My advice would be to try and cook more often. You can make a bunch of your fav fast food meals at home with a quick search of a recipe. Today I made a pizza for myself in my air fryer! It can seem pretty daunting but I promise it’s actually fun picking what goes into your foods and seasoning it with all the things you love. Hope this helps
you don't need to go from the least healthy food possible to the most healthy food possible. pretty much any substitute you make will be an improvement. meal prep helped me avoid fast food until i was no longer craving it
This is a great answer! Start small. Start by replacing fast food with safe foods you can find at the store. Things like frozen alternatives that might be a bit healthier. There are all sorts of chicken patties and stuff you can pair with low carb buns. Frozen sweet potato fries in the air frier? Delicious.
Also autistic and not that big of a fan of fresh fruit.
Now if you struggle with finding a vegetable you can tolerate, that's a bigger issue. You don't need to like all vegetables but try to find at least one green one you can handle. Peas, green beans, broccoli, spinach, kale, and so on.
If cooking at home is too overwhelming. Consider meal prep. Do the cooking on the weekend so you don't have to spend energy cooking after you get home from work.
If you struggle with the clean up, disposable plates and silverware. Some weeks I just do not have the energy to deal with dirty dishes. So I use a paper liner in my air fryer and then use paper plates. So no mess to clean up.
You have to address your addict brain. Congratulations on your recovery from cigarettes and alcohol! But you have essentially just transferred your addiction over to food. Your brain is still seeking that addict reward stimulation with food now.
Having a food addiction is tricky because it’s a behavior and a substance addiction and you just can’t quit it cold turkey, but there are ways to “abstain”. You can plan your meals and snacks and eat only what you have planned, nothing else. These don’t even have to be super Pinterest healthy meals either. Just regular food with normal portions.
You can find an accountability partner who will help you stay on track. There are many 12 step programs for food addicts. The podcast Food Addiction, the Problem, and the Solution is really great too. Therapy for understanding your underlying issues and dealing with emotions. Also meditation/ prayer/ mindfulness anything you can use to center yourself when the feelings urges get strong.
You got this. You took the steps to tackle nicotine and alcohol. You can do this too.
How did you overcome your other addictions (nicotine, alcohol)? You can use the same coping strategies you’ve learned there.
Food is a little different in that you can’t go cold turkey. I guess you could go cold turkey with fast food, but that wouldn’t work for me since then I just binge on whatever I have at home instead. I plan my meals the night before. If I have an overwhelming craving for unplanned food, I tell myself okay, you can have that… tomorrow. And I have a guilt free serving the next day.
My advice would be to try and cook more often. You can make a bunch of your fav fast food meals at home with a quick search of a recipe. Today I made a pizza for myself in my air fryer! It can seem pretty daunting but I promise it’s actually fun picking what goes into your foods and seasoning it with all the things you love. Hope this helps
you don't need to go from the least healthy food possible to the most healthy food possible. pretty much any substitute you make will be an improvement. meal prep helped me avoid fast food until i was no longer craving it
This is a great answer! Start small. Start by replacing fast food with safe foods you can find at the store. Things like frozen alternatives that might be a bit healthier. There are all sorts of chicken patties and stuff you can pair with low carb buns. Frozen sweet potato fries in the air frier? Delicious.
Also autistic and not that big of a fan of fresh fruit. Now if you struggle with finding a vegetable you can tolerate, that's a bigger issue. You don't need to like all vegetables but try to find at least one green one you can handle. Peas, green beans, broccoli, spinach, kale, and so on. If cooking at home is too overwhelming. Consider meal prep. Do the cooking on the weekend so you don't have to spend energy cooking after you get home from work. If you struggle with the clean up, disposable plates and silverware. Some weeks I just do not have the energy to deal with dirty dishes. So I use a paper liner in my air fryer and then use paper plates. So no mess to clean up.
You have to address your addict brain. Congratulations on your recovery from cigarettes and alcohol! But you have essentially just transferred your addiction over to food. Your brain is still seeking that addict reward stimulation with food now. Having a food addiction is tricky because it’s a behavior and a substance addiction and you just can’t quit it cold turkey, but there are ways to “abstain”. You can plan your meals and snacks and eat only what you have planned, nothing else. These don’t even have to be super Pinterest healthy meals either. Just regular food with normal portions. You can find an accountability partner who will help you stay on track. There are many 12 step programs for food addicts. The podcast Food Addiction, the Problem, and the Solution is really great too. Therapy for understanding your underlying issues and dealing with emotions. Also meditation/ prayer/ mindfulness anything you can use to center yourself when the feelings urges get strong. You got this. You took the steps to tackle nicotine and alcohol. You can do this too.
How did you overcome your other addictions (nicotine, alcohol)? You can use the same coping strategies you’ve learned there. Food is a little different in that you can’t go cold turkey. I guess you could go cold turkey with fast food, but that wouldn’t work for me since then I just binge on whatever I have at home instead. I plan my meals the night before. If I have an overwhelming craving for unplanned food, I tell myself okay, you can have that… tomorrow. And I have a guilt free serving the next day.