How to give up junk food mu. Getting your figure ready for summer or how to give up unhealthy foods. Taking photos of food “before”

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Nutritionists have long drawn our attention: cravings for junk food depend more on the habits of our brain than on the habits of the body. Sometimes the flavoring additives that are generously supplied with such attractive harmful substances are addictive, but not to such an extent that it is impossible to get rid of it through an effort of will. Let's try to train our will and brain?

We are in website We decided to collect working tips that will help us understand what we buy in the store and approach the choice more consciously.

1. Read labels

A way to buy less that works. junk food- is to realize what we get with it. And this does not mean that you need to completely give up, for example, cookies. After all, by spending a little more time near the store shelf to read the ingredients, you can find a product that contains less sugar and no harmful preservatives or additives.

Finding less than 5 ingredients on a sausage package is difficult these days, but not impossible. Please note: if you see more than 5 items on simple products(dairy, baked goods, juices), this is an alarming indicator.

Many additives are used to improve consistency, thicken, increase product weight, and extend shelf life.

It's worth knowing that:

Manufacturers also use natural analogues of chemical preservatives; look for them on the packaging: citric acid, honey, salt, vinegar.
Are pectin added to sweets instead of gelatin? Great, it is considered more useful; it is not for nothing that this ingredient is used in eco-products.
E labeling on products is alarming, but it must be taken into account that not all “eats” are harmful. For example, E260 is just acetic acid, E500 - baking soda.
For example, riboflavin E101, pectin E300, ascorbic acid E440 - the composition of a regular apple.
The additive E250, or sodium nitrite, in the sausage indicates that the product is protected from the formidable botulinum toxin. Only this substance can resist him. IN large quantities Sodium nitrite is found in spinach.

3. Take photos of food

Visualization helps you control your diet, which is why nutritionists advise keeping a food diary. If you are determined to lose weight or eat healthy, then you won’t be able to eat a cake and quickly forget about it. The diary will not forget, but the photo will remind you.

You can “sum up” the amount of food you eat during the day in the evening, and this will help you adjust your diet and quickly get rid of extra pounds.

4. Replace a harmful product with a healthy analogue

Who will voluntarily replace a cheeseburger with carrots?! At first, the prospect of replacing one food with another does not inspire enthusiasm. Until you notice that your health is improving and the weight is going away. Such a replacement will sweeten the bitterness of parting and will allow you not to change eating habits sharp and radically. Popular alternatives that quickly get used to are:

milk chocolate - dark chocolate;
chips - popcorn without butter;
french fries - baked potatoes;
ice cream - frozen yogurt;
sweets for tea - dried fruits;
cookies - whole grain bread.

5. Diet variety

It is a well-known fact: cravings for harmful things are caused by a lack of useful elements in the body. This is easy to notice in the summer: when your favorite berries are ripening, you are no longer so drawn to candy, right?

If you have an uncontrollable urge to eat something fatty, or your body lacks calcium and fat-soluble vitamins, add dairy products, cheeses, and broccoli to your diet.
Cravings for flour indicate a lack of nitrogen and fats; eat more legumes, meat and nuts.
Craving something sweet, especially chocolate? The body lacks magnesium - seeds, nuts, and buckwheat make up for its deficiency.
Are you craving coffee? The body needs phosphorus and sulfur - cranberries and seeds contain them.
If your passion is ice cream, try adding rabbit, chicken and turkey meat to your diet - you are missing calcium and tryptophan.

6. Add More Colored Foods

Research has shown that Red color of food makes it more attractive and tasty from our brain's point of view. We tend to consider red food more nutritious and tasty, while green food, on the contrary, is not very attractive, “immature”.

Have you noticed that junk food often doesn’t have a particular color? The brain perceives baked goods, chips, cookies, and fast food as one whole. We eat “beige food” and don’t monitor satiety; the body demands more and more.

