How to Beat Your Food Addiction Before Dieting
One of the most difficult things in regard to starting a diet is giving up certain foods. Sticking to a diet is especially difficult at first. Here are some methods to help you get over your food addiction, so you can start dieting.
Don’t follow “miracle diets”
These types of diets promise extraordinary results in a short amount of time and with very little effort. They’re usual during the beginning of summer in order to get that infamous “bikini body”. Of course, most advice coming from these diets are false and are even harmful to your health.
Examples of miracle diets:
- The Hay diet: This diet was published in the 1920s and advised not mixing proteins and carbohydrates in a single meal. This is an example of false information with harmless consequences.
- Atkins diet: This diet is intended to reduce the consumption of carbohydrates from cereals, milk, legumes, and sugar products as much as possible.
Although a healthy diet shouldn’t have too many carbs, they’re essential nutrients which shouldn’t be excluded from your diet.
- The Dukan diet: This is a protein based diet of foods such as meat, fish, and eggs. It’s very imbalanced and it can cause health problems.
In general, “miracle diets” cause the body to store fat in large quantities when you change your diet, along with the “yo-yo effect”. This is your body’s way of compensating for the food deficit it experiences during the diet.
Don’t skip breakfast
Skipping breakfast is a common mistake many people do when dieting. If you want to lose weight and properly monitor your diet, it’s important not to skip the first meal of the day.
Otherwise, the only outcome you’ll get is a huge appetite and cravings before lunch, which makes it difficult to control your food consumption.
- That’s why, instead of eliminating or reducing your breakfast, you should substitute saturated fats like butter and pastries for fruits or grains.
- Doing so will help you stick to a more balanced and nutritious diet.
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Eat five meals a day
A food addiction is especially hard to overcome when you’re hungry. Therefore, you should eat more meals throughout the day, eat three heavy meals and two lighter ones.
Doing so will have your meals more spread out during the day, which in turn reduces hunger and food cravings between meals. In order to get the best results, it’s best to adjust your schedule so you can eat five meals.
Don’t have forbidden foods
Excluding certain foods from your diet will only make you become obsessed. You shouldn’t exclude anything out your diet unless you’re vegetarian, vegan, or don’t eat certain foods due to ethical reasons.
You should simply reduce your consumption of unhealthy products like candy, chocolate, ice cream, sweets, etc. A good way to eat that specific food you’re trying not to eat so much, is by eating it on a certain day of the week. You can considered it a reward for your efforts throughout the week.
Eat at the table, in a plate, and slowly
Eating while sitting at a table with a plate will help you keep track of how much you’re eating. Serving food on plates lets you estimate your portions in order for you to know if you are eating too much or not enough.
At the same time, eating slowly while being seated can help you feel fuller faster. Eating too quickly can cause you to overeat. If you’re someone who’s very hungry during lunchtime, than this step can help you to control your diet.
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