How do you make yourself have a healthy snack when you really crave a biscuit or similar!

[Jemster]

I told myself that once the Christmas food was gone I wouldn't buy anymore cakes, biscuits, chocolate etc and I haven't yet. There's still so much to finish up though especially chocs and I just love them! I can't stop nibbling at the chocs & christmas cake. Thing is even when it's gone I know I'm going to crave it & a piece of fruit just isn't the same! Does it get easier so after a while you stop wanting the bad stuff?

You have to accept that the biscuits are not taking themselves out of packets and forcing themselves down your throat. You say "you can't stop". This is not true. You are choosing not to stop.

You then have to face the fact that it is your choice and are you happy with the choice you are making - does it make sense?

I am sorry if this sounds brutal, but this was the realisation that worked for me. I was all "I should lose weight" and then doing nothing about it. When I replaced that with "I am choosing not to lose weight. I am choosing to eat biscuits and then be miserable about how I look" I realised that I could make choices in the moment that made more sense for me.

Things that help me:

• Start the day with a healthy breakfast and plan my (healthy) lunch and dinner, so that I'm not starving and picking up any old shit to eat. Making sure you get enough protein in each meal also quietens down sugar cravings for me.

• buying in healthy snacks and planning roughly when I'll eat them. I have fruit for my morning snack, but cant always face just fruit for an afternoon snack, so have something more carby like a piece of brown toast with peanut butter or banana & honey topping, or plain yoghurt with honey, fruit & nuts.

• find healthy snacks you actually like!

• and sorry to be annoying - but exercise has been key for me lately. It really sorts out my appetite and makes me hungry for healthy stuff rather than crap.

Oh...and allowing myself the odd biscuit! Nothing wrong with biscuits. Its just trying to break the habit of reaching for refined sugar/carbs when youre hungry - its definitely doable!

I have been really focussing on what i eat during the day, having a ryvita or rice cake with a tsp of peanut butter as that helps the sugar craving. Plus i have been exercising everyday in some form. Then in the evening, I can allow myself a biscuit or a couple of chocolates, but i just limit how much i have. 1 chocolate biscuit or a couple of chocolates, we still have lots left too.

I go cold turkey on sugar, anything sweet gets the short shift and that includes fruit, honey, artificial sweeteners, breakfast cereals etc. After a day or two I just see sweet foods as being off limits and I don't really think about them. I only have two modes - loads of sugar or no sugar, I wish I was better able to control it.

Jan says it all. My doctor said if I felt hungry have some protein.

Keep some emergency chicken slices in the fridge. Whip up a 1 egg omelette with the chicken.

A Ferraro Roche is 60 cals. Most nice chocolates are around that mark. So if you must have something have one.

Log into Mfp and record it. It's a good tool to have in the early days.

I have some emergency jellies in paper cups in the fridge made from apple juice, powdered gelatine and tesco frozen summer fruits. They are about 100 cals and you get 8 from a packet of gelatine and pint of juice. Healthy dessert.

I think success is down to planning ahead and preempting any disasters.

A general wouldn't send his men into a battle zone without ammunition, tanks guns etc. we need to draw up our battle plan to outwit the enemy because that's what it comes down to ultimately .

Also eating protein keepss you in ketosis ie burning fat. Eating carbs stop that process I believe.

That's why Dukan and Atkins were successful. They looked at the science of it, they are just hard to maintain long term.

The easiest approach would be to simply throw it all out, so the temptation isn't there.

If you want something sweet, rather than actually being hungry, then try having a low calorie hot chocolate. Options do a big range of them. They are nice as a sweet treat, but only 40 calories.

Think of it like giving up smoking. You'll get the craving for junk, but it will pass.

For me it's best to just not have biscuits and chocolate in the house. And I can never have one. Who can just have one all butter M&S biscuit? It's half a packet dunked in tea for me.

I find a small banana takes the craving away, even if I have to force it down.

Also just stopping and thinking before I eat helps eg if offered a piece of cake for someone's birthday I actually think first if I want it or not and usually I dont. I read a book on mindfulness where it described 15 steps to eating a raisin - look at it, turn it over, hold it, touch it, lick it...etc until you actually eat it. You can apply the same principle to biscuits and chocolates.

We have loads of sweets, chocolate etc here too because no one bothers with them. I do Paul McKenna (mindful eating) and no food is banned or seen as any different. I always have chocolate, cakes, biscuits, crisps etc in my kitchen as well as loads of fruit, veg, meat, cheese, plain yoghurt etc. I hardly ever buy so called "treat" stuff because no one eats it much. I have been eating like this for over ten years and brought my kids up viewing all food as just food, not good or bad. Interestingly they don't overeat anything. If they want chocolate or crisps/cake etc then they just have a few bites or one biscuit and then move on. I grew up in a dieting household and was told how bad treat foods were so used to have my calories restricted and biscuits, cakes etc banned from house. I was a binge eater because of this. Since eating this way I feel free from the control that so called treat food had over me and just eat when im hungry and eat what I really want but usually very small amounts. This works for me and I am free from the cycle of diets that caused me such distress and emotional issues for most of my life. I appreciate that not everyone feels that this is the way to go and it took a leap of faith for me to do it initially but it works for me.