junk food lovers! i got a question.

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x_sotonguetied
x_sotonguetied Posts: 97
in Health and Weight Loss
for those of you who LOVE junk food and have eliminated junk food from your kitchen..... does it help you?

being in the dorms last year and being home all summer has KILLED me! my will power isn't terrible - but when i'm literally surrounded by junk food, i cannot help over and over again but to just eventually cave in and binge and go crazy, getting myself nowhere and in a vicious cycle.

tomorrow, though, i'm moving into my off campus house at school, and i'll be buying my own groceries, and i know i can avoid picking out and buying the junk myself (even when i lived with my mom, i would go grocery shopping with her all the time and i would pick out everything that i wanted, and it was always healthy stuff).

and in my attempts of keeping my hope alive, i just want to know if i'm crazy for thinking this, or if keeping junk out of the house really does help.
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Replies

  • bachooka
    bachooka Posts: 719 Member
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    I love junk food. And unless I'm in one of my Hear Me Roar type tyrades where I have amazing will power... I will stuff my face with any of it that I can get my little sausages on. If you do buy junk food, make sure that as soon as you buy it, you seperate it into serving sizes. That really helps me from scarfing it all down in one sitting.
  • ChantalGG
    ChantalGG Posts: 2,404 Member
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    Are you a binge eater or do you have another eating disorder? If not and you can have the will power, i dont see a problem. I have stuff and I need stuff sometimes. but i dont go crazy.
  • cantjustcant
    cantjustcant Posts: 1,027 Member
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    I haven't been buying it! I am sure the people in the grocery think I'm nuts when I have told myself to put something down in the store! But I am on my first month and quite frankly don't have the strength to stay away from it. I like the portioning it as soon as you get it home idea! I am filing it away for a future date when I can be trusted!

    I have the MFP app on my phone and anytime I am faced with temptation I plug it in and see what that does to my daily numbers....95% of the time I end up skipping it for something healthy!
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    I find it easier to not have it around, just from the whole growing up thing if cookies came into the house you better get a couple today because they'll be gone next time you look. So I find sometimes if I have it around the containers empty. I do better when if I DO have it around it gets portioned out as soon as it comes into the house... 2 cookies... an ounce of almonds, cheese pre-sliced into 1 ounce portions for use. But if I slip and don't portion it the bottom of the container comes before I know it ;)
  • x_sotonguetied
    x_sotonguetied Posts: 97
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    thank you guys so much for the feedback!

    i'm going to avoid buying the junk as much as i can - but when i DO, i really like the idea of portioning stuff out... and maybe keeping it in the back of the pantry lol. then i can still have it there when i'm craving it, but without going overboard and only eating to the bottom of small bag, rather than a large one!
  • londonerin26
    londonerin26 Posts: 10 Member
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    I have to have something in the house, otherwise the junk food I choose will be fast food.

    What has helped me in the past is to spend a little more, and buy smaller servings. I'm a salt fiend, so those small bags of chips are great for me. I'll have one, and move on. A big bag means I chow down - but I rarely open more than one bag. Same with ice cream; it may make more financial sense to buy a bigger tub, but it just means I'll eat more. The smaller the serving size the better.

    However, there are certain things that are off limits. There are cookies I literally can't buy because they don't make it home. They stay at the store. Same thing with ice cream - I tend to buy plain vanilla. I'm much less likely to eat too much plain vanilla compared to chocolate chip, but it still counts as ice cream, and I don't feel deprived. Chocolate chips stays at the store until a special occasion.
  • eelamme
    eelamme Posts: 1,135 Member
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    I find the "out of sight out of mind" approach most pleasing! If it is in my cupboards, it is in my belly. Granted, I have not been with MFP long but will admit, if I'm craving something and know I have to get in the car and drive to the grocery in the AZ heat, well, I'm more likey not to go.
  • skinnyhopes
    skinnyhopes Posts: 402 Member
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    Are you a binge eater or do you have another eating disorder? If not and you can have the will power, i dont see a problem. I have stuff and I need stuff sometimes. but i dont go crazy.
    This!
    I love junk and eat it everyday! Just control yourself!
  • MyNewLeaf
    MyNewLeaf Posts: 40
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    Having it around is the worst! If possible, just make it gone, and have your cupboards filled with all sorts of stuff that would be better for you. Even if you aren't perfect and don't get your weight to where you want it, think of it this way: if you didn't at least try to be healthier, how bad do you think it would get? Let me tell you how bad. I used to be in the range of average to curvy. I weighed 135. I never put the reins on and just lived large, and now I'm, well, large. I topped out at 265, at only 5'5", causing a mess of problems. So, even if you can't be thin, at least you can make healthy choices as often as possible.

