How to stay Clean, fight cravings

[amanda12485]

does anyone have any tips on how to stick to eating clean, I am having a hard time with cravings for bad food since i have tried to switch. i always end up caving and saying tomorrow i will do good and then tomorrow i say tomorrow again. any tips or help would be great.

 

[yelly]

Sounds like you're like me - all or nothing. I just recently started eating this way, and the only thing that worked was getting into it gradually. I started just using all whole grains instead of the white processed stuff. And instead of focusing on what I couldn't have, I focused on adding good stuff to my regular diet. After that was down, then I focused on taking out the bad stuff, especially sugar. I had one bad day, where my head was in a complete fog, I couldn't think, and I had a headache, but since then I've felt GREAT! Now I don't even crave junk. Like 2 days ago, my DH wanted me to make cinnamon rolls. I did, and I never even touched them! It was like they weren't even tempting! (that, for me, is miraculous).
So I guess I would say, don't start off demanding perfect clean eating. Do it gradually, focus on the positive foods you're adding to your diet instead of what you need to take away, and tell yourself that YOU CAN DO IT! Also, if you don't have it already, the book BFFM helped me tremendously with my motivation. Hope this helps, and don't wait till tomorrow. Start with your next bite of food!

Dani

 

[Alana_as]

Hey again Amanda! Well, for me, I never let myself NOT indulge! However, if I'm craving some ice cream or fries, seriously, I get the SMALL version of everything. or I eat JUST one serving! I notice the more i've done this, the less my cravings surface! Don't deny yourself, JUST DON'T OVER DO IT either! hehe That seems to work for me hun! =)

 

[hokypoky]

Try adding some extra protein - that helps with cravings. I also heard recently, "We crave what we eat." So the more junk food you eat, the more you crave it. This is certainly true for me!

 

[kirsten777]

Sorry this is so long. But here is a link to an excellent site I just found:

http://www.cleaneatingonline.com/

Anyway, here is my story:

I too, used to be an all or nothing gal. I'd throw away everything that was "bad", replace it with all clean food - then start craving the "bad" food, and go out and replace 1/2 of what I had thrown away!

Gradual changes are what worked for me as well. I've been eating clean for about 3 1/2 months, and haven't wanted anything that isn't clean for the past 2 months. Whenever I do eat something that isn't clean, I get sick to my stomach, and I can't even describe what my head was feeling like! Anyway, over the course of about 2 months I slowly started incorporating more and more clean foods and not even buying the crap. I now eat about 90-95% clean, and I have been reading in several places that 90% clean/10% whatever (though my whatever does tend to still be healthy, just not what I would normally eat - or if I decide I want a dessert, you can bet it ain't from the supermarket!) Plus I eat mostly organic.

Another key thing is to not beat yourself up about your food choices. Once I stopped doing that, it almost became a non-issue. I am actually quite amazed how effortless this transition has been for me - maybe I was just fed up with how I was feeling and my bad health.

The last thing I would suggest which has worked wonders for me is eating 6-8 meals a day. My "breakfast" is spread out over about 4 - 4 1/2 hours. Then I'll have a small snack about an hour before lunch, a 400 cal or so lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and sometimes a snack before bed depending on if I'm hungry or not. That's the other thing that is amazing, I don't overeat anymore, and I actually just listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full - it's been yyyeeeaaarrrsss since I did that! Anyway, for the past 3 months I've been averaging about a 2lb weightloss per week - of course this is all in conjunction with Cathe's awesome workouts!!!! Anyway, I hope that helps. Good luck with your journey!

Kirsten

 

[lkl]

Sounds like you're like me - all or nothing. I just recently started eating this way, and the only thing that worked was getting into it gradually. I started just using all whole grains instead of the white processed stuff. And instead of focusing on what I couldn't have, I focused on adding good stuff to my regular diet. After that was down, then I focused on taking out the bad stuff, especially sugar. I had one bad day, where my head was in a complete fog, I couldn't think, and I had a headache, but since then I've felt GREAT! Now I don't even crave junk. Like 2 days ago, my DH wanted me to make cinnamon rolls. I did, and I never even touched them! It was like they weren't even tempting! (that, for me, is miraculous).
So I guess I would say, don't start off demanding perfect clean eating. Do it gradually, focus on the positive foods you're adding to your diet instead of what you need to take away, and tell yourself that YOU CAN DO IT! Also, if you don't have it already, the book BFFM helped me tremendously with my motivation. Hope this helps, and don't wait till tomorrow. Start with your next bite of food!

Dani

I agree, make small changes and over time you won't be craving as much. i still get cravings and indulge, but it's not as often. dani, your amazing! i don't think i could make cinnamon rolls and not have one. good for you!