Nutritionists have long drawn our attention: cravings for junk food depend more on the habits of our brain than on the habits of the body. Sometimes the flavoring additives that are generously supplied with such attractive harmful substances are addictive, but not to such an extent that it is impossible to get rid of it through an effort of will. Let's try to train our will and brain?
1. Read labels
A workable way to buy less junk food is to be aware of what we're getting into it. And this does not mean that you need to completely give up, for example, cookies. After all, by spending a little more time near the store shelf to read the ingredients, you can find a product that contains less sugar and no harmful preservatives or additives.
By reading the label, you will learn about the amount of sugar, the presence of flavor enhancers and unnecessary additives.
Pay attention not to the name of the product, but to the ingredients. For example, dumplings may be called “Beef”, but there will be 20% beef. Check out the chocolate: if sugar is first on the list, and then comes vegetable fats, then it’s anything but chocolate.
Even if you are not ready to immediately give up unhealthy foods, you can always choose products that are less harmful in composition.
2. Follow the 5 ingredient rule
Finding less than 5 ingredients on a sausage package is difficult these days, but not impossible. Please note: if you see more than 5 names on simple products (dairy, baked goods, juices), this is an alarming indicator.
Many additives are used to improve consistency, thicken, increase product weight, and extend shelf life.
It's worth knowing that:
Manufacturers also use natural analogues of chemical preservatives, look for them on the packaging: citric acid, honey, salt, vinegar. Is pectin added to sweets instead of gelatin? Great, it is considered more useful; it is not for nothing that this ingredient is used in eco-products. The E marking on products is alarming, but one must take into account that not all “eeshki” are harmful. For example, E260 is just acetic acid, E500 is baking soda. For example, riboflavin E101, pectin E300, ascorbic acid E440 is the composition of a regular apple. The addition of E250, or sodium nitrite, in the composition of sausage indicates that the product is protected from the formidable botulinum toxin. Only this substance can resist him. Sodium nitrite is found in large quantities in spinach.
3. Take photos of food
Visualization helps you control your diet, which is why nutritionists advise keeping a food diary. If you are determined to lose weight or eat healthy, then you won’t be able to eat a cake and quickly forget about it. The diary will not forget, but the photo will remind you.
You can “sum up” the amount of food you eat during the day in the evening, and this will help you adjust your diet and quickly get rid of extra pounds.
4. Replace a harmful product with a healthy analogue
Who will voluntarily replace a cheeseburger with carrots?! At first, the prospect of replacing one food with another does not inspire enthusiasm. Until you notice that your health is improving and the weight is going away. Such a replacement will sweeten the bitterness of parting and will allow you not to change your eating habits suddenly and radically. Popular alternatives that quickly get used to are:
milk chocolate - dark chocolate; chips - popcorn without butter; French fries - baked potatoes; ice cream - frozen yogurt; tea sweets - dried fruits; cookies - whole grain bread.
5. Diet variety
It is a well-known fact: cravings for harmful things are caused by a lack of useful elements in the body. This is easy to notice in the summer: when your favorite berries are ripening, you are no longer so drawn to candy, right?
If you have an irresistible urge to eat something fatty, your body lacks calcium and fat-soluble vitamins, add dairy products, cheeses, and broccoli to your diet. A craving for flour indicates a lack of nitrogen and fat, eat more legumes, meat and nuts. You crave sweets unbearably, especially chocolate? The body lacks magnesium - seeds, nuts, and buckwheat make up for its deficiency. Are you craving coffee? The body needs phosphorus and sulfur - cranberries and seeds contain them. If your passion is ice cream, try adding rabbit, chicken and turkey meat to your diet - you lack calcium and tryptophan.
6. Add More Colored Foods
Research has shown that Red color of food makes it more attractive and tasty from our brain's point of view. We tend to consider red food to be more nutritious and tasty, while green food, on the contrary, is not very attractive, “immature”.
Have you noticed that junk food often doesn’t have a particular color? The brain perceives baked goods, chips, cookies, and fast food as one whole. We eat “beige food” and don’t monitor satiety; the body demands more and more.
Add “colors” to the plate, and the saturation process will go completely differently - a bright banana and a red apple can work wonders.
7. Experiment with new flavors
Many unhealthy foods contain strong flavors: spices, sweeteners, flavor enhancers, salt. The best way to pamper your healthy receptors is to experiment a little. Add new dishes to your diet, play with spices and seasonings, mixing them. There are thousands of dishes in the world that you have not tried.
