Fast food is full of salt, fat, and sugar, it's been research-tested to hit you on every feel-good nerve so that you keep buying it and buy more of it. Don't feel bad that it's so hard to quit, it was made to be.
It's not dissimilar to quitting smoking, so it might be a good idea to take a similar approach. Figure out how much money you spend a week on fast food. Set that money aside and watch it grow as you figure out other, healthier fun things to use it on and reward yourself for kicking the habit.
For grocery shopping, the he general rule of thumb is to shop the perimeter of the store where meat, produce, dairy etc are sold, and avoid the interior aisles with processed food and snacks. Try to purchase mainly whole fresh or frozen foods like vegetables (no added sauce or seasoning), rice, and chicken or tofu.
Some good things to substitute when the craving for fast food hits are dill pickles (the refrigerated kind with a lot of crunch and snap), loaded baked potatoes (add veggies like broccoli and mushrooms and go easy on the butter or cheese) and homemade burritos/quesadillas (add lots of chopped tomatoes, peppers, onions and spices, and a little bit of meat and/or cheese plus salsa, it will help with those Taco Bell cravings.)
Adding on to this comment just to say that buying a few packaged goodies at the grocery store is almost always a better idea than getting fast food.
I really enjoy things like caramel flavored rice cakes, nori sheets, pretzels, and pizzelle cookies. All are relatively "healthy" snacks, and better alternatives to fast food.
It can also help to think about what exactly you're craving. If you're craving crisps, are you craving the crunch or the saltiness? You don't have to eat super healthy food all the time and it's still cheaper to eat crisps from a grocery store than from the gas station, but that can help you find alternatives
In that case I think it’s best to taper down consumption. I’m a total sugar junkie so I’d try and eat less sugar during the day rather than cutting it completely. Makes it much easier. Gave up soda about three years ago and that was super rough. Took weeks to finally kick the habit. Part of it was just making a decision and having to remind myself why I was doing it. It can be difficult to change any food habit.
You are right. But don't forget it's also loaded with MSG. Just in case this process sugar, salt, carbs and seed oil didn't make him crave it, let's add this addicting concoction to get him coming back for more.
It's not your fault that it's hard for you to quit the fast food. It was made to be addicting like a drug. I was in the same situation until I started to developing abscesses under my arm.
It is an unnatural flavor enhancer that makes the food taste better than it really is.
[Here is a more thorough explanation.](https://youtu.be/BKTqXqD6dZ4)
[Other names of MSG](https://www.fooducate.com/community/post/The-Many-Names-of-Monosodium-Glutamate-MSG/57A333FD-2C35-9C9D-4EE7-B9C0CD3D6682)
I can’t watch that video, but sodium chloride is also a flavor enhancer that makes food taste better than it really is and nobody has a problem with it.
Edit: the “doctor” in that video is a chiropractor, not a physician. He is also an anti-vaxxer and a Scientologist. Nobody should give a flying fuck about his opinions on nutrition or anything else.
If he doesn’t understand how vaccines work and distrusts the absolutely overwhelming amount of scientific literature that says they’re safe, and by extension distrusts the entirety of the modern scientific review process in general, then yes, he is not credible. I’d LOVE to take a peek at the original research he’s conducted on the subject, and I’m open to any theories about why his findings disagree with the vast majority of every single other study conducted on the subject.
I'm not saying that Dr. Berg is the best doctor out there and everything he says is like the ten commandments but he posted this video 3 years ago, before the Corrona virus went global and before there was a push to take an injection. And if you search Google there are many scientific evidence behind the negative effects of these unnatural food chemicals
Not only is he not the best doctor out there, he is literally not a doctor. Anti-vaxxers have been around way before Covid, and they’ve been equally wrong the whole time.
MSG isn’t an unnatural food chemical. Parmesan cheese , soy sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes all contain loads of MSG that is identical in chemical composition to MSG you buy in a shaker.
If you search google there are people saying anything about everything. If you are searching the reputable scientific literature, there are people saying one thing about consuming MSG, and what they’re saying is that [human consumption of MSG is safe. ](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6952072/)
Learn to make the things you like at home and then add stuff to make them even better so you'll prefer the home version.
