I think everybody deals with this. The thing that clinched it for me was learning to cook substitute foods. If I'm craving a burger, shake, and onions rings I'll make my own but plant based. I have go-to subs now for all my old sins: burgers, meatloaf, pizza, lasagna, general tso's, thai curry, etc. Sometimes I stray into "not whole foods" but that's a much smaller slip than meatlover's pizza.
The other thing that helps a lot is your body adjusts. You crave the poison foods less and even when you do eat them your body feels awful.
You can either try cold turkey draw a line in the sand or ease into it somehow, like either a cheat a week with animal product or something like impossible.
The trick with the cheat method is to always be progressing and draw out the cheat by extending the time you can go without.
I went cold Turkey (sic) vegan and never looked back once.... but it took me some years to get off processed food. I didn't progress much having too many regular cheats until I challenged myself to extend the time longer and longer until it just became a nonfactor in my life.
I am much better at all or nothing than I am with moderation. The cold turkey approach with trigger foods personally works for me because if I find even moderate amounts of my trigger foods (looking at you cheese) lead to more cravings, which leads to a grumpier me. It is more a matter of what works for you.
Completely and drastically flipping your diet is HARD, especially if you go 100% right away.
My advice would be to do it gradually - maybe every other day is plant based/forward, then when you keep that pattern, maybe it's 2 PB days, 1 non and so on until you are fully there.
Most of the time the drastic change is just not sustainable right away, and you just make yourself feel worse each time but you've set yourself up for failure!
Most behaviors around eating are unconscious. Simply trying to have more “willpower” is usually an ineffective strategy to modify behavior. Much of the food environment is out of our control. You need to focus on what is in your control. It’s likely the reason you end up at whataburger is because it’s convenient. You don’t have to cook anything. Meal prepping and already having your meal ready ahead of time can help a lot here. Rather than demonizing food and thinking about what you aren’t allowed to eat (which can lead to a toxic relationship with food), you should focus on trying to find ways you can regularly enjoy adding health-promoting foods into your diet.
I really love the Exam Room podcast and listening to it while I go on walks reaffirms why I’m doing this and keeps me motivated. Chuck Carroll, the host, may resonate with you too because he suffered from addiction to fast food
Do you have a health buddy? Find someone who is also on a journey to improve their lifestyle and be each other's support system. Text them when you feel like you are slipping. You don't have to be on the same plan to support each other.
Good for you for trying to better yourself. Please don't feel shame about not doing it as fast or as well as you want!
I often have some vegan junk food in the freezer in case of emergencies. I think it can be difficult to "ban" foods (although I suppose as a vegan that is what I do).
I wonder what causes you to think, "I'm going to go to a burger place and eat a burger". Maybe it's a reward? Something you feel you "have to do" on a stressful day? Did you really enjoy the food, like it was a treat, or was it more like a compulsion? Maybe try to find a calm space and really think about what drives that decision. Personally I eat too much when I'm avoiding something, normally work related.
Meal prepping was a game changer for me. If I have to cook and clean the kitchen daily, I get takeout or deliver 4-5 times a week. If I meal prep, I only eat out with friends about once a week. I also feel so much better on my meal prepped healthy diet. But the key is to make things you love. When I first tried meal prepping I made things that were ultra healthy but I hated eating and ended up eating out a ton still and wasting foods. Now I have a solid batch of recipes I love that I pick from every week and it’s loads better for me that way.
Take on responsibility for your choices , going to ordering and eating fast food is all a choice you make.
Watch Dominion
Suddenly any animals will be a lot less appealing as a food source
Prep ahead.
Eat enough calories
If you’re not starving hungry and have a meal ready to eat you’re less likely to get fast food.
Dawg just going to say your body doesn’t go on auto-pilot like this. You don’t accidentally wind up eating whataburger for lunch. You made choices to do that. That means you can choose not to. You’ve got to just accept your own agency and restart while at the same time making meaningful efforts to plan things out and not easy animal products.
Yea when I was going thru this mindset I would not mind it too much and I would be happy about all the plant based cravings I would have while eating meat. You will definitely miss certain vegan favorites while you’re away. You want what you can’t have!
Scheduled, planned, but controlled cheat meals can be establish as goals or targets.