For example, hummus can perfectly replace store-bought meat pate with stabilizers and flavor enhancers, and a familiar dish to which you add aromatic herbs will “sparkle” in a completely different way.
8. Avoid extreme hunger
If you are used to snacking on fast carbohydrates (sweets, chips, ice cream, buns, fast food), then your blood sugar level is constantly jumping. When sugar drops too low, the desire to eat something harmful again arises., and it’s difficult to get out of this vicious circle.
Avoid severe hunger, and as a “prevention”, ward it off with healthy snacks, preferably protein ones. They give you a feeling of fullness for a long time and do not allow your blood sugar levels to change so sharply. These are yogurts, cheeses, nuts, pumpkin seeds, pieces of chicken, green smoothies, eggs.
Have you managed to overcome your addiction to unhealthy foods?
Scientist Stephen Witherly studied the phenomenon of food and came to an amazing conclusion: it is our own brain that causes us to consume junk food.
And writer and health activist Michael Pollan, in his book The Omnivore's Dilemma, argues that the reason for our love of fast food lies in the great contradiction between the logic of nature and industrial food production.
In their books and reports, researchers not only share observations, but also give advice on how to overcome cravings for forbidden foods.
1. Check the ingredients
Michael Pollan advises avoiding foods with ingredients that a third grader couldn't pronounce. The surest way to start buying less junk food is to become more aware of what you're actually eating. If you dig deeper and find out the ingredients of your favorite products, it can become unsettling.
Chips don't always contain potatoes, and chocolate hazelnut spread is more than half sugar. The food additive E320 (butylated hydroxyanisole), which acts as an antioxidant and can be a potential carcinogen, is often added to sausages. And vitamin D3, which can be found on the yogurt label, is synthesized from sheep fat.
2. More colors
Have you noticed that healthy foods are often painted in the brightest colors, but junk food does not have an abundance of color shades (unless you use dyes)? Our vision perceives baked goods, chips, crackers and instant noodles almost as one product, and, of course, requires additives.
Food science and nutrition lecturer Susan Bowerman says too many people are on a "beige" diet of crackers, cereals and cookies. But we need to see at least three different colors of food on our plates. So, instead of rushing out for another fancy bun, add a pop of color: a juicy red apple or a yellow banana.
3. Remember the five-ingredient rule
If more than five ingredients are listed on the label, this is a signal of a processed product. The rule “less is better” works without reservations in this case.
Avoid products that contain ingredients you haven't heard of or wouldn't use in your home. Food emulsifier, lecithin, stabilizer - what is it? Many of the additives are used to extend the shelf life of the product, but even in this case, you can always find safe and natural analogues: salt, vinegar, citric acid, honey.
Also avoid products that list sugar as one of the first three ingredients on the label.
4. Count down ten seconds before you throw an unhealthy product into your cart.
Michael Pollan advises asking the question before purchasing: “Would your great-grandmother consider this food?” Would she, for example, eat this poisonous-colored jelly from a plastic package?
Also, when purchasing, try to visualize the composition of this product. How it was prepared, how much sugar, flavor enhancers and preservatives were added, how much fat was used. Now put that pack of sausages back on the shelf.
5. Spend more time buying healthy food.
While walking through the market or supermarket, replenish your supplies of healthy foods. Fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts, natural yogurt, fresh herbs - the choice of foods for which the body will thank you is quite wide.
If you are used to chewing something, celery sticks will come to the rescue: you will never get better from them. And in order not to feel like a rabbit and get more pleasure from eating, you can prepare a light sauce for the chopsticks.
Store healthy foods where you can see them: in the front and center of the refrigerator, in a basket in the kitchen, on shelves and in desk drawers. Make sure you always have vegetables and fruits on hand to snack on. For example, dip bell pepper slices into hummus.
6. Desserts can be healthy
The biggest problem that probably everyone faces is the craving for sweets. It's not easy to give up a cake or cupcake. But high-carbohydrate foods can be replaced with their dietary counterparts, and Instagram is replete with pages about healthy eating with detailed recipes.