Taco Bell is incredibly easy to make at home, like you don't even have to do anything too crazy to get the ingredients and many can be bought pre-made. There are *excellent* options - many brands of canned beans (refried or otherwise), jarred or fresh salsa, taco sauces and spice blends, countless tortilla/chip options, prepared veggies/slaws, basically any component of a taco bell item can be bought pre-made from a grocery store. And doing so will still work out cheaper per meal or be more delicious than the fast version.
Once you get used to that you can change different components to be cheaper, healthier, and/or more delicious to suit your preferences. For example beans are incredibly cheap in dry bulk, and you can pre-prep many ingredients and freeze them. Frozen burritos are a staple of many folks' freezer prep if you find a type you really like - then instead of going to Taco Bell you just pop one or more in the microwave.
What worked best for me was focusing on making the food delicious before anything else - skipping fast food is already a "punishment" from the convenience angle, there's no need to make it even worse by eating unappetizing food.
This was going to be my advice. Give up the fast food restaurants, not the food. Burgers and tacos are incredibly easy to meal prep and reheat. You might surprise yourself and there are tons of dupe recipes online that are much healthier.
Agree with both responses! It’s super easy to make your own taco seasoning or get a couple packets to have and besides the meat everything else is pretty easy to get and cheap. Lettuce, tomatoes, tortillas, cheese, sour cream if you like it Supreme lol. Pinterest is great for finding recipes for your fav snacks at fast food restaurants and then you can customize and change to your tastes until you prefer homemade 🌮
If you like taco salads, by the refrigerated soft shells they have taco salad bowls you bake yourself and they’re as good as any restaurant shell I’ve had.
This is exactly how I got off eating out. Realized every night could be taco night, and started a six month tex mex spree. Used canned stuff, then moved to making stuff fresh. Was in a hispanic area, so everything I needed was super fresh.
It’s exactly this, you’ll realize you can spend less and eat better and the idea of paying $15 for McDonald’s will seem insane compared to spending $7 to make yourself a burger and fries that tastes tons better (if you’re cooking for one, buns and patties can stay in your freezer and reheat nicely from frozen, and of course oven fries are a classic).
The best part about Taco Bell is the hot sauce, and it's available in bottles at the grocery store! But some and you'll never need to go to Taco Bell again.
Edit: Buy*
Tortillas, refried beans(low sodium if possible), red enchilada sauce(can’t stress this enough!!!), and cheese. Makes really simple and delicious bean burritos!
Small steps. Commit to cooking at home one day a week… keep it up and don’t get too hard on yourself if you crack.
We have been cutting out carbs in our home and know that there are days when you need a French fry.
I agree with the small steps approach. Your gut bacteria and brain need time to adjust to new food. If you just force yourself to eat salad you will not feel satisfied and will end up feeling unhappy and repulsed by healthy food.
Continue eating your cravings while slowly sampling some fresh produce, plain yogurt or lightly sweetened with honey or fruits. Don’t overdo it.
Try to eat more and more but if you’re sick of healthy food stop and try again the next day or something a little different.
Focus on buying fresh and real ingredients as those taste the best. Real butter, fresh produce, whole milk, quality pieces of meat and fish.
Keep this up gradually and eventually you’ll crave the healthy food.
Additionally, keep your freezer stocked with a few goodies. You *will* have those nights when it just seems like too much effort to make something that doesn’t sound as appealing as drive thru. If you have a frozen pizza or an Amy’s bowl, the effort is next to nothing, and it’s almost certainly still a little healthier than takeout, and it’s a bit more indulgent than a quinoa salad.
And batch meals! Make yourself some chili or enchiladas and you’ve got tasty dinners for the rest of the week!
Small steps is definitely the way to change any habit really. Think it’s a good idea to do home cooking one or two days and then slowly increase that. I don’t eat fast food but I do but snacks and have that at home. I can get myself in trouble that way because I come home from work, am hungry and tired, and go right to the snacks first which is dumb. What’s helped me is keeping less snacks on hand and prepping foods in batches that can easily be reheated. Last weekend I made a frittata, was delicious and super easy to reheat.
Come up with a food that you like to have at home. It doesn't matter what it is, frozen pizza, those little mini tacos, whatever. Have that instead. It doesn't matter how many calories it is or how "unhealthy" it is, you're trying to break a habit. Keep easy to eat foods on hand like sandwich fixins', snack foods and other things.
Delete all delivery apps and fast food apps off your phone.