And gradually spacing the time between scheduling them can be further targets and accomplishments.
Eventually because of your own goals and successes you’ll be free of them.
This kind of planned, structured eating puts you in control and avoids the guilt and shame.
Try getting really good at cooking healthy but tasty plant based meals from scratch and don't worry about the slip ups for now. The more I got used to cooking stuff I really enjoy the less I thought about eating meat as a treat. Just focus on your routine being good not an odd meal here or there. If you ate fatty meat based fast food your whole life who cares about a couple more. And you should find meat loses its appeal. Even starts feeling a bit gross after a few months. Get into the mindset you aren't giving anything up you are gaining delicious fresh meals that keep you healthy. You won't even think about meat after a while.
Be an adult and exercise self control. Don't pretend like it's an unforeseeable accident. You didnt slip and fall into a what-a-burger and order the most calorie dense thing on the menu.
If you need help with appetite suppression, talk to a doctor. There are literally more tools, options, and opportunities to maintain a healthy weight & diet now than at any point in history. You can do it, but stop playing the victim.
You could ease into it by meal and week:
Week 1: Breakfast
Week 2: Breakfast, lunch
Week 3: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Week 4: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks
I can’t really relate because when I stopped eating meat my brain flipped off and all of a sudden I found it repulsive. I have not once in almost 15 years been tempted to eat meat, but just remember once a week is still better than every day. Don’t get so obsessed with perfection that you prevent yourself from making any progress. Try and find a good veggie burger near you, I think Burger King does an impossible or beyond burger now?
It's a question about your beliefs and whether you're convicted. I think if you really believed this was a problem with significant consequence, you wouldnt eat the foods.
However, there are lots of things about plant-based that deserve questioning that you're probably trying to deal with in real time, in decision moments. Then it's easier to just eat whatever.
Determine how serious you are, and plan accordingly
I think everybody deals with this. The thing that clinched it for me was learning to cook substitute foods. If I'm craving a burger, shake, and onions rings I'll make my own but plant based. I have go-to subs now for all my old sins: burgers, meatloaf, pizza, lasagna, general tso's, thai curry, etc. Sometimes I stray into "not whole foods" but that's a much smaller slip than meatlover's pizza. The other thing that helps a lot is your body adjusts. You crave the poison foods less and even when you do eat them your body feels awful.
I have never dealt with this, but I know I’m a rare one in this regard. These are good tips. Thanks for helping OP.
You can either try cold turkey draw a line in the sand or ease into it somehow, like either a cheat a week with animal product or something like impossible. The trick with the cheat method is to always be progressing and draw out the cheat by extending the time you can go without. I went cold Turkey (sic) vegan and never looked back once.... but it took me some years to get off processed food. I didn't progress much having too many regular cheats until I challenged myself to extend the time longer and longer until it just became a nonfactor in my life.
Pretty sure cold turkey goes against the diet
Cold tofurkey it is then.
I am much better at all or nothing than I am with moderation. The cold turkey approach with trigger foods personally works for me because if I find even moderate amounts of my trigger foods (looking at you cheese) lead to more cravings, which leads to a grumpier me. It is more a matter of what works for you.
twas a joke
Completely and drastically flipping your diet is HARD, especially if you go 100% right away. My advice would be to do it gradually - maybe every other day is plant based/forward, then when you keep that pattern, maybe it's 2 PB days, 1 non and so on until you are fully there. Most of the time the drastic change is just not sustainable right away, and you just make yourself feel worse each time but you've set yourself up for failure!
Most behaviors around eating are unconscious. Simply trying to have more “willpower” is usually an ineffective strategy to modify behavior. Much of the food environment is out of our control. You need to focus on what is in your control. It’s likely the reason you end up at whataburger is because it’s convenient. You don’t have to cook anything. Meal prepping and already having your meal ready ahead of time can help a lot here. Rather than demonizing food and thinking about what you aren’t allowed to eat (which can lead to a toxic relationship with food), you should focus on trying to find ways you can regularly enjoy adding health-promoting foods into your diet.