Now try to remember. Have you probably been on a diet or followed proper nutrition at least once in your life? Have you noticed that after giving up harmful products the condition of the skin, face, and body improves, we feel lighter and our mood improves.

Let's now take a closer look at how our body changes after giving up harmful foods.

Cleansing the body

A large amount of unhealthy, unhealthy food causes the body to become clogged and the food is slowly digested. As soon as you start eating right, a cleansing process occurs: waste and toxins are removed, excess weight is lost and metabolism improves.

Clean skin

Secondly, watch your skin. Many people often wonder why they have acne and rashes from time to time if they do not have bad habits and take care of their facial skin. So, the reason for this could also be junk food. Fatty, high-calorie foods lead to oily facial skin, clogged pores, which causes pimples and an unsightly oily sheen to appear on the face. Once you eliminate certain foods, you will see your skin appear fresher and your acne will go away on its own.

Weight loss

Of course, after eating junk food, all people gain pounds. But as soon as you stop consuming such products, in a few weeks you will not even notice how you will lose excess weight, and several centimeters will be removed from your waist and hips. After all, there is nothing better than feeling slim and attractive (Kate Moss has been talking about this for a long time).

Not proper nutrition always leads to a set excess weight. And if in your youth it seems that you can eat anything - you still won’t gain weight, then at a more mature age you begin to understand: you can’t deceive the body, anyway, junk food will sooner or later lead to gaining extra pounds.

The hardest thing in the process of weight correction is to give up these harmful foods and switch to proper nutrition once and for all. But this turns out to be not so easy to do, especially if a person is accustomed to eating poorly in general, he does not know how to plan his time and easily succumbs to the opinions of others.

Often people themselves don’t understand that they have become hostages of junk food, they don’t know why they can’t pass by another fast food, and chips are again in their grocery basket.

Let's look at the main reasons for addiction to junk food and find ways to get rid of them...

Reason 1. Family traditions

Even in early childhood, we develop most of our food rituals and habits.
If your family is used to having three courses for dinner, then, as you grow up, you won’t be able to imagine dinner without the first one.

It is in childhood that the family habit of finishing everything, trying everything that is on the table, eating certain foods, and eating up on holidays is formed.

Our parents play an important role, because they are the ones who decide how to build our relationship with food: scold us for poor appetite or allow us to leave the table half-starved, allow us to eat sweets before meals or forbid it, reward us with treats for good behavior or find something else encouragement

If there were incorrect food rituals and habits in your family, then you must analyze and correct them. This can be difficult to do. Psychoanalysis will help make the task easier.

Take a piece of paper and describe in detail how you sat down at the table as a child, what your mother most often cooked, how your holidays went, how your parents treated poor appetite, reluctance to eat certain foods, playing with food, whether you ate while watching TV.

Now carefully read what has been written and think about what eating habits are not considered healthy. Start getting rid of them today. Don’t worry - you will succeed, because you can get used to something new, forgetting about the old, in just 21 days.

Reason 2. Pressure from surrounding people

“Whoever you mess with, that’s how you’ll gain.” Are you familiar with this common expression? Indeed, our environment influences our habits, thoughts and behavior patterns.

It has already been proven that if you communicate among overweight people, then you yourself will be prone to gaining excess weight, and if there are slim people around, then there will be much more motivation to lose weight.

We all subconsciously copy the accepted model in the group in which we often find ourselves. Not many people agree to be a black sheep. That's why it's important to analyze your social circle and try to get away from common eating habits if they turn out to be harmful.

Is it common among your colleagues to dine at fast food? Do your colleagues drink beer on Fridays, often chip in and buy cakes and pies, and bring sandwiches with fatty sausage to work? Yes, you won’t lose weight with such habits.

In this situation, there are two ways out: take a leadership position and try to change group eating habits to the right ones, or, despite oblique glances, start following your own healthy habits.