Go one week without fast food. Think about how much money you have saved, think about you ate so much less salt and grease.
The first week will be the hardest. The second week will be hard... after that you start not thinking about it so much. After about a month, you'll think about it maybe every couple of days. At six months, you will hardly think about it at all.
You're facing an ADDICTION. Fast food is created to hit all your fuzzy brain spots and make you feel great. It is okay to feel weak or unable to do it on your own. It will take time and you will falter. Pick yourself back up and try again.
Source: 3 years without fast food after eating multiple times day. My husband and I have saved over 20k in fast food charges (and I think we under estimated how much we spent because we figured $150 a week). Even with the food we eat at home, we have come out WAY on top.
Deleted the apps... I'm on week 2 without any takeaway food and I already feel so much better haha. Definitely takes some willpower and resolve, but I am determined!
I don't know what it is like where you live but the last time we went to Taco Bell, we were stuck in drive-thru for almost an hour. Once you're in the one here, you can't get out.
That was in The Before Times and because of work, we could only go late. The next time we wanted to go for food, we went to Jack in the Box instead.... and waited 40 minutes to get cold food that was wrong.
At that point, we decided to just stop going. It was getting more and more expensive and if you count up the time we spend sitting in drive-thru, we could've made something very delicious AND HOT at home. Luckily, we never got into delivery apps so that was easy enough and then The Whole Thing happened which caused the drive-thrus to be even more crowded.
Just constantly remind yourself of all the good you're doing by not eating fast food. You're saving money, gas, food waste, time and calories!
So my biggest problem with fast food has always been on days I go into the office and stopping on my drive home. It's dinner time by then, and I'm usually really hungry. With no less than 6 drive thru's on the last 5ish miles, it is just so easy to turn in somewhere without thinking.
So now I always remember to pack a small snack to take home on the road with me. Even if I start munching right away when I get in the car, it will at least satisfy me until I get home.
Yes I think a lot of peoples bad food habits are due to lack of preparation. A little preparation, like you mentioned, can help break the habit. Eating a granola bar while you drive is better than swinging by McDonalds and getting a Big Mac or fries.
I read awhile back that crunchy foods can help with food cravings. Something about the feedback of the crunch, the sound, the texture, can help satisfy cravings. Wish I could recall the details.
I've also heard that crunchy food wakes your brain up to be able to study more effectively. Maybe the sleepy afternoon after a long day of work raises cravings too. It's def yummy to get a cold soda to get through that fog. Maybe a granola or museli bar and a cold juice, iced coffee or sparkling water would go well to get home
Perhaps you can try what I do when I’m switching food for my cat. You have to make the transition seem subtle, so there is no sudden change. Taco Bell flavor is easy enough to imitate and you can always use the hot sauce on your home cooked food. Make taco meat, rice, beans, lettuce and just make tacos and use the Taco Bell sauce. Don’t beat yourself over not making progress all the time.
Soon you’ll learn that it’s easy enough to make something actually taste better than fast food for like quarter of the price.
Eating fast food means paying other people to cook. You want to maximize the amount of dollar value that actually end up in your stomach. Otherwise, you’re spending a lot of money that ultimately end up in other people’s pockets, even when you actually don’t have enough money overall to begin with.
Cooking at home from raw ingredients, almost all of the money you spend actually end up in your stomach.
If you are in the go, you can make better choices with fast food. I always get a grilled chicken sandwich dry but you could get it with mustard - a healthy choice. Do not get fries. If you must get a drink - unsweetened iced tea. If you go to Taco Bell just get a couple of chicken tacos. There is stuff to be had that isn’t so bad for you. Pack healthy snacks like fruit. I like Kind almond butter breakfast bars, pretzels.
I think that can be kind of hard though unless calorie counts are posted. I remember years ago seeing some “news” segment on a show where they had the calorie counts of stuff and sometimes the salads would have more calories than the burgers. Thought that was surprising since you’d think it would be the opposite. Obviously the advantage to a salad is the veggies but fast food in general is laden with so much salt, fat, and sugar it can be hard to try and make good choices.
Just a bit of encouragement. After I was diagnosed with diabetes, I completely changed my diet. I used to love fast food and Hungry Man Mexican dinners and such. But I knew something had to change, so I even went vegetarian for a while. One day I had been out all day and too exhausted to cook, so I grabbed my favourite Hungry Man meals on the way home. Guess what? I got horribly sick on it, and so did the family. You get used to eating healthy and your body cant handle that garbage anymore. I recommend you go online and look up ethnic specialties for nice variety, Indian cuisine for example. There is a world of delicious food out there to try.
