7 strategies to stop eating junk food !

FACT: Obesity accounts for 300,000 deaths a year in the U.S.
alone.

Research into how junk food and fast food restaurants affect
obesity, have found that there may be a relationship between the
number of people per fast food restaurant and how many square
miles there are between fast food restaurants located within
your local area and obesity rates.

The way in which we eat, and what we eat, is of vital importance
to our state of health. The convenience and habitual nature of
the problem mean that fast food consumption is so in-grained,
that healthy eating is near impossible.

There are no easy ways to fix junk food habits and make them
into healthy habits, but I do have 7 quick strategies that you
can easily put into place to start into motion your new
lifestyle without junk food. I recommend implementing these one
at a time, to ensure that you don’t overload and burn yourself
out.

1. Do your shopping every week. Make it a regular habit to do
your groceries every single week on the same day.

2. Make a shopping list on the computer with all the regular
foods that you buy, to ensure that you aren’t going to run out
of food at the end of the week, tempting you to reach for the
fast food pamphlet, running out for take-away or buying
unnecessary food items.

3. Don’t starve yourself !!!!!!! Eat 6 small meals instead of 3
large ones, snacking on healthy foods such as a fat burning
apple, protein packed, metabolism raising light salad with
boiled eggs and flaxseed oil dressing.

4. Make food your hobby. Join a cookery class. There are often
many community classes that you can enrol in inexpensively to
learn how to prepare interesting food.

5. Unplug the TV at the point. You will be less likely to sit
there and watch it aimlessly if you have to make a conscious
effort to turn it on. Particularly around 6-8 pm, the junk food
restaurants will advertise, watch a DVD during these times. A
recent review of childhood obesity research, has, not
surprisingly found that the amount of time you spend watching TV
has a direct affect on being overweight.

6. Try this recipe when you are feeling peckish to curb your
need to buy junk food, or feeling the urge to have a smoke.

2 eggs beaten 1 Chopped lean bacon rasher – no fat. 1 chopped
canned tomato 1/4 cup soy milk/low fat milk 1 finely chopped
leaf spinach/frozen spinach Sprinkling of low fat cheese

Mix ingredients together in mixing bowl. Transfer into a
microwave safe bowl and cook on high for 2 minutes or until eggs
have solidified. Eat with a low GI bread. You’ll find that
depending on the quantity eaten, it can be a filling snack or
light dinner.

7. When eating out. Avoid the restaurants with the
all-you-can-eat option. These restaurants unfortunately
encourage people to eat until they are bloated. Researchers
found that 20% of weight gain among freshman University students
could be attributed to their eating in the all-you-can-eat
student dining halls.

References:

Caroli M, Argentieri L, Cardone M, Masi A. Role of television in
childhood obesity prevention. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord.
2004 Nov;28 Suppl 3:S104-8.

Levitsky DA, Halbmaier CA, Mrdjenovic G. The freshman weight
gain: a model for the study of the epidemic of obesity. Int J
Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2004 Nov;28(11):1435-42.

Maddock J. The relationship between obesity and the prevalence
of fast food restaurants: state-level analysis. Am J Health
Promot. 2004 Nov-Dec;19(2):137-43.

Copyright © 2004 Jenny Mathers. All Rights Reserved.

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