nuts for a substantial snack. I was thinking more like strawberries or pineapple.
But if I want chocolate, only chocolate will satisfy that. I can eat hundreds of calories worth of brownies, or I can eat 10 grams of chocolate chips for 47 calories super slowly.2 -
TheDevastator wrote: »
I don't think you understood my posts or you are just looking for a fight because our many disagreements in the past. People should know all the nutrients and what they do. Maybe it would cut down on some of the problems people have. I know most people don't really care that much until it's too late. They'll just say it's a non problem. Night blindness is easily correctable but a lot of people have it. Just add liver, braunschweiger, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, or spinach to the diet for a while and they can see better.paperpudding wrote: »Yes I did understand your post - I just disagreed with it.
I think most people don't watch their micros and for most people this is a non problem.
Just eating a half way decent diet will avoid the diseases you mention. People don't have to get them all in one day.
You are way exaggerating the situation.
No I dont even remember disagreeing in the past, I dont keep a tally of every interaction and who it was with on here
and why would disagreeing with you be "looking for a fight" ?????
I just dont agree with your take on this situation.
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TheDevastator wrote: »
I always thought Eric Helms was wrong for saying that. How can you tell that your nutritional needs are met? It's hard if not impossible to consume in one day 100% of the rda of all your essential vitamins and minerals, fatty and amino acids and that was created by governments to stop debilitating diseases like rickets, pellagra, beri beri, scurvy, etc. not for optimal health. If you aren't watching your micro-nutrients, you are probably working on getting a deficiency. I guess you can take a multivitamin but real food helps the body more.
Or as Eric Helms says, "Once our nutritional needs are met, we don't get extra credit for consuming more nutritious food".You don't have to eat ALL clean, healthy, perfect food to be healthy. Make sure you get plenty of whatever foods you consider "healthy", and then fit in a treat. If you eat great all day and have a couple of chocolates after dinner, the chocolate doesn't somehow erase all the nutrition you ate all day.
Set goals for yourself for the good stuff you want to eat more of, and then fill in the remaining calories with stuff that just makes you happy. That's healthy too!
For me, meh.
I'm a 63-year-old, 5'5", 130-some pound woman, and can get in a high protein goal (2x RDA at least, while vegetarian), adequate fats, way above 25g fiber from food, at least 5 and often 10+ servings of varied, colorful fruits and veggies, and - in maintenance for sure - get in some less-calorie dense but enjoyable foods within reason now and then as well (craft beer, dessert, etc.).
Nutritionally, good enough is good enough.
Are "all my needs met"? As you say, I don't really know. I don't really care, either: For me, it's about balancing tastiness, nutrition, satiation, calories, social engagement, and other factors for both short term happiness and decent odds of long-term good health (mental and physical). For me, trying to squeeze out every last nutrition point from every calorie I eat, ignoring other factors . . . that sounds grim, quasi-religious, and not the way I want to live life.
Others - including you - can have different opinions, and I fully support you in expressing them and living them out. Gonna express my opinion and disagree, though. :drinker:7 -
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Everyone is different and what works for one will not work for all.
FOR ME...
labelling food as healthy or junk and saying I can't have the junk food will make me crave that forbidden food more. I am much better off allowing all foods I enjoy in my diet. I prelog everything to make sure I am meeting my protein and fat minimums for the day. Through trial and error, I have found that around 100 grams of protein and 75 grams of fat work best for my satiety levels. Both are well above the minimum RDA. I tend to have no problems meeting my RDA for micros - mainly because I love my vegetables, eat plenty of protein, and make sure that I have whole grains in at least 2 meals a day. I disagree with TheDevastator as I don't find meeting adequate levels of micronutrients a challenge at all. I also can not comprehend why he believes it is necessary to know why we need every nutrient. Heck, there are probably many nutrients out there that our body needs, and get, that scientists are still unaware of.
From all of this, there will always be calories to spare. With these, I eat whatever food I want and the more I exercise the more of this food I can eat! There is so much more to maintaining a fit and healthy body than making sure we get adequate nutrition and exercise. Our mental health plays a significant role in our wellbeing. For most, being that strict with our diets that many foods are forbidden, or deemed unhealthy, will negatively affect our mental health, especially if it impairs our socialisation with others or causes undue stress. Food is for our enjoyment, not just for meeting nutritional needs.6
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