Kick Junk food - for good!
Do you make a habit of
saying "no"?
This post is part of a series on nutritional habit changed called Next Habit Nutrition. Click here to read the introduction.
Picture this:
It's Wednesday afternoon and you're in a slump. The previous weekend you resolved to cut all "junk food" from your diet, but last night you couldn't sleep because some jerk's car alarm kept going off. You had a healthy lunch, but it just wasn't enough. You're tired, and to top it all off your boss just yelled at you.
You're hungry, you're grumpy, and you know there is leftover birthday cake in the break room... so you say "eff it" and hoover that cake down like it's spring cleaning.
...and 15 minutes later you're beating yourself up for "cheating" on your diet.
Feeling like crap, you scrap your plans for a healthy dinner and order takeout Chinese instead.
Sound familiar?
Sticking to your guns is HARD...
I've been there. Everyone who's ever tried to quit smoking, change their eating, or start with the gym knows the feeling of trying to stay on track, falling short of their own goals, and beating themselves up. Just this summer I was gung-ho on my new program and then life got really hard (like life or death, huge family change, OMG I can't take it hard) and, nutritionally, I fell back on my old habits. My stress got the better of me. Like you, I beat myself up for a minute - but then chalked it up to experience and started looking for how to learn from it.
It's what you do when you make a mistake that defines success vs failure.
Side bar: If you're reading this right now and feeling crummy that it's you: give yourself a break. You're human and this is a process. But also own that though change is hard, you can totally do it. And the tips in this post will help you in the journey to change your habits.
Mastering change starts with understanding how habits themselves work:
Trigger, Habit, Reward
Most of what we do in a given day isn't a conscious decision. Something happens (a trigger), we respond out of habit, and it results in an outcome (reward). In his excellent book Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg details this habit loop concept. Learning about habit loops was a game changer for me as a person and as a coach. If you can observe how your habits are structured you can learn to hack your own brain! That's bananas!!
And sure, it takes discipline and awareness; but it means you can accomplish literally anything your genetics are capable of.
So let's get back to the habit loops. You get a trigger or cue, you run the habit, you get the reward (sometimes the "reward" is just the cessation of the trigger). Examples:
Your alarm rings, you shut it off, you don't have to listen to it anymore.
Your mouth feels gross, you brush your teeth while you think about a million other things, you get that minty fresh feeling.
You're hungry, you eat, you feel satisfied.
But wait...what happens when that last one gets rewired?
What happens when the cycle is "Your partner makes you upset, you eat, you feel a little better"? or "You're stressed at work, you have a candy bar to break the stress"?
Over the course of our development we can unintentionally create habit loops that derail our long term goals.
The key to long-term success in change is owning what the habit is really about and finding something else that satisfies it. Instead of just pretending you have willpower like a Samurai, be honest with yourself. Then find something else to replace the junk food but still feel better:
Do you eat junk because you're tired? Go for a 5 min walk outside to wake up
Do you eat junk because you're lonely? Hang out with a friend
Do you eat junk because you're legit hungry? Add more healthy fat to the previous meal so tomorrow goes better
You might be thinking: you're making this sound more simple than it is. But honestly, the idea is that simple! It's the self awareness and consistency that's hard.
Remember: you're a scientist of your own body and self! Run experiments to see what works - and even falling short of success gives you information. Why did you struggle at 2p? Is it only on days you have pizza for lunch? Or only on days you didn't get enough sleep the night before? Use that big, beautiful brain to look at what habits come before that could be setting you up for success or failure.
We all know what "junk food" is...
I don't have to sit here and detail for you why sugar is bad (but I'll link to it just in case you do need that information) - we all know that candy bars are bad for our insides, cheeseburgers make us slow and fat, and soda is basically eating you alive. So ask yourself: why am I really eating this? Why do you continue to do this to your body if you know it's bad for you?
This may require you to dig in emotionally, as well. Most of our worst nutritional habits have nothing to do with, well, nutrition. They have to do with how we process our feelings, what we're willing to own about ourselves, and some of our toughest truths. For years I overate every time I was with my extended family, completely differently than when I'm at home. I told myself it was because there wasn't enough healthy options; but my parents now eat Paleo, so there always are. I had to recognize my anxiety, be honest with myself, and OWN my baggage to get around my feelings. Start observing your emotional state when you reach for foods you've previously sworn off, and you'll likely find some feelings you weren't anticipating.
It's ok if you have to seek a professional to help you work through these things. I recommend a cognitive behavioral therapist - and the book Beck Diet Solution (link on the right) for additional support.
Have a Fail Safe
So you're observing your habits: check!
You're finding other things that satisfy your deeper cravings around junk food: check!
You've gotten help when you need it: check!
There's one last tool in your arsenal. Once you've identified your junk food related habits and you've made your plan to "do something else" for your habit loop, keep this tool in your back pocket: know what else you'll have if you're going to snack. Choose ahead of time to have an apple, banana, protein shake, leftover chicken - whatever! Have a healthy choice on deck so that the siren song of the sugar can't suck you in. I like to also remind myself "If I'm actually hungry I'll want something healthy" ~ if chicken or nut butter don't sound good that's because it's a junk food craving, not hunger. There should be something else I can do to satisfy it if I own what it's really about (typical Coach Dar: if I want junk food I'm either bored or anxious).