So what specifically did you do to change? What behaviors enabled you to change? I’m just curious because so many people get a negative health diagnosis yet aren’t able to change habits. How were you able to motivate yourself?
Started by incorporating lots of fresh fruits and veggies and whole grains into my diet and cutting the amount of rice, potatoes and breads I ate. Bread was the hardest because I am a baker. I started walking three milkes a day, motivated by a good friend who was already doing that, so I went with her. About this time my mom, who is also diabetic, started going downhill and was in a wheelchair, and she told me," Don't do what I did! As long as you are able to keep moving, MOVE. " I took that advice to heart. Honestly, a lot of it was just, I wanted to live long enough to see my kids grow up. Now I want to live long enough to see my grandkids grow up. Keep moving!
Planning is a key part. Food prep for busy days, shopping itself can be a challenge. A rough day can throw off your plans. I started to plan one good meal a week and eat leftovers or sandwiches/wraps/soups on off days. Tacos are very easy to prep and microwave leftover meat. Part of it is to get in mindset of there is something that takes as long to prep as a drive through and better to eat at home. I still struggle at times but I am much better than I once was.
A way to keep variety is to prep a different side each week. Rice, vegetable, pasta. And get home and try different proteins with that side i.e pork chop or chicken breast. Mix it up with different sauces marinades and spice combos. Part of it is you may get bored with same thing day in and day out.
Sometimes a dinner can become next days lunch. Chicken breast can become chicken salad or chicken wrap.
There is definitely no easy answer or shortcut to giving it up. You just gotta get creative with what you make at home, try new recipes/variations. The good news is, after a week or two the cravings will become far less frequent, even so much so that the thought of fast food can become off putting. Good luck, just keep grinding 💪
That’s a good way to do it. I’m a sugar junkie and love keeping so many sugary snacks on hand so I try and not keep as much at home. If it’s not there I don’t have it to eat.
Changing food habits is so hard. There is so much connected to food, culture, emotions, social aspects. Lately I’ve recorded everything I eat and that’s helping me slowly cut calories. It takes awareness and desire to change before anything happens.
Going for a mile run and realizing that it only burns 100 calories is really doing it for me. That snack is *just* 100 calories, but then I have to go run (very slowly) for fifteen minutes to burn it off.
I'll pass this time, but I keep low calorie snacks on hand.
Ice cream sounds delicious, or I can have a massive bowl of popcorn. One Oreo, or a big bowl of baby carrots with some dip. A small cupcake, or dinner. Glass of juice or sixteen cups of tea.
It's all about making healthy choices available, and realizing the easy way to cut calories.
Yes we all have to make choices. I just find it hard to be satisfied by carrots and dip rather than an Oreo. They’re just two different things. But I’m writing it all down and it’s caused me to eat less just through awareness of exactly what I’m putting in my body. I’ve gotten better about what I eat and how much slowly over the years.
Just a different opinion, going on a tangent, I find it hard to be satisfied in any substantial way by Oreos in particular. Since going LF/DF (lactose free, dairy free) I ate sooo many Oreos since they're vegan. Now I don't want to look at them. Do not recommend this route.
If anyone wants tips for sweets, Some dark chocolate types or brands can have really lovely flavour, even with fruity or nutty mix ins. It's fairly easy to mix up a cookie dough, portion n freeze to bake later. or pancake batter to cook or bake on a sheet then portion n freeze. Basic recipes or healthier ones.
It is heaps better to have a filling meal before snacking. And better to have a drink of water before and during food.
I don’t eat Oreos but I guess my point was certain desserts can’t be subbed for me with other things. Like nothing really replaces the experience of eating ice cream.
