Fast food has long been a common food for many people. However, fast food often leads to digestive problems, as a result of which it becomes necessary to seek out healthy eating options. Even if you eat fast food and are unable to abruptly give up your usual diet, using the tips from this article, you can finally break the fast food habit and start taking care of your health. Also check out the article 10 Reasons Why Fast Food Is Bad.
Method 1. Awareness of food addiction
1. Identify the signs of food addiction. If you suspect that you have a food addiction, it can be helpful to know how it affects your life.
- Food addiction is a serious problem. When you eat tasty foods that are high in sugar and fat, you want to eat them over and over again. This desire arises from the release of dopamine in the brain, which is found in foods high in sugar and fat.
- People with an eating disorder have a compulsive urge to eat an unusually large amount of food in a short amount of time. This is despite the fact that the body usually requires much less food. Food addicts may have an aversion to their eating habits but, alas, cannot control them. If you feel like you want to eat a very large amount of fast food, even if you feel unwell afterwards, consider seeing a mental health professional with a concern about a possible eating disorder. This disease is easily curable.
- Research online food addiction. There are many sources on the network that provide extensive information regarding the characteristics of food addiction.
2. Make a list of your eating problems. Problems will become more real to you by being presented in writing. Mark on the list how often you eat fast food, describe your thoughts about the problem and what specifically prevents you from giving up fast food.
- To understand the degree of food addiction, ask yourself if you can overcome the urge to eat fast, are you powerless in front of your desires, and also what emotions or situations make you want to eat fast food.
- Also rate your emotions from 1 to 10 (1 is weak and 10 is very strong). The rating can change depending on the direction of your emotions, but in any case it will give an idea of the events or people that affect the degree of your emotionality.
- List all foods that you eat frequently and in large quantities. Is fast food alone on this list? Or does your addiction also extend to "harmful products"Like candy, chips or soda?
3. Don't go on a diet, but change your lifestyle. Because diets, in the traditional sense, do not have a long-term impact on the problem of food addiction. And that's why.
- Even the most persistent people give up sooner or later, stop eating dietary products, or they get tired of the monotony of the diet and they quit the diet. On the contrary, you strive to radically change your lifestyle, instead of slightly adjusting it by going on a diet. Write down a diet that doesn't include junk food or junk food. Make sure to plan the portions that are appropriate for your body's needs. Otherwise, you can get hungry and, in order to satisfy your hunger, you will again resort to the use of unhealthy foods.
- Clear your home of trigger foods, which are foods that can trigger a relapse. This is especially true of all the same foods high in fat and sugar. Since fast food mainly contains these ingredients, their further consumption dramatically reduces the chances of getting rid of food addiction.
You might be interested in this article on 6 Diet Tricks That Really Work.
Method 2. Eliminate fast food from the diet
1. Make brakes for healthy snacks. Keeping ready-made food with you at all times can significantly reduce the chances of accidental fast food snacks.
- Purchase a small lunchbox or cooler if needed. This will eliminate the need to visit fast food places. This box should contain a stock of healthy foods such as yogurt, fresh fruit or vegetables.
- Keep healthy snacks such as nuts or fruits with you at all times.
- Make sure not to skip meals during the day. Eat the snack you have prepared if you are hungry. If you skip meals and are very hungry, you may not be able to control yourself and eat unhealthy food.
2. Stop consuming soda. For many people, this can be a real problem. However, try to avoid all carbonated drinks. Even the consumption of diet soda should be kept to a minimum in the diet. Diet soda can make your body feel unreasonably hungry.
- Drink at least two liters of fluid a day. However, provided that it should not contain sugar. You can drink plain water, herbal or dried fruit compote, unsweetened iced tea, or unsweetened decaf coffee.
- If this step seems too difficult, start phasing out soda gradually. Start reducing the amount of drinks you consume, replacing some of them with healthier options (such as water or unsweetened tea). Continue replacing other drinks until you are completely free of soda.
3. Review your route. Sometimes, just passing by your favorite fast food place can be hard enough to force yourself not to stop there. Choosing a different route to work or on your way home can help you overcome your habit of stopping for fast food.
- Check the online map. Many programs allow you to specify a start and end location and provide various route options.
- If you can't get around a fast food place, try putting a note in your car with an upbeat offer. "You can do it!" or "Focus on your goal!"- great phrases that can get you to move past fast food places.
4. Write down the benefits of eliminating fast food from your diet. Avoiding fast food can be tricky. However, having such a list can motivate you not to give up at times when it’s hard to master your desires.
- Write down a list of all the benefits of avoiding fast food. Among them, for example, may be: weight loss, saving money, improving health, etc.
