The Brunette Diaries

How to resist the urge of eating junk food

Do you find yourself struggling to keep a diet going for more than a week? Do you give in to your cravings just a few days after making that almighty decision to go junk-food-free? Well, we’ve all been there. It’s a hard decision to make and even more difficult to stick to. After all, junk food is all around us on the streets, and is most often irresistible. Here are steps to follow so that you can slowly resist the urge of giving in to your cravings for junk food.

(Also read – Tricks to stop night snacking)

The excessive craving for chocolate stems from deficiency of magnesium in your diet

Identify your craving

According to diet specialists, a craving for a particular food may arise due to something lacking in your diet. For example, the chocolate craving is related to magnesium deficiency and the sugar craving is related to protein deficiency. You can eliminate these deficiencies to make sure you rid yourself of these cravings.

(You might find this interesting too – Are you obsessive about healthy food?)

Remove temptations

Stack your fridge with wholesome food rather than junk

Temptations are stronger when they are easily available. Keeping a pack of fried potato chips in your kitchen isn’t going to make things easy for you. Try this – go to the grocery store with a full stomach. This way you won’t bring home the usual junk that you bring that can tempt you to forget your diet.

(Try reading – Food that influences your weight)

Buy wholesome food

Most often, you give in because you find a shortage of wholesome food at home. Well, you have no one to blame. Stack your fridge with good, healthy and wholesome food so that you don’t have an excuse to binge on junk food.

Avoid boredom

Keep yourself busy so that you don’t binge due to boredom

Most people eat when they are bored. Keeping yourself busy will help you stay away from unnecessary snacking.

Drink water

Drinking plenty of water is very important. Usually, people confuse thirst with hunger and binge on something unnecessary. Dehydration can also cause unhealthy cravings.

Now that you know what to stay away from and what not to, consider indulging once in a while, just to satiate your taste buds.

Food that influences your weight

There are certain kinds of food that have a positive impact on your weight loss goals and some that have a negative. Most of us are looking for that positive impact – in other words – to lose weight. But there are some who are looking to put on some mass and this can be a challenge also. Here are some different categories of food items that have a big impact on your weight loss or weight gain ambitions:

Food that correlates to weight gain includes:

Potato chips

High in starch content, potato chips are a stockroom of fats. Potato chips also contain a great deal of salt for taste. Its deep fried nature traps oil unlike most other food and these characteristics together can cause severe weight fluctuations due to bloating.

Sugar beverages

Sugar based beverages increase the overall intake of sugar in the body. This increase is directly related to calorie levels; and higher calorie levels means higher risk of weight gain – especially when the intake is that of sugar, lots and lots of sugar.

Processed meats

Meats like salami and sausages are high in salt content. They also include unnatural preservatives which give it a longer shelf life. Besides being plain unhealthy, these food items cause steady weight gain.

Food that correlates to weight loss includes:

Vegetables

There is no surprise here, as veggies have been forced down our throats by our parents who have claimed that veggies are supremely healthy. We have been challenging this claim since childhood but as we’ve grown up, we have come to terms with the reality that veggies are the healthiest weight balancing food one can have, even in the long run.

Fruits

Fruits are great in taste and high in not just protein, but vitamins and other minerals also. All in all, fruits are a perfect supplement to add to your diet to facilitate weight loss. Add a wholesome fruit diet to your meal plans and you will never regret it.

We may or may not have our favourite food in this list, but it is imperative to consider that to achieve our weight goals, we have to contemplate an element of sacrifice that is needed. If we can incorporate in or delete these food items from our diet, we will be on our way to achieving our goals!

Kick-start your weight loss plan

If you want to lose weight, you must reduce your calorie intake or burn your calories. Most people find it tedious to work on burning so many calories, so the easier way out is to reduce your intake. Usually, to lose a pound, you must reduce 3500 calories. But obviously, you shouldn’t reduce your calorie intake suddenly. Here we list a strategic way to start reducing your calorie intake to lose weight and maintain optimum health.

Weight loss goals can be achieved by reducing calorie intake

Eat eggs for breakfast

If you want to reduce your calorie intake for the day, try having eggs for breakfast. Dieticians claim, those who eat eggs for breakfast end up having 400 calories lesser than those who don’t. Try having boiled eggs rather than fried to reduce calorie intake further.

Cut out the soda

Sweetened sodas are high on calorific value and we’re not talking about the good calories. Sugars in soda can cause your blood sugar level to spike. Cutting out sodas from your diet will make you lose a significant amount of weight by reducing calorie intake.

Don’t eat in front of the television

Eating while entertainment is on will make you end up taking in more calories than you initially desired. Usually, when you pay attention to what you are eating, you are more likely to eat lesser.

Serve smaller portions

Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. Parents have also taught us to finish what’s on our plate. Well, wouldn’t it be wiser to just serve ourselves lesser, if that’s the case? If you still feel hungry you can serve yourself again. But by serving yourself a smaller portion, you can easily monitor your calorie intake. Besides this, you can also try using a smaller plate.

Reduce sugar based confectionery

Sugar confectionery can throw your calorie count out the window

When it comes to taste, health is most often thrown out the window. Such treats are usually made with no intention of being healthy and thus must be a rare indulgence if you are looking to reduce calorie intake.

If you can follow this regimen to start off your ‘calorie deficit weight loss plan’ then you can surely give your metabolism a good jump start to prepare for serious weight loss.

Keep Off These Foods If You Want To Enjoy A Healthy Heart

Your heart is the engine of your body. It is responsible for the circulation of the life of our bodies, that is, blood. Therefore, you have to take good care of it if you want to live a healthy and long life. To help you do this, we have compiled this list of foods you need to avoid to maintain a healthy heart.

1) Cold Cuts

In themselves, cold cuts do not endanger your heart’s health. However, their continued usage means that you will keep exposing yourself to raw salt consumption. By taking too much salt, you expose yourself to heart diseases.

2) Beef Jerky

Even though beef jerky is popular among meat lovers, its continued eating exposes you to excessive raw salt consumption. The results? High risk of developing artery failure and cardiovascular diseases. In fact, a 1–ounce serving can contain up to 700 milligrams of salt, which is more than four times what you expose yourself to when taking the same amount of chips.

3) Margarine

In as much as people love it, margarine is a source of unhealthy trans fatty acids, which make it dangerous for your cardiovascular health.

4) Processed Meats

Even though they are not dangerous in themselves, avoid them when possible. The reason is that they are persevered using salts and nitrites that are responsible for weakening your heart health. Therefore, it is necessary to take a maximum of two servings weekly. This way, you will avoid exposure to these chemicals.

5) Soft Drinks

Soft drinks are not that “soft” on your heart. On the contrary, these simple sugars are rich in soda that is culpable for triggering stroke inflammation and raising sugar level. The result of such conditions is that they strain artery walls and increase your risk of developing heart disease. If it is a must to take soda, then you should limit it to a maximum of seven 8-ounce servings weekly.

6) Added Sugars

Added sugar is another culprit behind increased chances of developing heart disease. The reason is that it increases blood pressure and high triglyceride levels.

Since you know the secrets, the ball is in your court to avoid these delicious and sweet poisons that could harm your heart health. It is now up to you to apply these little secrets and enjoy healthy living.