The tricky thing about eating healthy, fresh foods is that junk food is designed to make you crave it. Everything from the convenience to the perfect ratio of salty and sweet has been carefully created to make you keep coming back for more.
It doesn’t help that we often have emotional ties to these foods, which make binge eating almost impossible to avoid. Think about it, when you get dumped do you reach for the rocky road ice cream, or the apple slices? Most people pick the ice cream ten out of ten times, but that ice cream won’t be doing your mental state or health any favors.
According to Kayla Itsines, physical trainer and Instagram mega-star, remember these three tips the next time you’re bored, upset, or just too lazy to prepare a healthy meal.
3. Get Organized
You might have the best intentions of eating right, but if you don’t get organized, you’ll find yourself surrounded by temptations with a weakened determination. There will always be a candy bowl calling your name at work, but if you prepare meals and snack for yourself ahead of time, you’ll be less tempted to indulge in the chips and candy.
Try setting a day and time each week to get all your food shopping and meal preparation out of the way, so you’ll have healthy, quick options for those days where you’re too tired, tempted, or lazy to eat well.
2. Get to Know Yourself
This might seem silly, but we all have eating patterns and binge-triggers that we don’t even realize. Taking some time to figure out why you eat when and what you do will be a huge part of beating the binge. Do you always reach for the chocolate bar around 2 p.m. when work gets slow? Or maybe you find yourself craving some ice cream after a bad day. Whatever the reason, those foods only make you feel good temporarily, and will leave you feeling guilty once the binge is over.
1. Treat Yourself
This might seem counter-intuitive, but one of the best ways to avoid binge eating, is to treat yourself! Instead of setting limitations on your diet, and ultimately making you want that food more (since we all want what we can’t have), allow yourself to have your favorite treat once a week. Maybe it’s a really decadent meal, or a slice of chocolate cake if you have a sweet tooth. Whatever your treat is, just make sure it doesn’t turn into a binge.
Treating yourself promotes a healthier relationship with foods, and allows you to feel satisfied with your food without feeling guilty for indulging.
Let us know how these three tips work the next time you’re about to binge eat.
[Featured image credit: www.coachcalorie.com]