How do I give up fast food and soda?

I’m working right now on giving up diet soda. It is hard. That fat/salt combo is really addictive. The good news is, your taste will change slowly so that  other flavors can come through once you stop the fast food. If you don’t cook, there are lots of frozen choices, but you do need to pay attention to the salt content. That will just keep you hooked. If you do cook, try to stick to protein and greens/veggies. Stay away from carbs as much as you can. Again addiction trigger as they metabolize into sugar. There are lots of bottled/canned sparkling flavored water choices available. Also bottled iced tea. Try to avoid artificial sweetners, they mess with gut biomes. Stevia is good. Try for lots of fiber. Look for high fiber breads. Use beans. Also important – plan ahead.  Make sure there is plenty of stuff you like to eat in your house at all times. Don’t get too hungry.

I’m not gonna pretend changing habits is easy, because it’s not, but it’s basically about hanging in there through the detox phase. It’ll be difficult. For me, writing helps. When I diet, if I crave something, I write it down, and tell myself I can’t have it now, but I can later. Soda and fast food all have sugar, which is highly addictive, so once you get over that hump, and get used to both the physical and emotional habit change, you’ll start to feel amazing! It’s like when people say they need coffee, but they only need it because they have it. I know this because for years I didn’t drink coffee, just tea, and I had endless energy. Once I tried it and sort of fell in love with the taste of black coffee, even though I can’t handle much, if I do have it, I will have energy for like half and hour, and then crash hard! If I go a few days without it, I feel dead at first, but within 2-3 days, I’m suddenly feeling amazing again.

In other words, it’s about investment. You simply have to wait it out, and meanwhile, deal with all of the demons behind the addiction coming out (lol not but for real). If you don’t give in, the demons will get bored and leave haha. Silly metaphor, but I think you get it. Bottom line is that it’s worth it. Health is the most important thing in the world, and without it, nothing else matters. I know changing longtime habits is hard, but eye on the prize. Good luck! 🙂

*Random Noter*

When I joined weight watchers I gave all that crap up…I even gave up chips and chocolate.  The thing to do is when you crave sugar and salt you eat fruit and yogurt. But plain yogurt and protein and after a while you don’t even want the junk…but it does take three weeks to do.