The first is harder to do, but you won’t lose weight in society, but, perhaps, you will become everyone’s favorite and will be able to change to better life those around you.

It’s easier to act according to the second plan, but then you can lose a good relationship with colleagues and become a reason for unspoken discussions among colleagues.

In any case, maintaining the bad eating habits of those around you is more expensive for yourself, and you need to get rid of them. Try a soft tactic: start casually talking about how someone you know gave up junk food and was cured of some disease. Or, on the contrary, act on the principle of intimidation - tell horror stories about the consequences of poor nutrition. Fear is also contagious!

Reason 3. Taste tricks of manufacturers

It turns out that our addiction to junk food involves not only psychology, but also physiology. Receptors are responsible for the perception of tastes, and hormones are responsible for adherence to tastes.

For example, addiction to sweets is very easy to explain. Under the influence of sugar in the brain, dopamine receptors are irritated, which are responsible for the production of dopamine, the pleasure hormone.

Frequent consumption of sweets leads to dopamine addiction, the brain asks for more and more pleasure, and the person begins to indulge in sweets every day.

Fatty foods also affect our receptors in the brain. Research shows that fatty foods taste the best to our brains. This is where the craving for sausages, fatty meats, and fried foods comes from.

Spices added to food also interact with hormones and receptors. As a result, food seasoned with spices seems incredibly tasty to us, and we can no longer refuse spices when preparing homemade dishes.

Salt has a similar effect. We get used to salt, although we only need 5-10 g per day. Unsalted dishes seem bland and tasteless to us; our hand naturally reaches for the salt shaker, which only contributes to excess weight gain.

Another interesting fact is that different people have different attitudes towards bitter foods. There is a gene in our body that is responsible for the perception of bitter taste. Some people's DNA contains two copies of this gene, and as a result, such people are very sensitive to bitter tastes and avoid bitter foods: radishes, onions, beer, coffee, etc.

Changing physiological food habits is the hardest thing to do, but it is still possible. To do this, you need to gradually change your eating habits: reduce the amount of sugar and sweets consumed, replace sugar with healthy analogues (for example, stevia), reduce the amount of salt, reduce the use of spices, giving preference to dried herbs.

Reason 4. Replacing emotions with food pleasure

People who cannot or do not want to express emotions or who do not feel comfortable various reasons lacking emotions, they are often replaced with food pleasure.

Therefore, try to diversify your life, do what brings you positive emotions, what leaves a pleasant impression. Once your life becomes full, cravings for junk food will weaken or disappear altogether.

Have you noticed that happy people Do you stick to proper nutrition more often? Think about it!

Reason 5. Lack of control in life

Sometimes simple control makes it easy to overcome bad eating habits and cravings for unhealthy foods.

Keep a food diary and record in it what, when, in what quantity and under what circumstances you eat and drink. Now, using a calorizer, calculate the number of calories consumed per day and the B/F/U ratio. Analyze how your results differ from the norm and draw appropriate conclusions.

Now try to create a menu that meets your needs for proteins, fats and carbohydrates and does not go beyond your daily calorie needs. Again, use a calorizer.

Try to follow this menu. Even if it doesn’t work out right away, at least gradually move towards following the menu.

Advertising is the engine of trade, including trade in unhealthy food products. Marketers specifically show us chips on the entire screen, splashes from pouring cola, the golden crust of a freshly fried chop.

It looks delicious and makes you want to try it. And in the store, when you see a familiar package from an advertisement, your brain will dictate pleasant appetizing associations to you (those splashes, those crispy chips supposedly made from natural potatoes).

Advertisers know their stuff and can influence your choice. The only weapon that works against beautifully packaged advertising is your knowledge. Start carefully studying product labels, don’t be lazy to read what a particular product is made of, look for its calorie content and value in terms of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

Don’t let anyone or anything influence your eating habits, get rid of bad eating habits, act in a way that will be useful and beneficial for you. Good luck on your journey to a healthy lifestyle!

