How do you deal with food temptation?

I drink warm water. Also eating healthy food before hand helps.

I think it through.

When I am tempted by chips, or cake, or pie, at work, or when a bowl of candy was put out at Halloween, i think through how it will throw my diet out of whack and I will have to work out more and restrict my diet more severely again if I don’t want to gain weight.

And I also recall how bad my health was getting before I dropped a lot of weight four years ago.

I do the “apple test”. Whenever I’m craving junk food, but not particularly hungry, I take an apple from my kitchen and pretend that I’m about to eat the whole thing. It usually stops the cravings, because in reality, I’m not hungry enough to eat an apple.

I give in and make up for it by eating less some other time.

I try to avoid bread. Otherwise, I’m a black hole.

@janbb – You too..I thought you’re tough nut..) ~

I ask myself if I’m eating because I’m bored or because I’m expected to eat what’s put in front of me. I also check to make sure I’m not emotion-eating—eating to feel better or eating as a reward.

Am I really hungry? When I check, usually, the answer is no. My eyes are hungry, not my tummy. I like the apple test, @zenvelo

@imrainmaker Your comment to me didn’t make sense. Please explain.

^ @janbb – I was JK.. what I meant was you seem to me like a determined person who won’t give in to food temptations like I do..!

Oscar Wilde – “I can resist anything except temptation.” :-)

^lol..)

I think about how much physical work I did today and how much I already ate.
I look at that 100 calorie tidbit and figure I have to walk or run a mile to burn it off. Then i ask myself: Can I eat less somewhere else? or Will I be working hard later today or tomorrow?

Sounds like a good plan @LuckyGuy !! What about something you know might not be good for you but you love to eat? Can you avoid that?

@imrainmaker You need to define “not good for you.” Foods don’t have a moral value – we make a fetish of them that way. If you mean, something makes you sick, then avoid it. Otherwise, I believe in everything in moderation. My weight is the same every year at my physical because I watch it and my blood work is good. If that’s so, I don’t agonize if I indulge from time to time.

^That’s what I meant by not good means can make you sick / aggravate any existing health related issues. I don’t know about moral values of food either..)

@imrainmaker If you are exposed to something that makes you sick at a party, I will try to find something else that you can substitute that might satisfy the same craving. Not always so easy a task.

@imrainmaker. I will eat almost anything in moderation. But, i do keep an idea of the calories.
If I eat 4–5 chocolate truffles (at about 80 calories a pop) I will simply back off when I eat supper. I’ll skip the bread or I won’t have a bagel with my eggs tomorrow morning.
Small adjustments every day are much easier to make than trying to catch up
I do it automatically.
I am a participant in a medical study and get weighed every 10 days to 2 weeks. The nurse commented with surprise that my weight was so stable I am always within 0.3 pounds every time.

@LuckyGuy You have the same approach that I do.

@imrainmaker I also do that with alcoholic drinks. I’ll drink – no problem. But I figure each one is about 150 calories. I know they are all different but I don’t care. That’s the average number I use. If I have 2 drinks with a full meal, I’ll skip the bagel the next day. Or I’ll eat the bagel if I am going to be raking leave for a couple of hours. .

@LuckyGuy But the OP says the temptations may make him sick which is a different story than the weight issues that you and I are talking about.

@janbb I don’t know of a food I like that makes me sick so I don’t have personal experience with it. If I knew chocolate made me sick it would not be difficult for me to avoid it. i would eat something else.
I am fortunate that I can resist things my head tells me are bad.
I still have many years old bottles of pain killers that I never finished after various surgeries. I felt so good when i took them but I knew they were bad for me, so there they sit in the cupboard in case I feel I need them.

@LuckyGuy Me neither. We are LuckyGuy and Lucky Penguin!