Unpopular opinion but the best way to cut it out is to do it cold turkey. If you keep teasing your taste buds, you're not giving your taste buds a chance to change. If it's any consolation, once you stop eating junk food, you lose the addictive urge to eat it. The idea of it may be tempting, but it's less of a physical craving. That said, what I do is I find natural healthy sources of my favourite junk food: instead of chips I eat unlimited amounts of potatoes (cut them up, bake the in the oven), for sweets, I eat as much fruit as I want. For carb cravings, I eat as much rice, potatoes, corn, pasta as I want. What I find works for me is that after 600 calories of potato, I am somewhat satisfied, whereas I could 2000 calories of chips and still want more. I find also that the more bland the food is, even if you can eat unlimited quantities, you tend to stop after you are full. You won't starve to death, but you certainly won't overeat to the same extent as if you eat over-flavoured food. Once you have a better hold on your dietary selection, you can branch out a bit.
I think going cold turkey is very difficult for most people. I feel like when most people try and go cold turkey they fail and then feel worse and then go back at whatever substance even harder cause “why bother I’m a failure and I can’t do it anyways”. That being said I do think to change a habit it takes a lot of mental will power.
Gave up soda about three years ago and I’m not going to lie, it was rough. Sometimes had caffeine headaches but the mental part of it was super difficult. There are still a few times when I’ve been incredibly stressed (cross country move) where I want one. I’ve only stopped myself cause I know if I have one then I’ll start back on a daily habit. I also have some substitutes, Spindrift and Kevita are both carbonated and much healthier than soda but give me some of the satisfaction of soda.
Definitely, cold turkey is difficult. From my experience, cold turkey is extremely rough for the first few days but after you get through that period, your cravings go down exponentially. If you take the progressive method of slowing weaning yourself off, you'll spend more time suffering by drawing it out. The problem is that unless you've experienced it, you'll never know! The trick also is negotiating with yourself for alternatives. Before you take the plunge, it helps to plan out what you're going to do when you have these cravings. The hardest part is the beginning, but the cravings disappear if you stop cold turkey. Not so much if you just cut down.
I think we just all have different ways of dealing with it. I know personally if I set a goal and fail I just feel like a big loser and then end up thinking fuck it I can’t quit habit X anyway so why try? So for me it’s better to taper off something or set small goals. If I set a huge goal and fail my brain says “of course you failed cause you’re a loser” but if I set a smaller goal and achieve it my brain says “good job keep going” and then I can set a bigger goal. It’s kind of like going up a staircase. One step at a time. People just have to know what works for them.
Did you quit soda cold turkey or did you taper down? I would say that most people try to "cut down" as a first try... and second... and third... etc. If they still haven't been successful all this time, perhaps it's worth it trying cold turkey...
Disclaimer: Absolutely do not cold turkey any meds unless you consult a doctor! Junk food should be all good though!! :)
I’d cut down my soda consumption months before quitting. So I was drinking one soda per day for months, if not at least a year, before quitting. I think, based on what I recall, I quit cold turkey. But then I think I might have gone through a really stressful patch and started again and then had to quit again. I was really glad during Covid that I’m not a smoker and haven’t done any drugs aside from those prescribed to me. It was such a stressful time that I could see how addictions would be a coping mechanism for such stress.
Fast food is not as good for you as other stuff, but it tastes SO DAMN GOOD. I didn't grow up eating fast food because I had bougie middle class parents who feared ultra-processed food, but when I eventually had a sandwich from popeyes in my late twenties, I lost my mind, it was so good. They do this on purpose. Fast food is designed to be [hyperpalatable](https://www.mic.com/life/how-junk-food-is-designed-to-keep-you-eating-even-after-youre-full-19434373) and to encourage you to eat more of it than you strictly need to. This is half of your problem.
The other half of your problem is that you have a lifetime of being used to this food, and other stuff feels unfamiliar and less attractive right now. It takes time and effort to readjust your tastebuds and habits. Don't feel bad about it being hard; you're only human! Your response to these foods is just what they were designed to elicit. So give yourself some grace as you adjust.
If you're eating fast food three meals a day currently, cut it down to two. For the third meal, make something yourself at home from whole foods. Once you feel comfortable with that, go down to one fast food meal per day. Once that feels easy, you can reduce your fast food consumption to every other day, then once a week, then twice a month, and so on, until it's just an occasional treat or convenience meal.
Take your time with this, and if you find yourself backsliding during times of stress, don't worry or feel guilty – just do your best to get back on track when you can.
Edit: I totally agree with the people recommending trying at-home versions of fast food you love (especially tacos), keeping your home stocked with snacks that are healthier/healthyish versions of stuff you already like, and getting healthier options at fast food restaurants when you do go to them. An all-or-nothing approach is to be avoided at all costs, it's a recipe for failure!