Did you find this article helpful? Then like us and write in the comments which foods you consider the most harmful, and how did you get rid of them?

Scientist Stephen Witherly studied the phenomenon of food and came to an amazing conclusion: it is our own brain that causes us to consume junk food.

A writer and activist healthy eating Michael Pollan, in his book The Omnivore's Dilemma, argues that the reason we love fast food lies in the great contradiction between the logic of nature and industrial food production.

In their books and reports, researchers not only share observations, but also give advice on how to overcome cravings for forbidden foods.

1. Check the ingredients

Michael Pollan advises avoiding foods with ingredients that a third grader couldn't pronounce. Most the right way Starting to buy less junk food means becoming more aware of what you're actually eating. If you dig deeper and find out the ingredients of your favorite products, it can become unsettling.

Chips don't always contain potatoes, and chocolate hazelnut spread is more than half sugar. The food additive E320 (butylated hydroxyanisole), which acts as an antioxidant and can be a potential carcinogen, is often added to sausages. And vitamin D3, which can be found on the yogurt label, is synthesized from sheep fat.

2. More colors

Have you noticed that healthy foods are often painted in the brightest colors, but junk food does not have an abundance of color shades (unless you use dyes)? Our vision perceives baked goods, chips, crackers and noodles instant cooking almost like one product, and, of course, requires supplements.

Food science and nutrition lecturer Susan Bowerman says too many people are on a "beige" diet of crackers, cereals and cookies. But we need to see at least three different colors food on their plates. So, instead of rushing out for another fancy bun, add a pop of color: a juicy red apple or a yellow banana.

3. Remember the five-ingredient rule

If more than five ingredients are listed on the label, this is a signal of a processed product. The “less is more” rule in in this case works without reservations.

Avoid products that contain ingredients you haven't heard of or wouldn't use in your home. Food emulsifier, lecithin, stabilizer - what is it? Many of the additives are used to extend the shelf life of the product, but even in this case, you can always find safe and natural analogues: salt, vinegar, citric acid, honey

Also avoid products that list sugar as one of the first three ingredients on the label.

4. Count down ten seconds before you throw an unhealthy product into your cart.

Michael Pollan advises asking the question before purchasing: “Would your great-grandmother consider this food?” Would she, for example, eat this poisonous-colored jelly from a plastic package?

Also, when purchasing, try to visualize the composition of this product. How it was prepared, how much sugar, flavor enhancers and preservatives were added, how much fat was used. Now put that pack of sausages back on the shelf.

5. Spend more time buying healthy food.

While walking through the market or supermarket, replenish your supplies of healthy foods. Fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts, natural yogurt, fresh herbs - the choice of foods for which the body will thank you is quite wide.

If you are used to chewing something, celery sticks will come to the rescue: you will never get better from them. And in order not to feel like a rabbit and get more pleasure from eating, you can prepare a light sauce for the chopsticks.

Store healthy foods where you can see them: in the front and center of the refrigerator, in a basket in the kitchen, on shelves and in desk drawers. Make sure you always have vegetables and fruits on hand to snack on. For example, dip pieces bell pepper in hummus.

6. Desserts can be healthy

The most a big problem, which probably everyone faces is a craving for sweets. It's not easy to give up a cake or cupcake. But high-carbohydrate foods can be replaced with their dietary counterparts, and Instagram is replete with pages about healthy eating with detailed recipes.

Make homemade ice cream. Put the berries in freezer, and then finish off your evening meal with them as a sweet dessert. Make granola bars at home: place two cups in a blender oatmeal, a large apple, a pear or a banana, a handful of dried fruits and nuts. Spread this mixture in a thin layer on a baking sheet and bake at 180°C until light golden brown crust. Now you won't need to run for buns.

7. Chew your food thoroughly

More than a hundred years ago, obese Horace Fletcher put forward an amazing concept: chewing food more than 32 times can help you lose weight. Japanese scientists studied this habit in even more detail and came to the conclusion that it is indispensable for health and longevity.

