Food addiction is becoming more and more of a thing that gets talked about nowadays. Sugar is addictive, caffiene is addictive, etc. Some people try to lose weight and deal with this problem by just eliminating the food entirely. Do you think you could go the rest of your life without eating sugar or drinking coffee, or whatever the "problem" food may be for you? Personally, I think the better approach is to learn to control your portions and stop eating for comfort rather than demonize certain things. Anybody have any experience with diet restrictions like this? Are these claims that you can actually get addicted to food itself misleading?
I guess what you said makes sense. For me, the most evil foods that I love are chips and chocolates. Since these are really bad when eaten excessively, I try to eat them once in a while. I do not stock up on these food items. I fill the fridge with healthy options like fruits and nuts. But when I am actually craving chips or chocolates, I buy small packages enough to satisfy my craving. I tend to binge eat them when I buy them in bigger packages. I guess you can get addicted to food especially if you let yourself to. Buying them occasionally is okay. Eating them once a month is okay. But eating them everyday, especially fast food, chips or chocolates can be bad for your health.
The first thing I would cut is sugar and this is the hardest one because sugar is everywhere and we are all sugar addicts. So if we can cut on sugar and processed foods we are good to go.
I stopped eating meat two months ago. I'm not a very big fan of it, but I liked chicken and sausages. For me, restricting your problem food is easier than not restricting it, but eating it in reduced amounts. Every time I had tried to do this, I found myself binging on it again. Living a healthy life has more benefits than some minutes of pleasure though.
I have cut out drinking dairy because it causes me to have acne and because I have asthma. I also love eating chocolate and I won't cut that out my diet. The trick is to eat dark chocolate since that will give you more benefits than regular milk chocolate which is usually loaded with sugar.
For me sugar and carbs in general are my main problem. I'm trying to deal with my addiction right now, but it's hard. I am highly addicted to carbs and sugar, some weekends I end up feeling so damn guilty I'd love to be able to completely cut sugar from my diet, but is not easy at all! I think I need some extra help and motivation to do this. I feel a bit like my fiance who is a smoker... I guess he feels the same way I do... I like to eat sugary stuff and carbs ever weekend.. nothing bad has happened yet, so I don't feel motivated enough to stop this carb binge eating that takes place every weekend.
I think balance is key here. It's always good to drink coffee with a friend from time to time or if you're not feeling awake in the morning, but when you're starting to drink 2-3 coffees a day you should ask yourself about what you're doing. Don't sweat it, just be yourself and try to eat moderately.
I also love dark chocolate. My husband though does not. He loves regular milk chocolate and can finish a whole pack of Cadbury in one sitting. I just cannot do that as I tend to get nauseous when I overeat milk chocolate. Dark chocolate is a nice way of eating cacao and getting some more benefits other than the sugar high.
Sugar is my big problem. I eat too much of it basically every day. But I just try to cut down on it, not eliminate it and then go crazy and binge.
It is not bad to eat foods that you like as long as it is healthy and you are eating in moderation. But in excess to that it is not good already. Too much sugar and fatty foods can harm your health that is why you should watch your diet if you want to have a healthy life.
Ahhh, I've actually been thinking about this a lot recently. It seems like everyone I know is doing something like this - it's their no gluten month or their whole 30 paleo challenge or the I quit sugar program. I am all for healthy eating, but I think some people can have a tendency to mask disordered eating habits with this idea of "being healthy" or things like that. To me it's a fine line.
I reckon bacon can be quite fattening and also should be eaten on some days, which needs to be cooked well and also, cream which is used in muffins can be filling but too sweet which is something I try and limit. In this day and age, we tend to go for the easy foods which may have more fat and also need to watch the amounts, as it can be easy to consume more than needed. I reckon in winter I tend to eat pastry food in cold days like a pie or a burger to fill the stomach as it can be really windy, and cold and it is easy to feel like eating hot food which may fill the stomach but not good for the health.
I eat to fill every emotion, the good and the ugly. So I do not have a comfort food I just have an obsession to food. My best approach has been to fall in love with other things. By keeping occupied, I even forget to eat.
Even the most health conscious person will resort to eating 'junk' food at some point or another. The important thing is to consume everything moderately. You can't even eat a lot of bananas on a daily basis as they have high sugar content. If you need to cut something out of your diet, you should do it. You'll feel better and live longer.
When I found out I was pregnant, I cut out all caffeine and artificial sweeteners. There are studies that show caffeine may cause miscarriages, and that artificial sweeteners (aspartame, in particular) may cause cancer and birth defects. I did not want to risk either of these, so I completely gave them up. Even now, after having given birth to my baby, I do not consume caffeine or artificial sweeteners, and I feel great! I used to be heavily dependent on caffeine in the mornings in order to function, however, now that I do not consume it I feel like I have more energy throughout the day. It is freeing to know that I do not need a cup of coffee to get going, plus the added benefit of all of the money I save buy not buying any of those things anymore.
Agree that moderation is the key since eating those foods sometimes or once in a while will not really hurt. It will be hard to eliminate sugar and caffeine since a lot of foods contain it and we also need some of those to have a balance.
Yes sure. I've kind of come to the conclusion that restricting calories doesn't work. We need to eat and eat the right things. I've tried all sorts of different eating plans but I love the one I am doing now. Its High carb vegan. You can look it up to see how it works. It is as much fruit and vegetables as you want. Fruit is pretty much unlimited. Potatoes and rice in fairly large amounts. You get so carbed up that you don't think at all about other foods.
I tried to stop eating anything "white" two years ago, and it worked - for a month. I really did lose weight, I felt great, I had more energy, yada yada. But I couldn't keep at it. In my culture, eating rice every meal is the norm, so I'm really quite in love with rice. All it took was one rice meal for me to fall off the wagon.
I think I won't be able to resist the food that is prohibited for me if I want to lose weight, so no wonder I'm still the same. I think it's more of gluttony than food addiction, because being addicted to food should disrpupt your routine, and food doesn't really do that.