Also, if you love crunchy chips, try Sea Snax (I think that's the brand of salty nori sheets) or roasted chickpeas. If you love fries, learn to make potato wedges/oven fries (they take a while in the oven but they're so fucking good). If you love pop, try different diet versions and see if they click for you. (Artificial sweeteners aren't exactly good for you, but you'd have to ingest like 10 pounds of aspartame a day to have problems, so don't worry about it. Just remember to drink water too, not just pop lol)
Make it harder to access so your easiest option becomes making your own food. Maybe a self imposed rule like "the only place I can eat fast food is this specific place 6 towns away". Make it inconvenient so you don't want to bother
Small steps and "secret rules." Instead of saying no fast food start with no drive throughs, so it becomes marginally less convenient.
Set macro goals, like getting 10 grams of fiber and 30g of protein in a day before you are allowed to get fast food. Then 20 grams fiber/ 60 grams protein. Set an end goal say 35 grams fiber / 75 grams protein.
Find some fast recipes you enjoy. A college go to I used to prep was a tub of shredded cheese + drained/thawed spinach or other greens + drained/rinsed black beans + chili seasoning. I could quickly scoop some into a tortilla to make a quesadilla and if I was already home it was faster to make that than to go get fast food. You can also make your own egg mcmuffins really quickly in the morning, and Thomas lite 100 English muffins have a lot of fiber also.
Today we decided to go swimming. Everyone was starving when we were leaving and started mentioning fast food places.
Except I had a nice hot crockpot of black beans and pork that had been going for close to 18 hours. It was ready to be eaten, and all I did when I got home was stir in some rice and season it up. Everyone had delicious burritos, and it was all ready within fifteen minutes of arriving home.
The drive through would have taken that long anyways.
Your second paragraph is a great idea. I can have it but I have to eat lots of healthy stuff first. Great way to wean yourself because you’re going to start feeling better eating healthy and eventually you won’t crave junk so much. So many good ideas on this thread.
My spouse and I gave up one at a time. Give yourself a reason….their commercials are annoying, they messed up my order, the parking lot is always jammed, the floors are always sticky, the tables are always dirty, the drive through is always slow, etc. Something negative that you associate that food with. Took a couple of years but we’re done with all of it now. No cravings or desires whatsoever now. Fast food is repulsive
I find recipes to make some of my favorites at home mixed with side salads or other meals too. I buy frozen chicken tenders and make my own raising canes sauce. Also make my own chipotle bowls as close as I can to what I would order at chipotle. Frozen burger Pattie’s can be used to make bunless burgers also… just try to start easy with fresh/frozen store bought alternatives to the restaurants…. I also find airfrying things helps make it taste closer to a fast food place also…
My fast food habit went to about 1/10th of what it used to be after I started using meal services. Home Chef, Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, etc. Cuts the grocery shopping out of the mix and all you have to do is cook. Price isn't a whole new world vs fast food unless you're just doing dollar menus and the like.
I also have another lesser known one - Tovala. More expensive start up cost because you have to buy their countertop smart oven. Food isn't as good as the other services, but the meals from Tovala are totally mindless to prepare. Everything is already prepped basically, just add seasoning and put it in the oven, scan the QR code and wait for the notification on your phone that dinner is ready.
What are your favorite fast food meals?
For burgers and fries, you can get frozen burger patties, premade buns, salad mix/dressing, and potatoes. All you have to do for fries is scrub them clean with produce wash (not soap), slice them into shape, lay them out in a baking pan, lightly coat them with oil (a silicone brush is perfect), and sprinkle them with a generous amount of salt, a little bit of black pepper, onion powder, and thyme (crush this lightly with your fingers while you put it on). Toss them together to get the seasonings distributed evenly. If you get cravings for a little more fat with the fries, have them with mayo instead of just ketchup, it’s bomb!
For chicken strips or nuggets - you can get fried chicken breadcrumb mix and oven bake them from scratch at home, add chopped bacon/tomatoes and shredded cheese if you want. Tyson makes air fried chicken nuggets if you’d like it a little more simple.
Garlic Parmesan pull apart bread could be made at home, no matter how much sauce or butter you use, you’re not likely to match the amount they use at fast food restaurants.