Insufficient chewing of food leads to metabolic syndrome: increased blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. The more attention is paid to grinding food, the easier it is for the body to digest it.

If you are able to chew longer and harder, you will eat less. Try chewing your food slowly and mindfully. One bite, 32 chews, swallowing and then the next bite.

8. Take more photos of your diet

Researchers led by Lydia Zepeda from the University of Wisconsin at Madison ten years ago concluded that photographing food helps you give up unhealthy foods and lose weight.

The results of an experiment with 43 volunteers confirmed that visualization helps you control your diet. Researchers believe that, armed with a phone camera and a food diary in which you record how you feel after eating, you can actually shed a few extra pounds from your waist.

Therefore, when you see another food photo on Instagram, don’t judge too harshly: perhaps this is how its author fights bad habits in nutrition.

Bonus: Why do we love junk food so much?

Stephen Witherly in his talk “Why do people like junk food?” says that there are two factors that make you particularly enjoy junk food.

Sensation of taste, smell and melting of food in the mouth

Food companies spend millions of dollars to understand what the ideal consistency of a particular product should be. In this they are helped by dynamic contrast (for example, a combination of a crispy shell with a soft filling), foods with hidden calorie content that quickly melt in the mouth (the brain does not even have time to understand how much you actually ate) and foods that cause active salivation (mayonnaise, various sauces, hot chocolate).

Food composition

Food manufacturers use the perfect combination of salt, sugar and fat that most excites your brain and keeps you coming back to eat this type of food again and again.

But the good news is that numerous studies show that the less you eat junk food, the less you crave it. Some people call this process "gene reprogramming."

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11.06.2016

It often happens that a person who has been inspired by stories about how to eat healthy decides to do it abruptly. As a result, it lasts for a week, after which the stomach and tongue take over - and everything returns to normal. The person gets upset and gives up this idea altogether, but in vain, since a sudden transition is not the lot of all people. Many people switch to healthy eating gradually - I am a classic example of this.

How long did it take me to transition?

I really loved pancakes with condensed milk. Of course, I didn’t eat them every day, occasionally, and one day the following event happened: my wife baked delicious vegetarian pancakes, I looked at them and put them aside. How long do you think it took for this last frontier to fall?.. Several years….

In 2011, I ate everything. By the end of the year I gave up meat, chicken and fish and for the first 3 months I was constantly hungry. I devoured everything else with pleasure, without any special restrictions.

In 2012, I also gave up eggs, even if they were included in some products, for example, as egg powder. I could eat fried potatoes and thought it was normal.

In 2013 – drank black and green tea. I haven’t yet paid much attention to sweets or flour or meal times. I started doing yoga and various health practices irregularly. There was almost no fried food, but I could afford it.

In 2014, I still did not hesitate to buy cookies, chocolates and various delicacies in the supermarket. I loved eating pizza at a restaurant. I hardly drank tea, and I didn’t drink coffee either. I did yoga and various health practices irregularly.

In 2015, I looked with horror at the delicious treats that were sold in the supermarket. Only specialized stores or home production. I didn't drink tea or coffee at all. Every day I performed health practices from yoga and special systems. Fried potatoes caused wild horror.

In 2016, I reduced dairy products to a minimum, and they are close to being completely eliminated from the diet. All that was left from the milk was sour cream; even cheese is a thing of the past. There are almost no flour and sugar delicacies left... Of course, I can very rarely treat myself to something, but I don’t really want to... and this pampering never goes beyond certain limits.

Look how slowly everything happened for me. Gradually, one after another, harmful foods were excluded from the diet, addiction and cleansing took place... This all did not happen in one day, most of my friends also followed approximately the same path.

