How To-100: "How to Avoid the Temptation to Eat Unhealthy Foods"

How to Avoid the Temptation to Eat Unhealthy Foods

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Are you trying to avoid eating unhealthy foods but can't fight the cravings? Some foods are just addictions, so breaking them are difficult. Here is a good starting place to put you on the yellow brick road to healthy eating This article may be able to help.

Steps

1. Identify your craving. You might be hungry just because you are bored, you have an addiction to food, or your body lacks something it needs.
   
• Chocolate- Magnesium; be careful women, during menstruation magnesium levels drop. Instead try fruits, nuts, or supplements
  
• Sugar/ Simple Carbohydrates - Protein & complex carbohydrates. A little science lesson: Carbohydrates break down into sugars. Sugar is a very fast metabolized molecule so its not a good source of long term energy. Your best sources of energy are protein and complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates come from unprocessed grains.
  
• Fried food- Calcium/ OMEGA 3 Fatty Acids; This is good fat! Try eating more fish, or check your grocery store for milk, cheese, or eggs, that contain theses fats plus they have calcium (they will say they do)
  
• Salt- Dehydration/ Vit B/ Chloride. This one is a bit harder because it could also be due to stress which could lead to Vit B deficiently. When you want something salty try to drink a glass of water and relax.
  
2. Remove the rituals You dont need dessert after dinner. You dont need the candy at the movies. You dont need a donut with your coffee. Before theses rituals try to be prepared with a healthy alternative.
   
3. Remove temptations.Just get rid of it, and to keep yourself from buying more never go to the grocery store hungry. When you dont have anything to eat except healthy food, going out of your way for a candy bar will be too much work
   
4. Avoid Boredom + Food. There is a lot more to do than eat.
   
5. H2O Drink it, its good. The water intake recommended does NOT include the water you receive from food. If you feel thirsty, this means you are already dehydrated - and dehydration can often be confused with hunger.
   
6. Most of us need to lower our cholesterol levels to remain healthy or become healthy. To do that we need to understand the foods we eat and which ones affect our cholesterol but we also have to understand weight, exercise, and genetics and how all of these elements are part of our overall health.

Tips

• Eat your meals slowly, with other people, and at a table made to hold a plate and have chairs around it.
  
• There are many other things you can do instead of snacking. A short list includes: read the paper, watch a ball game, draw a picture, cut the lawn, plant some flowers, drink a cup of tea, call a friend, take a walk, groom your dog, watch a sitcom, learn a foreign language, do a dance routine, read a book, or research something. So get up off your lazy rear!
  
• "Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels"
  
• Start slowly, its easier to stick to.
  
• Eating healthy is a lifestyle, not a quick fix to a problem

Warnings

• Eating disorders affect 15% of young woman and men. This number is on the increase. They are very harmful. The most common are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. Anorexia Nervosa is when you do not allow yourself to eat or when you induce vomiting, take laxatives or exercise excessively in order to lose weight, causing the body to starve. Bulimia is characterised by binge-purge behavior- you consume large amounts of food seemingly uncontrollably, but force yourself to vomit or take laxatives, exercise or fast (purge) in order not to gain weight from binges. Both can kill you, so always consume food sensibly. If you really want to stay healthy, the best thing to do is eat good food with nutritional value. If you suspect you have an eating disorder, seek professional help immediately.
  
• "In Moderation" does not work for everyone. Some foods trigger people, and just like an alcoholic cannot have just one glass of wine, a sugarholic cannot have just one piece of candy. It is better to eliminate the foods you binge on or find a good substitute for them. That way you can eat normal portions of healthy food, instead of craving and eating bad junk.

Related wikiHows

• How to Be a Health Nut
  
• How to Choose the Best Diet
  
• How to Stick to Your Diet During the Holidays
  
• How to Make Low Carb Dieting Simple and Easy
  
• How to Get Started on a Low Carb Diet
  
• How to Add Fruit to Your Diet

Sources and Citations

• http://www.greenfacts.org/en/aspartame/aspertame-sweetener/index.htm
  
• http://www.naturopathyworks.com/pages/cravings.php
  
• Virtue, Doreen. Constant Craving: What Your Food Cravings Mean and How to Overcome Them

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