Make homemade ice cream. Pop the berries in the freezer and then finish your evening meal with them as a sweet dessert. Make granola bars at home: place two cups of oatmeal, a large apple, pear or banana, and a handful of dried fruits and nuts in a blender. Spread this mixture in a thin layer on a baking sheet and bake at 180°C until lightly browned. Now you won't need to run for buns.
7. Chew your food thoroughly
More than a hundred years ago, obese Horace Fletcher put forward an amazing concept: chewing food more than 32 times can help you lose weight. Japanese scientists studied this habit in even more detail and came to the conclusion that it is indispensable for health and longevity.
Insufficient chewing of food leads to metabolic syndrome: high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. The more attention is paid to grinding food, the easier it is for the body to digest it.
If you are able to chew longer and harder, you will eat less. Try chewing your food slowly and mindfully. One bite, 32 chews, swallowing and then the next bite.
8. Take more photos of your diet
Researchers led by Lydia Zepeda from the University of Wisconsin at Madison ten years ago concluded that photographing food helps you give up unhealthy foods and lose weight.
The results of an experiment with 43 volunteers confirmed that visualization helps you control your diet. Researchers believe that, armed with a phone camera and a food diary in which you record how you feel after eating, you can actually shed a few extra pounds from your waist.
Therefore, when you see another food photo on Instagram, don’t judge too harshly: perhaps this is how its author fights bad eating habits.
Bonus: Why do we love junk food so much?
Stephen Witherly in his talk “Why do people like junk food?” says that there are two factors that make you particularly enjoy junk food.
Sensation of taste, smell and melting of food in the mouth
Food companies spend millions of dollars to understand what the ideal consistency of a particular product should be. In this they are helped by dynamic contrast (for example, a combination of a crispy shell with a soft filling), foods with hidden calorie content that quickly melt in the mouth (the brain does not even have time to understand how much you actually ate) and foods that cause active salivation (mayonnaise, various sauces, hot chocolate).
Food composition
Food manufacturers use the perfect combination of salt, sugar and fat that most excites your brain and keeps you coming back to eat this type of food again and again.
But the good news is that numerous studies show that the less you eat junk food, the less you crave it. Some people call this process "gene reprogramming."
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Still from the cartoon “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
Various tricky "hooks" in the composition, such as flavor enhancers and high sugar content, make us not only enjoy processed foods, but also become addictive. You want more and more, and as it increases, so does the risk of various health problems - from excess weight to diabetes.
Luckily, you can break this vicious cycle with six easy tricks.
1. Step away from your daily routine
Do you associate three o'clock in the afternoon with going to the nearest store where you buy a package of sweets or a chocolate bar? Try changing your route and instead of visiting the “junk food outlet,” just walk around the block.
A 2015 study of 48 people published in the scientific journal PLoS One found that a 15-minute walk temporarily reduced cravings for high-calorie sugary snacks. By the way, a short walk has many others.
2. Take a closer look at what you eat.
One of the surest ways to start consuming less is to learn more about what you actually eat and how exactly it is produced. The truth about the preservatives added to processed foods and the various additives used in snack foods may make you cringe and think twice before opening a brightly colored package next time.
3. Keep candy out of sight
Photo pixabay.com
It has been scientifically proven: the farther away unhealthy snacks are from you, the lower the risk that you will “relapse.” A study published in PLoS One in 2017 found that people were more likely to snack on crackers and chocolate if they were within arm's reach of them, compared to those who had the tempting snack more than five meters away. .
4. Have a healthy snack nearby.
So, candy is far away and behind seven castles, but this does not mean at all that when you are hungry, you need to suffer and wait for lunch/dinner. In this case, let there be a healthy alternative to junk food nearby - a muesli bar, a small package of nuts or fruit.
A study in the journal Health Education & Behavior reported that people who had only fruit on their kitchen counter had a lower body mass index (BMI) than those who had candy, chips, and soda always in front of them.
5. Chew more slowly
Adam Melonas, celebrity chef and founder of healthy candy UnReal candy, shared this sound advice: “ If you can get people to chew longer, they will eat less."
This idea was confirmed by an experiment published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics - the longer participants chewed food before swallowing it, the less they ended up eating. So next time you reach for your favorite treat, chew it slowly and mindfully.
6. Reduce your junk food intake gradually
The desire to minimize the amount of junk food in your diet is laudable, but suddenly completely cutting out sweets or salty snacks can be quite painful and ultimately result in a “relapse.”