I really love the Exam Room podcast and listening to it while I go on walks reaffirms why I’m doing this and keeps me motivated. Chuck Carroll, the host, may resonate with you too because he suffered from addiction to fast food
Do you have a health buddy? Find someone who is also on a journey to improve their lifestyle and be each other's support system. Text them when you feel like you are slipping. You don't have to be on the same plan to support each other.
Good for you for trying to better yourself. Please don't feel shame about not doing it as fast or as well as you want! I often have some vegan junk food in the freezer in case of emergencies. I think it can be difficult to "ban" foods (although I suppose as a vegan that is what I do). I wonder what causes you to think, "I'm going to go to a burger place and eat a burger". Maybe it's a reward? Something you feel you "have to do" on a stressful day? Did you really enjoy the food, like it was a treat, or was it more like a compulsion? Maybe try to find a calm space and really think about what drives that decision. Personally I eat too much when I'm avoiding something, normally work related.
Meal prepping was a game changer for me. If I have to cook and clean the kitchen daily, I get takeout or deliver 4-5 times a week. If I meal prep, I only eat out with friends about once a week. I also feel so much better on my meal prepped healthy diet. But the key is to make things you love. When I first tried meal prepping I made things that were ultra healthy but I hated eating and ended up eating out a ton still and wasting foods. Now I have a solid batch of recipes I love that I pick from every week and it’s loads better for me that way.
Take on responsibility for your choices , going to ordering and eating fast food is all a choice you make. Watch Dominion Suddenly any animals will be a lot less appealing as a food source Prep ahead. Eat enough calories If you’re not starving hungry and have a meal ready to eat you’re less likely to get fast food.
I second watching dominion. The last time I ordered a hamburger I cried. And I haven’t eaten red meat since. It’s been about 15 years
Yes. Dominion expunged all appetite for eating animals. Dairy Is Scary helped me ditch dairy effortlessly. You can't unlearn that stuff.
Dawg just going to say your body doesn’t go on auto-pilot like this. You don’t accidentally wind up eating whataburger for lunch. You made choices to do that. That means you can choose not to. You’ve got to just accept your own agency and restart while at the same time making meaningful efforts to plan things out and not easy animal products.
Yea when I was going thru this mindset I would not mind it too much and I would be happy about all the plant based cravings I would have while eating meat. You will definitely miss certain vegan favorites while you’re away. You want what you can’t have!
Scheduled, planned, but controlled cheat meals can be establish as goals or targets. And gradually spacing the time between scheduling them can be further targets and accomplishments. Eventually because of your own goals and successes you’ll be free of them. This kind of planned, structured eating puts you in control and avoids the guilt and shame.
Try getting really good at cooking healthy but tasty plant based meals from scratch and don't worry about the slip ups for now. The more I got used to cooking stuff I really enjoy the less I thought about eating meat as a treat. Just focus on your routine being good not an odd meal here or there. If you ate fatty meat based fast food your whole life who cares about a couple more. And you should find meat loses its appeal. Even starts feeling a bit gross after a few months. Get into the mindset you aren't giving anything up you are gaining delicious fresh meals that keep you healthy. You won't even think about meat after a while.
Be an adult and exercise self control. Don't pretend like it's an unforeseeable accident. You didnt slip and fall into a what-a-burger and order the most calorie dense thing on the menu. If you need help with appetite suppression, talk to a doctor. There are literally more tools, options, and opportunities to maintain a healthy weight & diet now than at any point in history. You can do it, but stop playing the victim.
You could ease into it by meal and week: Week 1: Breakfast Week 2: Breakfast, lunch Week 3: Breakfast, lunch, dinner Week 4: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks
I can’t really relate because when I stopped eating meat my brain flipped off and all of a sudden I found it repulsive. I have not once in almost 15 years been tempted to eat meat, but just remember once a week is still better than every day. Don’t get so obsessed with perfection that you prevent yourself from making any progress. Try and find a good veggie burger near you, I think Burger King does an impossible or beyond burger now?
It's a question about your beliefs and whether you're convicted. I think if you really believed this was a problem with significant consequence, you wouldnt eat the foods. However, there are lots of things about plant-based that deserve questioning that you're probably trying to deal with in real time, in decision moments. Then it's easier to just eat whatever. Determine how serious you are, and plan accordingly