resisting junk food

Question
I really want to start eating healthier but I can't resist junk food. It's a habit to come home after school and eat a pudding or some ice cream. Whenever junk food is in front of me I'll eat it, even if I'm not hungry. I know that if it wasn't in the house I could do it. But the rest of my family buys it and it's not like I can throw away other people's food.  What should i do? Any tips?

Answer
Hi Courtney, I can understand where you're coming from on this. The greater majority of people have this issue even if they eat clean 24/7.
Each person is different so I can't give you a definite answer and say "do this and be cured"
What I can do is give you some tips and tactics to try and see what works best for you.

-Have a goal. Do you want to lose or maintain weight? Train for an event? Just have a goal that is more defined than "I don't want to eat bad stuff" Think really hard about this goal and when you get it share it with people, write it and hang it on the refrigerator and cabinet where all the junk food is. Go to people and social sites and declare your goal.
What this does is hold you accountable. So say you want to go grab that bag of chips. Maybe you see your goal posted on the bag and it stops you. Or what I said about being accountable. Friends and family will ask whats up with your goal and you might think twice about eating that stuff. Strangely people are more fearful of failing others than failing themselves.

-Discuss your concerns with your family. How old are you? Is it your parents buying it? A sibling? A spouse? Whoever it is discuss with them that they are really derailing your good intentions. See if they would be willing to avoid this stuff with you, or if they can't, ask that they eat it in their car or away from the house.

-Have an idol. Be it a person or any symbol. Is there an athlete or other well known person that you look at and are inspired by? Don't strive to be them, by all means be you. However use them as a sort of red flag. Get a picture of them and use it just like the goal notes. When you see that photo of them maybe you think twice. Like for instance there are times I feel like eating something I shouldn't and I go to bodybuilding.com or see a photo of someone I admire in regard to fitness. It makes me think twice.

-Evaluate the rest of your diet. Do you eat well otherwise? Do you workout? If you are eating clean 90% of the time, believe it or not you actually reprogram your mind and taste. This causes you to almost get ill by eating too much junk. In relation to this, notice I said 90%. Can you eat clean and avoid junk food 6 days a week? That 7th day have a cheat day where you are free to eat what you want. This is reward for your dedication. Also it is easier to think you only have to avoid the junk food for 6 days as opposed to forever.

-Earn the junk food. How good are you at self motivation and holding your self accountable? Can you tell your self maybe "If i eat ___ then as a cost I need to go run a mile" Something to where the action of eating that junk will make you have to do something you don't enjoy.
Think up something you might not want to do. So maybe you eat some chips but your cost for that is running a mile. This totally depends on your will power though.
The other option is actually making your actions cost. Each time you eat junk food put a dollar in a container. Don't use the cash and consider it a loss. I actually knew someone who quit smoking this way when they realized how much money they were losing.

Finally no matter what you try it has to be within you. You have to want it bad enough. No tricks will work unless you want to succeed. I had a friend who was all motivated to get in shape and he had me write up a meal plan for him and figure a workout plan. Then when the time came he had weak excuses why he couldn't. I'm not mad at him but the point is he wasn't ready in his mind. I believe everyone has to reach a point where they say this is it. To where you can dismiss all the excuses. To where you can stand there before a whole pile of junk food and know in your mind you're not touching it no matter what.

I hope some of these ideas helped. Feel free to contact me again if you need more help or none of these work. If none of these ideas work then really examine why and write back and we'll see what other methods can be applied.

Best of luck.

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