4 Keys to Breaking the Junk Food Habit

As I have been coaching Ideal Health Now clients and have myself been in Maintenance for several months now, I have been more and more aware of how easy it is for old habits to rear their ugly heads and sabotage progress. I have been reading many different sources that are all speaking to scientific research on the brain indicating that high fat, high sugar, high salt foods (especially high fat-high sugar combos) hijack our reward system and lead to us want more of these foods, unnaturally. These foods coincidentally are the very ones that caused our weight gain and many of our health issues in the first place! Many of us have been perplexed at the ability of these foods to “sneak in” and catch us unawares leading many times to overeating and delaying our recovery.

While it is easy to berate ourselves, feel weak-willed and discouraged, I hope you will see many of these foods and habits as just that, “habits” that are well-worn pathways in our brain.

While this speaks to relapse and “slips”, it doesn’t mean we can’t overcome these urges and habits and begin to live in the freedom of health and wellness.

It makes sense to begin even in Phase 1 to “retrain” your brain about what food really is and what food is really the “good” food (tasting, I mean).

 

The food industry has been giving us food that is over-stimulating and artificial for several years now. These high-fat, high-sugar and salt combos are not only high calorie but also are designed to keep us wanting more. Have you ever experienced eating a particular food and telling yourself you’ll just have a bite, or just one piece, and then go on to continue eating beyond full and/or more that what you wanted to eat? This is really a brain issue, not necessarily just a will power issue.

Some suggestions to begin retraining your brain are as follows:

1. Recite to yourself, either verbally or written, some new statements about food. Begin to look at clean, lean foods as the real food that satisfies you and is healing your body. Tell yourself that this is the food you crave and that your body desires. I would suggest you do this daily. Habits didn’t start overnight and these overstimulating foods have been very ingrained. This is a choice you can make or even an experiment you can do to see if you desire those high fat-high sugar- high salt foods less and those that feed your body and brain real nutrients more.
2. Begin to use other forms of reward instead of food. The food industry, including restaurants and especially advertising, have conditioned us to view eating as a form of entertainment and relaxation. Substituting a walk, allowing yourself to read a good book, take a hot bath, calling a friend are just a few options. Pick something that is particularly rewarding to you personally. And view these as rewards.
3. We all hear a lot about stress and stress reduction. Even if you aren’t aware of being under stress, in this world we live in, doing some daily stress reduction techniques can only be helpful. Yoga, meditation, prayer, a relaxation CD or app, deep breathing, laughing, and music are just a few things you can do for yourself and they don’t need a large block of time.
4. Make some food rules that address the slips that you are prone to engage in often like “I am a person who doesn’t eat sweets”, or “I am a person who declines party food”, or “I am a person who choses my health over immediate gratification”. Again, make these personal for you. Then when you are in an unexpected situation you have these rules to follow rather than beginning an argument in your head about eating or not eating a certain food (which means you will lose the argument in favor of eating!!).

I hope these will be helpful for you as you continue to make a life-long habit of healthy, clean eating. Remember that our world is geared to keep you coming back for more over stimulating, high calorie food which will sabotage your health and well being.

RESIST!! 🙂