At first, transitioning to a healthier lifestyle in which you fuel your body rather than following a restrictive diet can seem overwhelming. The statement is much more accurate if you are accustomed to the yo-yo dieting lifestyle, in which you alternate between restricting your food intake and eating anything and everything before embarking on another diet. This is where the benefit of removing junk food from the market comes into play. It means that you begin to drown out the less healthy foods by introducing more nutritious foods into your diet. It is a steady, step-by-step procedure that helps you become used to eating more healthy meals without feeling like you are on a diet.
Table of Contents
Why do we crave for junk food?
Many of supermarket snacks are manufactured with the “just right” quantity of sugar, salt, fat, and other chemicals to make us want to eat more of them, which is why they are so popular. Reduce your intake of processed foods by consuming as many nutritious, unprocessed foods as possible. Why? In general, the less junk food you consume, the less you desire. Test out the following suggestions to determine whether they are effective for you. (Take a bite out of one of these delectable treats that dietitians promise will help you to control your sugar cravings!)
14 Tips to make junk food unappealing
Fruits and Veggie Side Dishes should be included
When it comes to eliminating junk food from the diet, this is most likely the first step people take. Begin by including side dishes that are mostly composed of nutritious foods, such as fruits or vegetables. You are not substituting anything, but rather adding something new to your dish that is beneficial to you.
If you enjoy pasta and bread, go ahead and enjoy your pasta and bread, but don’t forget to serve it with a side salad or some vegetables on the side. It’s likely that you’ll cut back on your intake of bread and spaghetti, and that you’ll grow to appreciate your vegetables with time. This is applicable to any meal or snack that you are eating.
Incorporate vegetables into soups and sauces
There are a plethora of dishes that may be made healthier simply by including additional vegetables in them. Start with your soups and sauces, as these are the most straightforward. In addition to vegetables like onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and even diced bits of broccoli or cauliflower, tomato sauces are also delicious with seafood.
You may sneak in a significant amount of vegetables into your sauces. Soups are much more effective in increasing the amount of vegetables in your diet and so increasing the amount of nutrients you consume.
Make the Switch to Whole Grain Cereals and Breads
Although you may not want to eliminate grains such as rice from your diet, switching to whole grains can help you get more nutrients.
On a couple of days per week, swap out white rice or quinoa for brown rice or quinoa, and sweet potatoes for white russet potatoes instead of white potatoes. You don’t have to do this every time and you won’t have to eat a white potato again, but it will help to mix up the nutrients you get and allow you to experiment with other flavors.
First and foremost, consume nutritious foods
As you continue to crowd out the junk food on your plate, make a point of starting with the healthiest components of your meal and working your way down the line. Salad, vegetables or fruit, whole grains, and protein sources are frequently included in this category. Save your carbs and bread until the end of your meal, and stop eating when you’re satisfied.
It is a terrific way to get started eating healthier, but it is not a restrictive diet in the traditional sense. You may rapidly incorporate whole grains and vegetables into your diet without having to say goodbye to the meals you enjoy for good. Additionally, you can switch out the white rice for whole-grain pasta and the oats for quinoa to make it more interesting.
It does not imply that you must eat healthily all of the time indefinitely. Just another way to incorporate more nutritious items into your diet that also delectably tasty.
Keep the nutritious foods on hand
Healthy meals that you want to consume more frequently should be kept more prominently displayed. Junk food are so simple to consume—you simply rip open a bag and dig in. Imagine having red peppers ready to go, already sliced and ready to dip into hummus. It makes them all the more tempting to dip into hummus. Science, on the other hand, suggests that there is a connection. According to a study published in the journal Health Education & Behavior, those who only kept fruit on their kitchen counter had a lower body mass index (BMI) than people who had conspicuous places cluttered with candies, cereals, and soft drinks on their kitchen counter.
Sugars that are hidden in plain sight
Check the labels for added sugars as well as sugars that are labeled under different names. Sugar is referred to by a variety of different names. Fructose, brown rice syrup, evaporated cane juice, honey, and agave nectar are all examples of sweeteners to look for.
Recognize the meals that cause you to react
Whether you have a sweet desire for chocolate and red velvet anything or a salty tooth for pretzels, you should be aware of the items that might send you into a downward spiral of junk food consumption. Once you’ve determined who they are, keep them away from the house.
Do not use colored plates
The results of a 2018 study revealed that consumers ate significantly more pasta and soda when served on a red or black plate rather than a white one. When eating less overall, use a white dish and fill it with a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to provide some color to your meal.
Take in more than you need to
People will eat less if you can get them to chew their food more thoroughly. According to the findings of a study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, chewing more before swallowing resulted in participants eating smaller meals overall. Next time you sneak a goodie into your day, chew it slowly and deliberately. Wait until you’ve finished one bite before moving on to the next.
Change up your routine
Make it a tradition to walk around the block at 3 p.m. instead of going to the vending machine if that is what you typically do at that time. This may be enough to completely eliminate your urge. A 2015 study published in the journal PLoSOne indicated that taking a 15-minute walk reduced cravings for high-calorie, sugary snacks for a short period of time. As an added bonus, taking a short walk will provide you with the following benefits.
Keep sweets out of sight at all times
Move your food farther away from you so that if you want more, you have to make a conscious decision to do so rather than just eating it. People were more likely to snack on grapes, crackers, and chocolates when they were placed at arm’s length rather than when they were placed 20 feet away, according to a study published in PLoS ONE in 2017.
Make a fool of yourself
Educating yourself on what you’re really consuming is a definite strategy to reduce your consumption of Junk food. Here are a few examples of things that make us cringe: Those frozen “grilled chicken” breasts obtain their grill marks from a machine that uses vegetable oil to cook them. BHA, a preservative commonly found in processed foods such as chips and preserved meats, is still used despite the fact that the Department of Health and Human Services believes it is “reasonably predicted” to be a carcinogen.
Reduce your intake of junk food gradually
Don’t go cold turkey; instead, make small changes to your unhealthy eating habits over time. Consider the following scenario: if you have three sugars in your tea, you can cut it to two sugars for a few weeks and then work your way down to one sugar. Within a short period of time, you’ll realize that you only require modest amounts to satisfy your craving.
Take one raisin and savor it attentively
To begin, take up the raisin and inspect its texture and form, as well as its scent. Afterwards, gently place the raisin on your tongue and move it about in your mouth before beginning to chew it gradually. As you swallow it, maintain complete stillness while visualizing the raisin traveling throughout your body. Following the consumption of the raisin, ask yourself, “What does my body really require?”
Mindful eating can help you increase your parasympathetic dominance, which is a physiological process that causes your heart rate and breathing to slow down. Mindfulness practice in general has been shown to help raise levels of the anti-anxiety neurotransmitter GABA in the body. GABA, on the other hand, helps to moderate your appetite while also improving digestion.
More about clean eating articles!