Overwhelmed by the need to eat

Did the photo on the right stir up instant cravings? I know it is a bit mean to post a picture like this, but some days it doesn't take much to trigger the junk food junkie inside us.

You want to lose weight and get healthy, you have been eating well, losing steadily and suddenly you NEED junk. Well that's not your body telling you that you are missing out on certain nutrients only found in a burger, but your addiction to dopamine kicking in. I've mentioned before that this chemical is your brain's way of reinforcing behaviour. Junk food is high in easily stored energy in large amounts. As we evolved in an environment where it was hard to find regular food, our brains have developed the ability to encourage us to eat energy rich foods when we find them. Nowadays however food is rarely scarce in our society and despite most of us growing up without experiencing famine, nobody told our brains this.

What we need to do is unlearn your response to high fat, high sugar foods.Some of this is habitual some is neurological. Research has shown that habits are formed through a process called ‘context-dependent repetition’. In other words, You wake up in the morning and reach for the breakfast cereal, it is a habit you have been taught by your parents. The though of a roast dinner for breakfast for most people is just wrong, but when you think about it a roast isn't much different from a full English breakfast fry up, meat, veg and some form of carbohydrate. Breaking the link between your brain and junk food is achieved by forming new habits in situations where you would normally indulge.  

Beating the chemical high is a little harder, but once the habitual aspect is broken, the chemical trigger weakens as your brain reprograms your behaviour by using dopamine to hook you on the healthy foods you are eating now.

So how do we break the junk food addiction?There are several tools available, some will work better for you than others.

Location: If you can't drive past a fast food outlet with your car magically turning in to the drive thru lane, find alternate routes. This might be difficult as fast food companies spend a lot of time choosing the best locations to lure you in. You can also avoid locations with fast food restaurants when you are feeling hungry or the old will power is flagging. Eat a healthy meal and make sure you feel full, hot dogs and chicken wings are harder to eat when you can't stuff them in. If you are eating out with friends, explain you are trying to lose weight and you would rather choose a place that has healthier choices.

Distraction: Make a list of activities that you enjoy doing and keep any resources needed for the activity to hand. When the urge strikes, pick something from the list and do it. Sometimes talking to someone can distract you, make sure you have someone who knows you are dieting and can call or talk to them in times of burger crisis. It sounds daft, but arrange a code word of phrase with your friend that you use at the start of the conversation that lets them know you need to talk about anything else apart from food. This might sound overkill, but if you are with people you don't know and the first thing you say is, 'Nobody mention burgers, ok?', the first question you will get asked is, 'Whats wrong with talking about burgers? They are soooooo nice.'

Comforting strategies: Many of us eat to feel better. Without wanting to sound dramatic, comfort eating might be masking a larger problem. It might be worth speaking to a sympathetic doctor, however not all doctors are so enlightened and you might be just told to stop eating so much and grow a pair. Whether or not you need or get help from a professional with comfort eating, you can help yourself by identifying the times when you feel the need to eat when you are not hungry. If you feel the need to eat, take a moment to write down what you want to eat, is it a specific food? Next write down what made you think about eating, was it something you were doing? Something you were thinking about or something someone said to you. Next write down how you feel about it, be honest here, write down the emotion, describe how it makes you feel. Next write down a solution that doesn't involve food. It doesn't have to be realistic, achievable or resolvable, but just something that would make you feel better. Now pick an item off your distraction list and do it, indulge yourself in something that makes you feel good, that's not food.
The point of all the writing is that some psychologists think that the act of writing helps your subconscious mind deal with issues your conscious mind refuses to. Over time you might find you are more willing to face the problem than mask it with food, if the writing doesn't work for you, then at least you should have substituted the comfort eating response with a healthier activity.

It's all about planning, it will probably be a long time before the cravings goes away, but if you plan ahead you might be able to stop yourself from succumbing every time. The other thing to remember is that if you do slip and eat something bad, don't beat yourself up about it. It happens to everyone, don't feel guilty as that will only trigger more inappropriate reactions and then food related solutions. Just mark it down as a learning experience and see if you can figure out how to strengthen your crisis plan.