How To Finally Stop Eating Junk Food - fit.dev™
How To Finally Stop Eating Junk Food
I used to eat junk food almost every day. One day, I just stopped. It took me a decade of ‘trying’ for me to finally give in and eat healthy foods.
Before we go into that, next time you’re watching TV and it cuts to a break, have a closer look. Don’t just ignore the commercials, pay closer attention.
You’ll begin to notice the absurd amount of advertisements pushing you to order take-away food. What’s ironic is these tend to sky rocket during sporting events.
Sure, the occasional take-away is good for the soul, but these foods are addictive. Deliberately addictive. It’s almost like they aren’t in your best interests.
Corporations literally have meetings about how to make their food so addictive that you will continue to order it.
Do they care what effects it has on your body? Hell no. That’s your responsibility.
This is where we get primal: humans are lazy creatures. We love to sit, relax, indulge. If we can easily do that, for little money and effort, it’s like a golden ticket.
Fast foods take advantage of this, and it’s incredibly easy to get caught in the trap. I know, I’ve been there.
What’s amusing is that after over-indulging is we usually finish with phrases like “ugh I wish I didn’t eat that much” and “I’ll regret that later”.
Then we continue eating to release endorphins (endorphins that exercise also releases - so yes, your buzz can be straight-up replaced). At this point, you are addicted to food and eating to make yourself feel better. It’s in the same way we use social media, to get a quick buzz and hit to take some of the daily boredom away. You open an app, and scroll scroll scroll. For what reason?
Are you trying to cover up your feelings? Hiding pain? Had a shitty week? There are better ways to deal with all of those topics than turning to food.
Food is the easy way, and remember - the foods you eat are designed to make you crave them more and more. Is it ethical that the food industry rarely/never promotes anything ‘healthy’? Why do I have to go out of my way in a supermarket to find healthy foods?
This aside, I now want to tell you what worked for me and how I overcame eating junk food. I hope it can work for you too if you’re in the same place I was. Combined with the insights above, I don’t see why you can’t kick the habit.
Here’s what happened: I started swimming. Every day! I bought a Garmin Swim 2 watch and started learning how to swim. I started feeling the cardio benefits, I got faster, stronger and lost a little bit of weight. Good. We have all attempted to lose weight, so how did I ‘make it stick’ this time?
30kg (66lbs) weight-loss. No diets, just eating like a triathlete!
Then one swim, it just hit me like a switch. I ate so well for a week alongside daily swimming, then had a pizza…
My next swimming session was a disaster! I genuinely remember that swim as clear as day. Pizza just made me slower. My swim time was slow. I felt awful. I had to work twice as hard. My breathing was all over the place. It wasn’t enjoyable. My muscles ached. I hadn’t eaten the right foods to provide me energy and help repair my muscle. I felt and probably looked bloated.
Was it worth it? In this instance, no! It was stopping me hit my goal: swim fast! I wasn’t on a weight-loss mission.
If you’re in the same rut of eating junk food constantly then try this too:
For 7-days, eat like an athlete. This does not mean go on a “diet”. Athletes don’t diet. In fact, I actually eat more now than I used to when I was very overweight.
It means change your diet, to energy foods and protein-heavy foods. Learn about nutrition, slowly. You don’t need to be a macro-counting expert, counting calories down to the number - I don’t do any of that!
Diets suck. They are boring. You will never stick to it and then you will give up and indulge again. The goal is to introduce a sustainable habit.
To fully quit the junk, you need to see first hand how incredible you will feel eating ‘clean foods’. That in itself should help you kick the bad eating habits.
“But what do I eat, Todd?!”
Simple, start by reading Lucy Charles-Barclay’s diet. Then create your own variant. Reading her experience on how she fuels her body really helped me learn how to fuel mine and pay more attention to how foods make me feel and perform. Not to mention, look how simple it is.
Lucy is a pro triathlete for Red Bull, her performances are incredible and I’d highly encourage you to follow her and learn more.
You don’t need to overcomplicate your food. You don’t overcomplicate the fuel you put in your car. Food is your fuel, nothing more and nothing less. I’m sure you wouldn’t put dodgy fuel into your car, so why do we put junk into our bodies without a second thought? That’s my thinking anyway.
Once you have spent a while eating foods that fuel your body and mind, you will never go back. I hope you make the jump!