How to stop eating junk food

We’ve all been there, ‘I’ll just have one square’, and then bam, you’ve eaten the whole bar and a packet of crisps and started on another… Read on to discover how to stop eating junk food, once a binge starts!

A: Back in my teens when I was the size and shape of a space hopper, I used to be a binge eater. I’d eat virtually nothing all day, then at night I’d weaken and have a biscuit and then wouldn’t be able to stop. The whole packet would be gone. So I know exactly what you’re talking about. Even those whose relationship with food is a bit more balanced can still identify with the notion of one bite of something ‘sinful’ never being enough.

These days, scientists have worked out why some foods kick off a binge. It’s not just that ice cream, chocolate or cake taste good. They have an effect on the brain that makes them addictive. High fat, high sugar foods light up the reward centre of the brain, the same bit activated by alcohol and drugs. In other words, they give you a high.

What is interesting is why some people seem to have a weaker will around these foods than others. One theory is that some people are born with fewer receptors for a naturally occuring brain hormone called dopamine, so seek to overstimulate the receptors they do have. Those with drug and alcohol problems have been shown to have fewer of these receptors, but also the children of alcoholics may also inherit this trait.

The problem if you start to overuse junk food to stimulate your reward centre, is that as with alcohol and drugs, a ‘tolerance’ develops so that it takes more and more of the high-sugar, high-fat food to give the same good feeling. The result is that the bingeing gets worse.

So how does all this help you? Well, I believe that knowledge is power. Knowing that you may have a particular brain chemistry that predisposes you to a love of junk food can be helpful in that it shows you’re not mad or stupid, both things you can feel if you keep sabotaging a diet with trips to the fridge.

There are also steps you can take to turn down the heat on your junk food cravings.

1. Eat small, regular, balanced meals of lean protein and complex carbs to keep your blood sugar stable. Unstable blood sugar fires up cravings.
2. Increase healthy fats as these also help to stabilise blood sugar. Include oily fish, nuts and seeds in your diet.
3. Do not go for that first bite of junk food. In the same way someone who has given up smoking is best not having a drag of someone else’s fag, so you need to accept that one taste of a hig-fat, high-sugar food could set you off.
4. Use exercise to boost endorphins as an alternative way to feel good.
5. Don’t get hungry, lonely, angry or tired. All these emotional states weaken your resolve against cravings.

Lowri Turner is a nutritionist and clinical hypnotherapist. She sees clients in North London. To make an appointment, please email lowri@lowriturner.com or go to www.lowriturner.com