How To Avoid Junk Food: Call It What It Is

Have you ever seen a picture or an advertisement for junk food and found yourself suddenly DESPERATE to taste it or something like it immediately?  You know… where you just can’t wait to find something, anything, to give you that warm fuzzy feeling of delicious comfort food, filling your mouth and making you feel INCREDIBLE in the process…. know what I mean?

Tonight, I logged into my Facebook account to see what was going on with everyone.  While my friends’ updates loaded, I glanced over to the advertisements on the right and noticed a picture of a gooey piece of chocolate cake with fudge icing dripping down the sides of the cake.

Don’t even ask me what the ad was for… all I saw was the cake!

Anyway, immediately I wanted some cake.  I CRAVED it.

Ever been there?

I certainly was a few minutes ago!

So what did I do, you might ask…?

I simply became aware of how I talked to myself about the cake.

I realized that when I looked at the cake, the words that popped in my mind instantly were, “Mmmmm… yummy!  That looks sooo good…”

I didn’t even register that it was cake… that it was chocolate cake with fudge icing… I spoke to myself about that dessert in terms of how my idea of it would make me feel.  As soon as I heard myself thinking that, I took a step back and asked myself WHY.  Asking WHY is a fantastic first step in course correcting… and tonight I did just that starting with that single one-word question.

“Why am I looking at the cake and thinking of words to describe it before I even process what it is and how much I would really like it right now?” I asked myself.

I looked at the next ad… a picture of a woman smiling.  Did I think, “Oh, happy!  Fun, stress-free, enjoying life… that’s awesome!”  No, of course not… I thought, “Woman - smiling.  Pretty teeth!”  And yet, with the cake, I didn’t think about WHAT it was… I thought about what it would hypothetically make me FEEL.

Then I looked back at the cake.  This time, after realizing what I had done, I looked at the cake and thought, “Chocolate cake.  No nutrition.  Sweet flavor - lots of sugar… that icing looks rich!  That would be really tasty - I know I’d enjoy the flavor for a bite or two… but it’s really not worth it.”

The cravings instantly switched with my perspective.

See, what happened is that the first time I looked at the picture of the cake, I saw it in terms of what it could do for me.  I saw it as a comfort, a delight, an emotionally fulfilling intangible idea.  I thought of it in terms of “yummy”, “delicious”, and “I need that” (notice my thoughts were “I need that” and not “I need some chocolate cake“.

I was communicating with my emotions only, and all logic was gone - but I didn’t even know it at first!

When I took a step back, and looked at the picture logically, the words I associated with it were “tasty”, “sugar”, “calories”, “rich”, “no nutrients”, and “not worth it”.

It’s not the reality of how delicious the cake would be that changed, but rather that my perspective changed. 

Every decision we make is based on a story we tell ourselves.  In the first moment I looked at the picture, the story in my mind was, “OH!  I NEED things like this delicious chocolate cake… it makes me happy and fulfilled, and I KNOW it’s amazingly perfect in every way.”

The second time I looked at the cake, the story in my head was different.  I came from a position of power, and the story line in my head was more like, “What is this cake really?  What’s in it?  What would it really taste like?  How would it make me feel?  Would it be worth it to enjoy some right now if I had it?  I don’t really need it, I just enjoy the flavor sometimes.  I’m going to evaluate it and see if I want to make that decision.”

In the first moment, the cake held the power over me… or the picture of the cake did.  It told ME what I needed.  In the second look, I held the power.  I know what I need, and the picture became what it is in reality - a picture of something that I may or may not want.

So next time you see junk food, call it what it is.  It’s an inanimate, non-emotional substance that you may or may not put into your mouth.  You don’t need it, and it’s not love, joy, family, social life, connectedness, or happiness.  It’s FOOD.  And it’s gonna come out of your body, and leave in its wake a trail of health that will support your health & weight goals, or it will leave a trail of JUNK for your body to work hard trying to clean up.

Sometimes it’s worth it.  Sometimes it’s just fun to enjoy a little bit of something that isn’t all that healthy… just because you are treating yourself.  But make sure you look at it for what it is… junk food.  Non-nutrients.  A delicious flavor that you’d like to enjoy, but you really don’t need and are fully empowered to walk away from.

And then, carry through with your choice confidently.  Immerse yourself in the flavors you chose to enjoy slowly, savoring every moment and stopping when it’s no longer pleasurable (your body has a way of telling you when it’s full of the stuff it doesn’t need - eat slowly enough to make sure you hear it!).

Or if you choose to walk away, walk away confidently… knowing that anytime you want, you can choose to put something in your mouth.  You’re not depriving yourself… you’re making conscious choices.  And that’s where the power is!