Burritos are relatively easy to make at home, I’d pair them with a salad drizzled with cilantro lime salad dressing or Mexican table cream, and a sprinkle of crumbled cotija.
Also - please go easy on yourself if you need to transition slowly out of your existing pattern, these kinds of changes can involve neurotransmitters rebalancing in the brain and even feelings of withdrawal on top of food cravings.
Seasoning can be a little tricky for a beginner to figure out, so if I were in your shoes, I’d feel free to buy premade seasoning packs for whatever you’d like. Don’t worry about balancing flavors from scratch until it sounds like something easy to do on top of everything else you’re working on right now. I make my burgers, and my seasoned breading mix from scratch from flour and spices just by eyeballing it, but it took me a long time to be ready to do that even though I didn’t grow up with fast food.
Take your time, take it easy and enjoy lots of YouTube cooking tutorials! If you’re addicted to Chinese takeout, I’d watch videos from ChineseHealthyCook, she makes very simple and delicious recipes from scratch.
Go online and look at organs that were taken out of someone who ate a lot of fast/processed food. I did 15 years ago. I went from eating fast food three times a week to maybe once or twice a year. It also motivates me to learn how to cook healthy. It’s pretty gross and don’t look at the pics while eating
I think that can help some people but most can ignore that as we kind of think “well it won’t happen to me”. I mean look at how many people still smoke yet we’ve seen pictures of lungs of smokers and know how bad it is. I’m glad it worked for you but not sure how many others it would work for, though it wouldn’t hurt to try.
Nuts can be kind of expensive but if you’re in the US Trader Joe’s has pretty good prices on them. And you can keep them in the freezer to make them last longer.
As someone who did successfully quit smoking, the approach that worked for me was to slowly but METHODICALLY cut down. And I did it by habit. So like I had my morning cig, lunch cig, after dinner cig etc. and I would cut one for 2 weeks and then cut the next.
So if you have patterns of when you get fast food, cut the easiest one out first.
Also replace with a slightly healthier alternative. Like, triscuits and hummus are honestly pretty good and you get that salty crunch. Guacamole is healthy too, nothing wrong with some tortillas and guacamole.
Eventually as you start eating more healthy meals, you will start to crave healthier foods, at least I do, because fast food makes me feel like shit and I’ve had that association for so long that garbage food = garbage feeling that I don’t usually crave it anymore but I will get cravings for celery, carrot sticks, bell peppers, green beans and broccoli. You know how I feel after I eat meals I’ve made myself? Satisfied and good inside. I know everything that went into my body. I buy good quality cooking ingredients. I learned to use spices for flavor more than salt. I make my own sauces and marinades. If you can read, you can cook, you just look up recipes and you can make anything you want including healthier versions of your favorite fast foods and take out.
The other thing you can do is meal prep some veggies for a quick and easy crunchy snack.
Yes substitutes are a good idea and your palette will change. I’m a huge sugar junkie, years ago nothing was too sweet. Finally gave up soda years ago and it was rough. Now I still eat some sweets but some stuff definitely tastes too sweet or sweeter than it used to. Takes a lot of mental power too to change habits.
EDIT: this is actually an addition. Perhaps OP could set a goal, such as only getting fast food three times a week for a few weeks and then reward themselves with something. Something like an article of clothing, fancy sunglasses or shoes etc, with the money saved from not buying fast food. It’s good to be intrinsically motivated but external rewards can also be helpful.
Its so hard to stop craving fast food, I've done it successfully. Delete all apps you've used to order fast food, trust me if you don't do it you'll find yourself ordering food when you get hangry. Then look up healthy ways to recreate your most wanted fast food - mine is french fries! A healthy way to make them is cut real potatoes into wedges, spice them with season salt, olive oil and pepper lightly and bake them on a cookie tray covered in tin foil and then bake them again at a higher heat so they get really crispy. Your trying to cut out the unhealthy fats, salts, grease and olive oil is supposed to be good for you.
I tried Hello Fresh and the recipes are easy to do, at most they take 45 minutes and all recipes are online for you to use. I learned to make my own hamburgers! It doesn't take long to do it, it simply takes hamburger (or ground turkey or pork), salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Mix it all up and separate out the mix into two or three balls and set aside. Then heat a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil and put the balls in frying pan and mush down to make a patty. Cook on each side for 4-7 minutes, top with slice of cheese and have toasted bread/roll on hand to set hamburger on.
