These Foods Are Ruining Your Progress: How to Gain Control Over "Addictive" Foods

Let's say you've been on track with your nutrition. You've been eating healthy foods and having the occasional treat. You feel great.

Then one day you're at the grocery store and you decide to pick up a box of Oreos. You love them. After all, everything is fine in moderation, right?

Maybe not.

You sit down on the couch and treat yourself to two Oreos. That's a reasonable amount. But.. after those two you decide to have another. Just one more won't hurt. Then... you grab another. And another. And another. Before you know it the full box of Oreos that you bought an hour ago is sitting on the coffee table empty. HOLY CRAP. You feel like shit.

This isn't even the first time this has happened. It seems like every time you buy those god damn Oreos you lose all self control.

So, what are trigger foods?

In the example above, Oreos are the trigger food.

Trigger foods are like the ex you can't seem to leave alone. You tell yourself over and over that you're done with him. Then,,, as soon as you he hits you with that 2 a.m. "wyd?" text, all of that seems to go right out the window.

Everyone has different ones. You know those food where when you eat them you just can't seem to make yourself stop? Maybe you know you've already eaten way too many chips, but you keep eating them away. It's almost like they're addictive. You can't help yourself.

Mine is ice cream. If I buy a pint of ice cream, there's a 90% chance it will be gone within an hour. I tell myself I'm going to have just one serving. After I eat one serving, I'll tell myself just a few more bites won't hurt. Before I know it, the pint of Ben and Jerry's that I was planning to make last the week is already empty.

Now that you know what trigger foods are, you're probably wondering how to deal with them.

How to Identify Your Trigger Foods

The first step to taking control is identifying which foods are causing you problems.

1. Reflect on your past behaviors

Think about the past few times you've over eaten. Which foods do you have trouble putting down, even when you're full.

2. Keep a food diary

Write down the foods you eat and take note of which ones you tend to eat too much of.

Sometimes it can be hard to remember what foods we've over eaten if we don't take the time to write it down. You might think there isn't a pattern, but looking back at your journal you might see that 90% you over eat you were eating chips.

3. Take note of the tastes and textures

Different people have different tastes. For some people, sweets might be hard to resist. Others may have no problem saying no to that second cookie. Same thing with textures. Some people may find the crunchiness of potato chips addictive. Others may have problems with soft foods, such as pizza and rolls.

Knowing which types of foods you have trouble controlling is important. If you know always eat sweets in excess, you can be extra careful to use self control next time you eat them.

4. Pay attention to changes

Your food preferences often change over time. You may outgrow your love for sweets, and start enjoying salty foods more. Make sure you pay attention to the way your eating habits change.

Self-awareness is an important step to having control over your food.

Don't let food control you.

3 Steps to Managing Trigger Foods

1. Don't beat yourself up

Everyone over eats sometimes. It's nothing to feel guilty about.

It's not your fault. Processed food is purposefully made to be addictive. It tricks your brain into wanting more.

I promise no matter how much you ate, you are not going to gain 10 lbs overnight.

One salad won't make you skinny, and one bad day won't make you fat.

PLEASE don't try to eat less or over exercise the day after to make up for it. I know it might feel like a good solution. It's not.

Doing this can create a cycle of binging and restricting. To make up for the extra calories, you eat less for the next few days and do a shit ton of cardio. Problem "solved" right? Wrong. If you do this you'll be so hungry and low on energy that when you do eat again, you won't have control. Your body will want any food it can get its hands on and lots of it. You end up overeating again. You feel bad about it, so you restrict yourself again. This cycle will just keep repeating itself. It's terrible for both your physical and mental health.

Instead, if you overeat just get back on track the next day. Eat the same amount of calories you normally would. Do the same amount of exercise you normally would.

Don't worry about yesterday. It's a new day. Start fresh.

2. Buy Smaller Portions

If you know you're going to end up eating the entire bag, just buy smaller bags.

When it comes to foods like chips, it can be hard to limit yourself to just one serving. It's super easy to eat mindlessly and end up consuming way too much.

Try buying snack size bags with just a single portion. Since I know the individually packed portions can cost more, you can also portion out your food yourself. Buy a big bag of chips, but divide the servings up into sandwich bags ahead of time. That way when you're super tired after work, you can just grab a serving instead of having to either weigh it out or grab the entire family sized bag.

When I'm craving ice cream, I might buy individually wrapped ice cream sandwiches instead of a pint. There's obviously some foods this wouldn't work for, but it works for most of the typical "junk" foods.

Tip: Invest in a food scale

While you don't have to weigh out every little thing you eat, a food scale can be useful. I especially recommend one if you're not losing weight even though you've been eating in a calorie deficit. You might simply be eating more calories than you think you are. If something is calorie dense, eyeballing it can easily throw you off a few hundred calories or more. For example, two servings of nuts doesn't actually look that different from one serving. With a food scale you know exactly how many servings you're eating at a time.

3. Eat Lower Calorie Alternatives

I want to preface this by saying that lower calorie does not always mean healthier. Lower calorie alternatives are not always the best option, but if you struggle with overeating they can be super useful. They allow you to eat more volume.

Let's compare Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream to Halo Top, its lower calorie alternative.

Three entire pints of Halo Top have less calories than just ONE pint of Ben and Jerry's. A pint of Ben and Jerry's has about half a day or more worth of calories. A pint of Halo Top has just 360.

I'm not saying that Ben and Jerry's is bad and you should always choose Halo Top.

My point is that if you know you like to eat a higher volume, then going for the lower calorie option might make more sense.

Remember that this tip is only for when something like eating a whole pint of ice cream becomes something you're doing too often. If you know the full calorie version is a trigger food for you, eating the light version can be useful. This does not mean you should ever feel bad about eating regular ice cream or other high calorie foods. I know how it feels to limit yourself to only "diet" foods. It sucks. Regular ice cream tastes good and you should let yourself enjoy it.

4. Pay attention to your hunger

When you're eating, take the time to pause and ask yourself if you're really still hungry. When you take a second to reflect, you might realize you don't actually need that third slice of pizza.

On the other hard, don't wait until you're starving to eat something. I find when I'm extremely hungry I lack self control. The only I want is food in my stomach. If you eat when you're only slightly hungry, you'll likely make better food choices and eat less than you otherwise would have.

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"A bad habit will never survive in a state of self awareness."

Remember that it's okay to get off track. The key is to be self aware. Learn from your mistakes instead of dwelling on them.

If you're feeling bad about over eating,,. stop. Right now. Find a new healthy recipe or plan a new workout that you're excited about. Focus on right now. The past is where you learn a lesson, but the future is where you apply it.

What foods do you tend to over eat and how do you get back on track after? Let us know in the comments.

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