Face it. Sometimes the most body-damaging, sugar-infested foods are the ones that are most attractive.
This gullible mindset is the culprit. Sadly, both makers and marketers of such products know it. Food coloring, artificial flavoring, yeast, and a number of other health hazards have historically joined synthetic forces with sugar as a way to seduce many of us while we face a common weakness.
The possibility of guarding the eyes and even the sense of smell from certain tasty temptations around us does not exist. Junk food is everywhere. And for some of us, to indulge in it seems more rewarding than biting into an apple - at least for a snap of a moment compared to the longterm results.
Twin sisters, Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison, provide over 350 healthy recipes for family meals. The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook is an investment for all family nurturers who desire to indulge in the creations of wholesome cooking that supports healthy weight.
There is no easy escape from such a challenge when food is a dominant issue of life. When it dominates me, the most attractive aspects of it become difficult to process. Thus, to this day, I am sometimes vulnerable to a few appearances, scents, and even touch (as I prepare for the entire family) of foods I shouldn't eat.
As I regularly read more about the nutritional benefits eating numerous health foods, my desire for the wrong foods weakens. Carefully reading ingredient labels and seeking quality in the produce aisles when I shop have produced the rewards of more balance in how I perceive food. If there is a point where achieving this mindset reaches 100% accomplishment, I certainly hope I've passed the half-mark toward it.
Appreciating food as being more than what could taste good, but primarily for it's natural-grown value, gives me the perspective I need in the face of challenge. And that's the beginning of dealing with my plight - before I can also turn to productive activities.
Fortunately, for me and other salad-eaters, other solutions can come from other parts of life that can potentially replace food as a dominant issue. As with any addiction, those other areas can actually become more important than the issue at hand.
Hobbies
Whether a hobby is gardening or engaging in sports with a team, it can become more than a just a distraction in place of food. Treating an activity as a priority results in time spent away from the table.
Occupation
Good old-fashion hard work (within reason, of course) is an honorable way to shift into another focus. And what could the rewards be? More than just income. Consider the importance of achievement in the workplace or making a resource of our contributions for others.
Projects
This can be in the category of both hobbies and occupation. But projects can mean additional activities that would require specific attention and even mission. For me, it's blogging here.
Charity
The most rewarding of all would be joining a cause to help others. Clothing drives, nursing homes, shelters, and a long list of organizations that can be researched online all offer rewards that can be reaped by their recipients. And what rewards are experienced by us as contributors!
I would be the first to oppose any suggestion that avoiding food altogether solves addiction to it. Avoiding food - or attempting to avoid it - does not help me. I'm grateful for the solutions I have listed. And after those solutions, the challenge sometimes still does emerge. With that continuation, I continue to look for solutions and embrace the ones that I do have.