Therefore, it will be more effective and easier to gradually reduce the dose of unhealthy food consumption - a little bit, but every week. According to nutritionist Margaret Eich, with this approach, after a while you will need very little sugar to satisfy your sweet cravings.
By the way, for additional motivation, we suggest reading what will happen to your body if you...
We will be helped by a smartphone, friends, apples, Google and our own imagination. And willpower: you can’t go anywhere without it. Health tips for both health benefits and without excess fat.
Carefully study all the ingredients contained in the delicacies that you are going to eat. There are solid “E”s and dyes! If you're not familiar with the notation, Google it. Learn what is hidden behind each “E471” and other mysterious numbers and letters. You will want to hide such goodies on the farthest shelf and never take them out again.
We eat slowly
Horace Fletcher, who once suffered from obesity, put forward an amazing hypothesis: if you chew food more than 30 times, you will begin to lose weight. Scientists have concluded that this is really useful. Not only for losing weight, but also for maintaining health. If you swallow dumplings and sushi with beer, metabolic syndrome may occur over time. If excess fat appears, diabetes may develop.
The better you chop food, the easier it is for the body to cope with digestion. There is no need to break the record for swallowing kebabs.
Taking photos of food “before”
A photo of your plate is the last barricade. Sobers up and slows down. Share your dish in a chat with your girlfriends. They will definitely dissuade you from another slice of pizza, deliciously covered with cheese or a portion of spaghetti.
Keeping a food diary
Download useful apps to your smartphone that allow you to control your nutrition. Enter daily what you ate and how much. Make a meal plan for the week. And don't give up on him for a hot dog.
Five Ingredient Rule
If you see more than 5 names on simple products, for example, milk or juices, the question arises: what kind of additives are there? The rule is: the less, the better. Milk is milk.
We replace harmful products
What is considered junk food? Confectionery, sugar, fast food, baked goods, soda, fatty and fried foods, sausages, sour cream, mayonnaise, various sauces, alcohol, semi-finished products. No, we are not advocating replacing burgers with cabbage. This is not humane and will not inspire you much. But look for alternatives to complex and harmful products. For example, change ice cream with frozen yogurt, and sweets with dried fruits.
Let's diversify the diet
Have snacks. When you are hungry, you are ready to destroy the floor of the supermarket and the entire refrigerator. Just exclude chips, ice cream, buns and various fast foods. Because first the sugar level jumps, and then drops, and you want to eat again. The best salvation from hunger is cheeses, nuts, yoghurts. If you're hungry, you can eat chicken, boiled eggs or a green smoothie.
Nothing harmful at home
Don't buy junk food: out of sight, out of the refrigerator. Are there candies in the cupboard? No, we don’t believe that you will hold out.
We give ourselves time
Wait a month. You need to form a new habit. Believe me, if you live on kefir, cereals and salad for several weeks, you will no longer want to overeat on chips. The body will wean itself off such products and will go into protest when you try to push the nasty stuff into yourself.
I really want it - we eat a little
If you can't bear it anymore, take a bite of your favorite chocolate bar. But small! Don't rush in and absorb everything like a boa constrictor in one go.
We don’t fall for cunning marketing
Why do we crave junk food? Food signals are triggered. Smells, beautiful pictures, Christmas music reminiscent of the New Year's table. Slowly your mouth is starting to water! And the blame for this lies with “cunningly done” marketers who know how to play on our weaknesses.
We follow the regime
Stick to your diet. The body knows that this morning it will have oatmeal with an egg, then it will have a second light breakfast and a snack. He is aware and does not ask for food earlier: he waits according to the schedule.
Apple principle
If you don't want an apple, you don't want to eat it. Remember the rule when you crave fast food treats. Eat an apple. Can't pull it? This means there is no appetite.
Adding colored foods to your diet
The brain is designed this way: it likes bright foods more. The red color is especially attractive. Even when choosing between green and red peppers, we still prefer red. Junk food, if no dyes have been added to it, does not have bright colors. Switch your brain's attention to a red apple or a bright cherry.
Experimenting with flavors
Don't suffer from giving up your usual buns or pates. Find healthy substitutes. Replace the pate with hummus. Add aromatic herbs to steamed vegetables. Create your own useful beauty.
Inspection of a basket in a supermarket
Slow down before you put the contents of your basket on the supermarket belt. Review the content. Find the weakest link. Do you have both sausages and chicken? Say goodbye to sausages. Why a candy bar, since you already took a chocolate bar?