    Here are two tricks:

    1/ Eat protein several times a day, with every meal and snack. It will help you stay fuller and keep your blood sugar more stable so you're less likely to reach for the junk.

    2/ Never go too long without eating. Eat very regularly, and again, your blood sugar levels will maintain and that strong impulse to just grab something won't be as strong.
  • salmoninthebeak
    salmoninthebeak Posts: 114
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    I just read a post in a different thread where someone commented that they keep a Twix bar on their dresser with their vitamins. It's not that they "can't" have it - it's that she's "choosing" right now not to have it, and if she wants it tomorrow - it's there to have.
  • bachooka
    bachooka Posts: 719 Member
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    I haven't been buying it! I am sure the people in the grocery think I'm nuts when I have told myself to put something down in the store! But I am on my first month and quite frankly don't have the strength to stay away from it. I like the portioning it as soon as you get it home idea! I am filing it away for a future date when I can be trusted!

    I have the MFP app on my phone and anytime I am faced with temptation I plug it in and see what that does to my daily numbers....95% of the time I end up skipping it for something healthy!

    heck yes... that app is so amazing! I can't even count how many times I've wanted to grab a burger or something and typed it in and been like, "WHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTT?!?!?! NO WAY!"
  • russelljclarke
    russelljclarke Posts: 836 Member
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    I do the shopping in our house, and actively award the sweetie aisle. You're no mad, actually completely sane :)
  • spaingirl2011
    spaingirl2011 Posts: 763 Member
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    Yeah, I don't have many sweet around. I know it works when I go down to the kitchen and think "ooh, I could really go for ____" and it's not there. I find that I do that unconsciously, so it really helps that I don't have those foods around because if I really want something, I'll eat something healthier for a snack.
  • pinkgigi
    pinkgigi Posts: 693 Member
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    Believe it or not, if you stay away it will get easier. For instance, I used to crave sugar, and had to have it every afternoon. Once I went cold turkey on it for a while, although I still liked chocolate, I finally understood when people say "that's too sweet". Some people have the will power to just have a little, but I don't, I have to avoid it all together.

    Your tastes will change, just give them a chance.

    GG
  • rjacobson16
    rjacobson16 Posts: 11
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    I've gone through the same thing. I just moved from the dorms to my own house. It helps a lot to buy your own groceries. Just make sure you have the willpower at the grocery store.
  • tonilizzy88
    tonilizzy88 Posts: 968 Member
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    i defonatly helps even thou i crave a bar of chocolate i know id have to go the shops to get it which i dont want to do as its normaly 8pm when i want it..... so i go without
    now if it was in my cupboard i would have munched it down and been annoyed withmyself.

    hope this helps
  • daad13
    daad13 Posts: 68
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    When you say junk food I think of chips, chocolate and ice cream. My family loves to indulge every once in a while so they always bring some junk home, and I usually stay away from it but I've learned that after I learn how to control my will power I can also indulge. Now I bring home "healthy" junk food, which is kind of ironic but instead of any cookies, I bring home a box of baked chocokate chip cookies or chocolate wafers which are only 100 calories per pouch. Instead of eating a huge bowl of rocky road ice cream I eat a low fat ice cream sandwich (fit and active) for only 140 cal or a klondike icream car (only 100) and instead of a bag of hot cheetos, I eat a serving (13-16 crisps) of any type of baked chips.
    I think it's important to allow yourself some of these things but always be wise when you choose what type of food you want to indulge in. It's crazy how many healthier yet equally delicious options there are out there! Look into skinny cow and fit & active brands because they carry a lot of good healthy "junk type food" with very smart portions.
    This is just a personal opinion, because I feel like if I completely ban something from myself, I end up going back to the way I was very quickly and so far I haven't! Good luck :)
  • x_sotonguetied
    x_sotonguetied Posts: 97
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    ah, this is why i love this site!! so much great advice and help! and it doesn't matter if i fall back a hundred times - coming here always gives me hope and motivation to start over and push forward again. thanks so much again!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,708 Member
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    One of my new junk foods......................Special K sour cream and onion cracker crisps. 27 chips are 110 calories
  • hbrekkaas
    hbrekkaas Posts: 268 Member
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    We don't have much junk food in our house. No candy, no chips. Not only because I dn't want to eat them, but because my husband doesn't want them (and he will if its here) and because our kids do not need it. Nothing like a toddler temper tantrum because they aren't allowed the candy out of the cupboard.

    When my husband does ask for something (I do all the shopping) I buy something that he likes but I don't. That way I won't eat it. Like Dr Pepper or licorice.

    We do have desserts in our house though, I always have something baked.

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