Once upon a time it seemed scary and wild to me to exclude meat, but then I began to feel extreme disgust for it. I once thought that I couldn’t eliminate cheese, since I really love this taste, but the time came when the body itself began to ask for it. The trick is that the body itself asks, awareness increases, the transparency of feedback from the body increases, receptors are cleansed and little by little everything happens by itself.

Of course, you can’t go anywhere without willpower.

Willpower is definitely required, but it’s one thing when you simply forbid yourself to eat something, and another when you really realize the benefits of this action, an internal desire to do it appears, and then it becomes easier to come to an agreement with your tongue and stomach.

There are, of course, people who switch to a raw food diet at the moment, but I have met very few of them. Therefore, you should not be upset if you are unable to suddenly change your lifestyle in one day; it may take you several years, like me, before you radically change your lifestyle. But if you want to live a healthy and fulfilling life, then you have no other way than to start taking seriously what you eat.

What you eat affects your entire body. On the gastrointestinal tract, all organs, vessels, joints.
The purity of your food affects your energy levels and quality. The better you eat, the less stress, depression, bad mood. More positive, joy. More willpower!
Nutrition seriously affects your thinking and worldview. More clarity, you see more truth, you better feel your purpose and where you should go in life.

Of course, you won’t get out on nutrition alone. You also need movement and a certain internal attitude, but nutrition is the foundation.

The most interesting thing is that my transition to a different type of nutrition was always closely connected with spiritual and personal growth: the more I gave life priorities questions about the soul, the meaning of life, the more I became calm, trusted life, my heart, the more I thought about what I eat, about how I feel my body.

If you decide to give up junk food, then you need motivation and parallel work on all aspects of your life.

What motivation could there be to stop eating everything indiscriminately?

Positive. Write down all the benefits that you will get from healthy eating, listen to the inspirational stories of those who already get great pleasure from healthy image life. It seems to me that for most this motivation will not work very effectively.

Through fear. This is a more powerful argument, especially when something really starts to hurt. If you don’t take care of your nutrition, then there are many chances that your life may quickly become not very joyful, because what joy is there when there is no health. Loss of health is not only pain, because it begins to interfere with earning money and actively spending leisure time.

Without parallel work on yourself, there is practically no chance.

As many successful and famous people have said, proper nutrition is more than just a diet. This is a way of life, a way of thinking, spiritual and personal growth.

It’s difficult to stop deciding how to give up junk food, stop eating cookies in the evenings, if you constantly watch TV, feel stressed, have no harmony inside, don’t spend time in nature, live someone else’s life, have a broken daily routine, a mess in business, depression.

It’s another matter when you are active and mobile, think about how to develop your soul, know how to work with your internal states, follow the path of your calling, get up early, and so on.

Agree that without putting your life in order, thinking that you will switch to healthy food in an instant is on the verge of the impossible.

Most people spend years banging their heads against the wall to get their diet in order, grinding their teeth to avoid eating all sorts of crap, and nothing works out. They break down and become unhappy from such restrictions. Why?

You need to work on all aspects of your life. This is not easy, since too many new and useful habits have to be introduced into life, too many “weeds” have grown in your garden of life, you often need to pull them out one by one, which means it takes time.

If you heard me and decided to take care of your whole life, and not just think about how to eliminate sugar or flour, then my following articles will help you:

Be healthy and have many years of active life!

Comments:

Anna 06/15/2016

Thank you for the article! Very helpful information, I smoked for 20 years, 3 years ago I quit smoking, it only took a month, not years, but a clear reason why I was doing this led to good consequences. everything went painlessly and successfully. working with your consciousness undoubtedly bears fruit, I always read your articles and try to follow your advice. Of course, I immediately wanted to read about pancakes with condensed milk))) I love baking and all sorts of goodies))) I understand that the addiction is the same as from cigarettes, but today this is my weakness, but I’m working on it)))) thank you Once again, I wish you all enlightenment and spiritual growth!!! I love everyone, GOOD LUCK to everyone!!!