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Eating clean is a lifestyle, and although you may indulge in junk foods every once in a while, you will want to avoid them for the most part. This can be difficult in our food-saturated culture. Here are a few ideas and tips on how to overcome your junk food cravings when they hit you.

Keep Healthy, Convenient Food on Hand

One of the big allures of junk food is that you can usually grab it easily and eat it without a second thought. Keep healthy foods on hand that are both easy and tasty. Fruit can satisfy a sweet tooth, and you can wash a few pieces at a time and store them on the counter so that you can eat them immediately when hunger hits you.

Keep other easy clean items on hand, such as nuts and even items you have previously baked and stored in the freezer, ready to be eaten. When you meal prep, make an extra serving and keep a variety of these healthy frozen meals ready to be used when you don’t have time to prepare one.

Don’t Let Yourself Get Too Hungry

Going too long between meals can be a bad idea when trying to eat well. A person who feels like they are starving is much less likely to make wise food choices than someone who is prepared and just beginning to detect the feeling of hunger. Eat your meals at a consistent time and you will find yourself better able to resist temptation.

Have Substitutes for Your Biggest Temptations

Speaking of temptations, we all have certain junk foods that have a strong appeal to us personally. Choose a substitute, and keep it on hand to enjoy when you are feeling the pull of the unhealthier version.

If chocolate is your weakness, make frozen chocolate cups out of ingredients such as almond butter, coconut oil, cocoa powder, vanilla and honey. Mix and put into tiny silicone freezer molds so that when you want that specific chocolate taste, you can pop one or two out, enjoy, and feel the craving pass.

Indulge Occasionally

Because eating clean is a lifestyle and not a diet, there will be occasional times when you indulge in what you are really craving. Keep these times few and far between, but don’t cut them out completely. Have a small piece of apple pie, a scoop of ice cream or a single serving of potato chips and eat them slowly and mindfully. Enjoy your treat and then get back on track without any feelings of guilt that may sabotage your eating goals.

Drink a Glass of Water

Often when we feel hungry and when we are craving various foods, we are actually thirsty and dehydrated. Keep a timer on your phone reminding you to drink water, or fill a jug and sip on it throughout the day. If you feel a craving, promise yourself that you will first drink two full glasses of water. By the time you are done, the craving may have passed.

When you have a craving, it is often a signal that you are not functioning in total balance. Check all of your lifestyle habits. Ask yourself whether you are getting enough sleep, or whether your craving might be boredom or your body’s reaction to not getting enough exercise. If you have a craving, there are many steps you can take which can reduce or eliminate it. Try a few of them next time the feeling hits you.

[Grab my guide here on conquering cravings.](https://mailchi.mp/free2bcoaching/crush-your-cravingshttps://)

Ditching Junk Food Cravings

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It’s no secret that a lot of people engage in emotional eating. Whether you are anxious and stressed or depressed and upset at any point in your life, food can always “be there” for you as a coping mechanism. However, utilizing food as a means of a coping mechanism isn’t the answer, and can actually do a lot more harm than good. 

If you’re already in the middle of realizing you have an emotional eating or even a binge eating problem (or both), the good news is, it’s okay. An estimated 2.8 billion people suffer from binge-eating disorder in the United States and a study shows that about 57% of (overweight) adults self-report frequent emotional eating.  

It’s a very real issue, but it can be helped and improved.  

1. Figure out why you’re emotionally eating 

There is always a reason behind emotional eating – maybe you had a horrible day at work, times are tough financially, or you got into a fight with a loved one. It could be anything, even if you don’t realize it. It’s best to analyze the situation when you feel like eating, and identify if you’re actually hungry or just trying to use it as a way of coping. 

It’s also important to note how you feel when you’re craving food. Are you stressed or anxious? Maybe you’ve been dealing with a bit of a depressive episode. If you’re feeling any of these negative ways, then it might be a good idea to avoid food so you don’t emotionally eat and binge out. You really do have to analyze the situation throughout in order to truly find out the cause of your emotional eating.  

2. Journal your binge-eating episodes  

A lot of people who struggle with binge-eating report feeling shameful or guilty after having a binge-eating episode and would rather forget it. However, in this case, it is important to keep track of your binges and everything you’re feeling through it.  This means writing down how you feel before you binge, during your binge, and after your binge.  

You may also want to keep track of the food you’re eating as well. Many people often report eating very unhealthy foods during binges that would otherwise be “forbidden” or something they wouldn’t normally eat, such as pizza, ice cream, chips and dips, etc. in large quantities. 

3. Now let’s combat the emotional need to eat 

At this point, you’ve identified why you’re emotionally eating or binge-eating, what your trigger feelings and foods are, and now it’s time to combat it. Now, this takes effort, is easier said than done, and you might even slip up a few times, but as long as you try, that’s all that matters. You’ll want to see if it’s true hunger or emotional hunger next time an episode begins to manifest and truly fight the urge to give in. 

An additional way to help in combating emotional eating is to remove any “trigger foods” from your home – that means any food you’ll reach for when you emotionally eat or binge-eat. Instead of isolating yourself in times of anxiety or stress, it’s best to busy yourself with something or someone and truly fight the urge. Overtime, it will become easier and easier to say “no” to emotional eating. 

This is exactly my story and why I became a coach ~ to help women break free from emotional/stress eating so they can be calm, confident and at peace. If you’d like to chat about how you can break free too, [let’s chat](https://melissarohlfs.lpages.co/chat/https://)!

Be sure to grab my guide on how to Break Free from Emotional Eating [here.](https://mailchi.mp/free2bcoaching/emotional-eatinghttps://) 

How To Deal With Your Emotions Without Using Food

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Discover How You Can...
Find Freedom from the Food Struggle

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If you're ready to find freedom from the food struggle ~ quit thinking about it, obsessing over how much to eat, which foods make you feel good, dieting all the time, using it to feel better emotionally and feeling out of control around it ~ let's connect!

At the end of our time together you will walk away with a deeper understanding of your relationship with food, and a clear next step on how to sustainably move toward finding freedom and feeling at peace with food, your body and your life.

Find Freedom from the Food Struggle

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What if instead of feeling unhappy with their bodies, teen girls could know they are ENOUGH? That they matter and are worth taking care of? That they could look in the mirror and be happy with and like their bodies?

That's exactly what ENOUGH is. ENOUGH is an experience for teen girls to love themselves, their bodies, and be confident in who God made them to be.


Focusing on ~ Identity. Eternity. Impact.

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ENOUGH:  An experience for teen girls to love themselves, their bodies & be confident in who God made them to be.

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As a holistic health and life coach, I teach simple strategies that you can fit into your busy life because our families need us to be our best.   I help busy women and teen girls how to find freedom from the struggle with food.  You know the struggle ~ always thinking about food, not knowing how much to eat, what foods make you feel good, dieting all the time, using food to feel better, feeling out of control around it, etc.

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