We come up with desserts
How to refuse cake and not become a maniac? Anything is possible, just change the dessert. Fruit jelly, muesli bar, oatmeal cookies. Delicious and satisfying quickly. Did not help? We finish ourselves off with kefir, in which frozen fruits float. Yummy and will curb your appetite!
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Bee Wilson is a nutritionist and author of several books, including First Bite: How We Learn To Eat (Basic Books, 2015); Sandwich: A Global History (Reaction Books, 2010); Consider The Fork: A History Of How We Cook And Eat (Basic Books, 2012).
We are accustomed to perceive our taste preferences as an integral part of ourselves. Sometimes we make friends through a shared affinity for licorice candy or Chinese food. Or we are looking for a couple on social networks with the status “vegan”. But are gastronomic tastes really our personal choice?
Children of the Corn
I knew a boy who ate nothing but cornflakes. It didn’t matter what time it was, he replaced any meal with a bowl of cereal with milk. My parents were seriously concerned about this obsession, and my sister and I studied the gastronomic phenomenon with sincere curiosity. We theorized about how this strange corn fetish came about. It seemed that the love of corn flakes was part of his character, if not even genetic. And nothing can be done about it.
Pizza or herring?
Indeed, our taste preferences are largely influenced by genes (especially bitter and salty tastes), the place where we live, and family. If you want to know what your colleague likes, ask where his parents or he are from. An Italian cannot live without pasta and pizza. Norwegian - no salted fish. Natives of North Africa who moved to France cannot imagine life without mint tea.
And vice versa - often we do not like certain products only because for some reason they were not available in our childhood. If that little corn flake lover lived in a country where corn didn't grow, he'd have to choose a different food obsession.
“Why does homemade food seem to be the most delicious? Since childhood, we have become emotionally attached to certain aromas and tastes. Whether it's grandma's pie or mom's soup"
Love for Three Oranges
Another reason for our love for certain products is the diet of expectant mothers during pregnancy. Psychobiologists Julie Mennella and Gary Beauchamp from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia found that women who regularly drank carrot juice in the last trimester of pregnancy had babies who adored carrots from birth. Mennella and Beauchamp found the same results in mothers who ate a lot of garlic or oranges.
Taste of childhood
Why does homemade food seem to be the most delicious? Since childhood, we have become emotionally attached to certain aromas and tastes. Whether it's grandma's pie or mom's soup. We can learn to love even unpleasant things if we have positive childhood memories associated with them.
It is these memories that prevent us from changing our eating habits. We understand that it is healthier to eat a serving of vegetables and fruits every day. But how difficult it is to give up ice cream or chips! After all, in childhood they brought so much joy! Once you remove chocolate from your diet, it immediately seems like something important is missing. But kids who were not given chocolate can easily do without sweets in adulthood. They did not know this taste and cannot miss it.
“The best way to change your diet is to move to another country. We have all noticed that on vacation we enjoy eating new dishes.”
Matter of habit
It turns out that the choice of favorite cuisine is determined by genes, parents, childhood memories, place of birth, but not by ourselves? At the same time, over the course of a lifetime, taste preferences can change dramatically. Man is an omnivore, which means he is able to discover new foods and tastes. Everyone starts their life with milk, but not everyone drinks it every day. As children, we often dislike olives and only with age are we able to appreciate their salty taste. Most of us, over the course of our lives, begin to like things we haven't eaten before.
If you want to lose weight, move!
How then can you change your diet to a healthier one? The best way is to gradually include new foods in your diet and experiment with spices - they will give “bland” dishes a new taste.
Learn new recipes. There are thousands of dishes in the world that you have never tried, which means there is a chance that you will love them. It is known that you can give up salt and sugar in a few weeks. You just need to gradually reduce their number.
Gradually give up your morning bun and dessert after dinner. Allow yourself sweets on certain days, for example, twice a week. Don't beat yourself up if you mess up. Be patient. Find an alternative to daily sweets - replace them with dates and raisins.
But the best way to change your diet is to move to another country. We have all noticed that on vacation we enjoy trying new dishes. People who have lived in other countries return with new culinary preferences. This means we are capable of a complete reboot. And you can learn to eat vegetables, herbs, fish and steamed meat at any age.
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