- Save a copy of the list in your wallet, bag, car, or at work. Turn to him whenever you have a desire for a fast food snack.
- If you have not given up and continue to stay away from fast food, write about your progress and describe the positive changes you have noticed in your lifestyle and health. This item will help expand the list.
5. Go to lunch with coworkers only at food outlets that prepare healthy food.
- Explore food places that are close to your work. Check out the menu and decide if it would be better for you and your colleagues to start going there.
- Inform coworkers that you are trying to quit fast food habits.They may well want to support you or join your endeavor.
Method 3. Planning a strategy
1. Write down your goals. Defining a long-term goal for work will help you break your fast food habit. But make sure to set a realistic and specific goal that you can achieve over time.
- On the way to your long-term goal, highlight smaller goals. Maybe you are planning to start moving towards your goal by skipping Mondays, or planning to have breakfast at home. Trying to solve several problems at the same time is a very difficult task.
- It is important to be realistic in setting goals. If you feel that suddenly quitting fast food is not realistic, set a certain limit on how much you can complete this task. Maybe you decide to allow yourself a fast food snack once a month.
- Track the progress of your goal. It can help motivate you and keep you on track for your long term goal.
2. Buy a notebook and use it to mark meals and snacks on it over the course of several days. Written notes will help you determine exactly how often and in what quantities you eat fast food.
- Also pay attention to the situations that provoke the consumption of fast food. For example, your journey home is too long, you are hungry, and you cannot wait to get home. Therefore, go along the way to a fast food cafe for a snack.
- Be aware of your emotions, which can trigger your cravings for fast food. You may notice that you do not eat fast food for a large number of days. This can happen more often when you are stressed, angry, or upset. Understanding the connection between mood and hunger will give you an idea of the nature of your habit, so you can learn to manage it.
- Don't have time to fill out your notebook? Download the Nutrition Journal App. The presence of the application on your phone will make this step easier and more convenient.
- Think specifically about why you are stopping for a quick snack. Trying to identify the root cause of your fast food addiction is an important step in breaking the habit.
- Pay attention to how you feel after consuming fast food. You may feel regret, guilt, or shame. If you notice negative feelings, write them down, you can analyze them in the future before deciding to grab a snack. Remember how bad you feel after eating.
3. Count your calories. If you don't factor in the number of calories you eat in fast food, you might be surprised at how many calories there are. Take a little time to count all the calories in your typical diet. The number of calories counted can be overwhelming enough to provide you with powerful motivation to kick your fast food habit.
- Find out how long you have to run or cycle to burn your calories. It usually takes a significant amount of exercise to burn the calories from fast food. For example, you may need to cycle for an hour at high speed to burn about 800 calories. And this is just half of the pizza ...
- Compare the number of calories in a fast food meal with the number of calories in a healthy meal that you could cook yourself. This will make it clear how unjustifiably high in calories fast food contains.
4. Track expenses for fast food. One of the advantages of fast food is that it is quite cheap.
- However, try to calculate how much money you spend on fast food each week and you will be surprised. The costs may turn out to be significantly higher than you expected.
- Give yourself a limited amount of cash. It should be cash, because it is always more difficult to part with it than with funds on the card. Before spending money, you will think carefully whether it is necessary.
5. Write down a weekly meal plan. Having a meal plan will help you stay organized and focused throughout the week. You will not care what you dine with - it will already be decided.
- Make your meal plan. Be sure to include breakfast and light snacks every day.
- Choose quick and easy recipes so that cooking doesn't take too long.
- Once you've put together your meal plan, write a grocery list that matches it. So you can buy only what you need, and you will not be distracted by harmful products.
6. Go to the grocery store. Having healthy food on hand is a key factor in avoiding fast food.
- Stock up on protein and carbohydrate foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products.
- Buy ready-to-eat foods that do not require additional cooking and can be eaten on the go. For example, it can be fruits (apple or banana), yoghurts, vegetables.
Method 4. Implement coping strategies
one . Build a support network. Any change in diet can be difficult - especially if you give up a habit that has already turned into food addiction. Having a support group will motivate and reward you as you overcome difficulties and make lifestyle changes. Research has shown that a support group motivates people not to give up and keep making positive changes to their routines.
- Ask family members, friends, or coworkers to support you. Plus, you can find allies in your quest to move away from fast food.
- Find dedicated support groups or forums online that you can visit throughout the day. This is a great way to find the support you need at any time of the day.
2. See a nutritionist or therapist. These health and nutrition experts can play a key role in helping to understand and overcome the fast food habit. They have nutritional knowledge and can help you design a diet that includes healthier foods.
