How i kicked fast food Topic

Daveofca 10/10/10
For the past ten years my family and i have been running to our old friend fast food. Always at the ready, hot, tasty and totally satisfying... Until the aftermath.

Early this month i drove by an old mexican restaurant that we all used to enjoy until it closed and it dawned on me that although we know its wrong to run to fastfood and how unhealthy it is, because it is still an option (open) in our minds, we made it accessible.

As of 10/03, our family has adopted this phrase, "too bad they are closed." Ridiculously dumb, simple, and obvious, but we havent reached for our 5-6 day a week habit since.

No urges, no fighting about dinner, and best of all no after dinner guilt.

Good luck everyone. I think a majority of our battles begin and end in our heads.

Onmyway 11/01/10 replied to Daveofca
I love your last line "majority of our battles begin and end in our heads". motivation is the hardest to gain and the easiest to lose.

i have to remind myself that the "war" is my entire life, and the "battle" is every time i open the fridge.

having suffered a heart attack back in April 08, i have to remind myself that to win the "war" i have to keep fighting the "battle"

Dave

Egnarobyrd 11/09/10
This is a funny coping mechanism that I'm going to try. For me, it'll help when I'm at a restaurant and I want to order the hollandaise sauce or something. I'll tell myself "I can't believe they ran out of hollandaise sauce!"

Daveofca 12/01/10
It seems so silly and so unstructured, but it truly has helped my family pull a reverse excuse on taco bell, burger king, wendy's nights. I hope you both find success with this tool.

I can tell you that after a couple of months of using this, it has now led to a place where mentally I feel there is an element of control and I am beginning to control my intake quantity.

Next up, intake quality at home...

YogiGeri 12/09/10
Hi Dave, thank you for sharing your family's tactic! I will definitely try the mental trick next time I get the urge to buy muffins/pastries/cookies at the cafe :) Best to your family and to everyone!

HenryLouDog 01/03/11
The moment that my husband and I stopped eating fast food was when we watched "Supersize Me" and "Food, Inc." Yes, they are sensationalistic pieces, but the message really hit home. And when you find out what exactly IS in the vast majority of fast food burgers/beef (it may be 100% beef but they don't exactly tell you what parts of the cow they get it from....) and the chicken nuggets/patties, you will never look at the golden arches or that cute red head in pigtails the same way again. It's astonishing what the FDA allows many suppliers to get away with in order to make fast food even cheaper (therefore more appealing). It's sad, really.

Jekyal 01/17/11
Fast food is what did me in! I agree with you HenryLouDog, "Supersize Me" is something they should show all kids in school! I haven't see "Food, Inc." will have to watch that one when I need a reminder of why I don't want to eat fast food any longer!

AnnieDH 01/21/11
Fast food has been my real weakness also. When I was a kid, the middle of 5 kids, I remember that on the few occasions we p/u fast food I had to share my fry and never got to order what I wanted. Feeding 5 kids fast food was expensive so I understand my parents being cheap but I was always left hungry. Now as an adult I still feel the need to reward myself with eating out and ordering whatever I want...just because I can. This has to stop or I at least have to focus my cravings toward the things that are better for me.

For instance, I have discovered I love the spicy grilled chicken salad (half size) from Wendy's. I sub and get the Ranch instead of the Caeser dressing and I pick off a lot of the cheese because they put too much. It is delicious.

I also always wanted to save up to have extra calories for the evening but have discovered that is the kiss of death for me. Now I deliberately eat a more satisfying breakfast and lunch and then a light, early supper and then NO More. I get hungry later but if your supper isn't too carby then you don't have the blood sugar cravings so bad. Breaking that habit was hard but it has been worth it. After a couple of weeks, your body gets more used to it.

How i kicked fast food