How Do You Stop Eating the Bad Stuff?

"I was doing fine until I had _______", then it was all downhill after that."


"I just have a hard time with _______" [food]


"I know I shouldn't eat _______, but I just can't stop"

These are common phrases I hear from clients who just can't stop eating the bad stuff. It's a constant battle, one that can set you back from your weight loss goals for a week [or permanently] or derail you all together.

So, how do you stop eating the "bad stuff"?

First of all, what is the "bad stuff"?

Usually, it can be narrowed down to one of the following food or drink items:
• Fried foods
• Sweets, excessive sugar
• Alcohol
• Excessive fatty foods like mayonnaise, heavy salad dressings
• Diet sodas or regular sodas
• Chips and cheese

Oh no, you say, I can't possibly just stop eating all of that!

No, I am not saying you have to. Hang in there with me. These are just some things that may trip you up while you are trying to lose weight. You need to find the emotional attachment to this food and deal with that.

For example, is it just a habit to go out on Friday night with friends and order the same thing each week, fried food and alcohol? You work out all week and eat right, you deserve a break, right? Or a little dessert a couple of times a week, a bite of your child's cookie, a hidden chocolate stash just when you need it? What is your emotional attachment to this food? Do you eat it during a certain time? Do you eat it when you are with certain people? If you KNOW you are not supposed to eat it, then why do you?

These are all things to be posted in your Healthy Journal. Don't worry, you don't have to do this permanently. But you may have to do it temporarily until you see the pattern of how you eat. When I ask a client to write down everything they eat and drink for two days, they immediately groan and inevitably give it to me and say "this is not a typical day, because this _______ happpened". Right. Really? Life is a typical day. Stress is a typical day. Stress eating. Relationships not working out. Frustrations at work.

As Americans, many of us have chosen bad food habits to deal with our heightened levels of stress and make that choice to have food comfort us instead of making changes in our lives to deal with our problems. 

I am not perfect either, not saying I am. But I make choices every day to be healthy, and reap the rewards every day as well.

If you say you want to be healthy, then do it.
If you say you want to lose weight, then do it.
If you say you want to change your life [and your body], then do it.

It starts with the inside, your inside emotional being. It starts with becoming educated, taking steps to correct bad habits, and becoming STRONG.

Strong-willed.
Strong-emotionally.
Strong-physically.
Strong-heart.

You can stop by eating the bad stuff, by just doing it. So will you? There's no better feeling in the world.