- Ask a dietitian for help with diet planning and basic nutritional knowledge so that you have the skills you need to quit your fast food habit.
- Talk to your therapist about food addiction and any emotional problems you have with food.
- Talk to your healthcare practitioner for a referral to see a dietitian.
- Find sites on the Internet with experts in the field of nutritional medicine who can be consulted Online.
3. Make a list of calming activities. When you're stressed and feeling like you're on the verge of breaking down, it's important to have a list of things you can do to distract yourself and calm yourself.
- Try physical activity. For example: walking, cleaning a room, talking with a friend, journaling, or reading an interesting book.
- Try to avoid drinking alcoholic beverages. Drinking alcohol is not an appropriate coping mechanism for addiction.
- Write down your feelings. Write them down, reread and analyze them in times of crisis.
- Journaling will make it clear that there is a line between emotional and physical hunger.
- A diary can also be a way to express all your emotions and feelings.
4. Meditate. Studies have shown that even a few minutes of meditation a day can calm your mind, make you more focused, and can help you overcome addiction. This is, among other things, a great way to relax.
- Start with 5-10 minutes a day - especially if you've never tried meditation before.
- Try active meditation, which is about focusing on a small object such as a stone, fruit, or jewel. This concentration will keep you in the present moment.
5. Stock up on healthy foods. Always keep it at home and top up from time to time. This will eliminate the need to constantly stop by shops on the way home.
- Having a good supply of food will make it easier to prepare your meals, as you will already have everything you need to cook in front of you.
- The stock may include canned vegetables without added salt, canned fish, whole grains, and nuts. You can also store frozen fish or poultry meat, frozen vegetables and fruits. In addition, you must have a supply of fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as dairy products.
6. Experiment with food combinations. Whether you're good at cooking or need some help, coming up with new dishes and using new recipes is a great way to learn how many different healthy foods are combined. Be sure to try one or two new recipes a week.
- To do this, you can use the advice from the cookbook, search for healthy eating blogs on the Internet, or ask friends to share their recipes.
- If you are on a time constraint, use recipes that require minimal preparation and cooking time.
7. Reproduce fast food items at home. Burgers, fries, or chicken nuggets are delicious - which is why fast food habit can be hard to break. Try making your favorite foods healthy at home as well.
- If you love fries, try making them yourself. You can also cook chicken breaded with cornflakes or croutons. But these foods should not be deep-fried, as is usually the case in fast food. Try baking them to a crispy, low-calorie version.
- In addition, on the Internet you can find a lot of recipes for "healthy" versions of fast food, which are in no way inferior to their "harmful" version in taste.
Method 5. Eating in restaurants
1. Read the online menu. Any restaurant chain must have a website and an online menu that contains detailed information about the products that are used for cooking. Take a look at the menu and choose the one with the lowest calorie and fat content.
- Plan your meal choices before going to a restaurant. This will help avoid temptations when choosing a dish on the spot.
2. Avoid combined meals. The calorie count can get quite high when you eat a combination of potatoes, a sandwich, and a drink. Instead, buy one sandwich to reduce calories. And also give up the "big macs", although purchasing them is more profitable than buying meals separately. Consider how these savings will affect your health.
3. Ask for a healthier version of the meal. Many fast food restaurants cater to consumers' wishes for healthier food options. They even have special “healthy” menus.
- Try the salad with grilled chicken or fried chicken filling. Use a small serving of the sauce to reduce calories.
- If you're stopping in for breakfast, try the oatmeal, yogurt, or egg white and cheese sandwich.
- Choose a fruit or vegetable sandwich instead of your typical French fries.
Advice
- Slowly eliminating unhealthy foods from your diet is a good way to start avoiding unhealthy foods. Changing to boiled chicken and cutting out all unhealthy foods at the same time can lead to unpleasant symptoms such as headaches and irritability and make you less likely to stick to your plan.
- If your favorite fast food place is far from home, allow yourself to buy fast food, but on condition that you get there on foot. You will have to choose: either to succumb to your desire for a fast food snack, but at the same time to overcome a considerable distance, or to stay at home and cook your own food, avoiding an exhausting walk.
- Keep track of the statistics of your expenses and calorie content of products.
- Change your lifestyle gradually, step by step. Once you've made a change, don't stop and set yourself ever more ambitious goals.
- If you and your friends are addicted to fast food, you can fight this addiction together.
- Motivate yourself with other people's examples and surround yourself with support at this important stage in your life.
We recommend watching:
If our article could not push you to revise your diet, then watch the video from the Mad Den channel, which tells about the dangers of fast food, as well as what addiction to this type of food can lead to.