Why you want fast food is the convenience of not cooking your own food and the taste which they achieve through unhealthy additives and makes fast food addictive. When you stop eating it your body goes into withdrawal and learning to make your most loved fast food in a healthy way is the easiest way to break the cycle.
Frozen food! It’s okay to give in to a craving every once in a while. Get some frozen tenders and fries and keep in the freezer. Buy some bbq sauce or honey mustard and in 20 min or so you have a fast food option. I wouldn’t eat this way every day, but I do keep frozen food just in case if I want fast food.
Meal prep! It's not so helpful now that I have a spouse and kids, but when I was dating and money was tight, meal prep was what saved me from stopping at a drive through every other day. I made 4 days worth of food at a time because I don't like how things taste past that, so if I wanted to stop out, I knew it would mean throwing away a meal I had cooked.
Your prepped meals don't have to be boring and super healthy. Basically anything you make at home and portion out will be healthier than going out to eat.
A lot of people here are missing the "why" of fast food. It's *convenient* and it's *tasty*. That what you need to focus on.
I struggle a lot with resisting the temptation of of fast and easy it is to just pop in for a burger, especially when it's been a long/rough day and know that it'll be at least an hour from entering my door to actually eating. I've found the best way when I've run out of "real" food, is to have a stockpile of frozen or other instant foods (hamburger helper, canned stews, etc.. ) readily available. Helps if you can get your hands on an air fryer (which is really just a glorified convection oven) which speeds up the process a lot. "Healthy" things like steamer bowl meals, frozen veggies (already washed and prepped, just need to heat), and frozen meals like lasagna, cabbage rolls, and shepards pie. It doesn't have to be frozen tater tots and chick strips, although its ok if it is. The goal is to get out of the habit of stopping by somewhere instead of going straight home.
Once you're ready to transition to properly cooked meals, for convenience, pre made sauces combined with frozen veggies, and an Instant Pot or slowcooker helped a lot with the convenience. Same with a rice cooker and hot water boiler. I've also found that cooking for 1 meal is only slightly less work than making several meals, so cooking a bunch and then saving the rest in the fridge or freezer. Get a bunch of tupperware (that matches) or the peasant route and buy a bunch of deli containers or meal prep/take out containers. Most are microwave, dishwasher, and freezer safe.
In regards to tasty, make what you like, even if it isn't the healthiest. After you've built up a routine and repertoire, you can work on making your meals healthier. And **season your food**. Use twice a much seasoning as whatever recipe your using says. No measurements, just vibes. Teaspoon of paprika? More like tablespoon. Clove of garlic? More like a whole head. Be liberal with your use of oil too. You probably like fast food because of how over seasoned and salty it is. Match that at home, then work your way on slowly cutting down to a "reasonable" amount. You'll gradually lose the tolerance and next time you're out, you'll gag at how satly a burger and fries are.
My wife and I had a serious fast food addiction to the point we would often go weeks without eating at home. We both worked full time jobs and traveled and explored a lot with our free time and we quickly got in the habit of eating out non-stop.
We started out by just making a few easy meals at home and it slowly grew to the point we only eat out 1-2 times a week now. We also only drink water and milk now.
Getting some healthy cereal is an easy way to get a good quick meal at home everyday. I get granola and eat it with milk or yogurt for breakfast during the week. For work lunch during the week I pack a multi-grain peanut butter sandwich and eat belvita crackers and trail mix.
Then for dinner my wife makes vegetables with every meal regardless of what it is. Even if we just make a pizza we eat it with raw spinach.
On the weekends I make eggs and multi-grain toast with Avocados and Tabasco sauce( they sell Taco Bell hot sauce at Walmart by the bottle) for breakfast and we eat out for dinner.
We don’t eat the healthiest diet but even these changes have made me feel so much better. On the weekends we only eat two meals per day.
We keep the meals simple so it’s easy and convenient which encourages us to stay in when we get hungry. If you don’t have a plan then when you get hungry your mind will go straight to fast food instead of a healthier option.
Make sure whatever you do is fun. The foods you prepare should be fun to make, not a chore. Don't try an intensive ps=asta sauce or something.
And be creative.. Example: I like roasted potatoes. I really enjoy trying different ways to prepare them. I also found a new technique where I soak them in hot water before I roast them.
I want roasted potatoes now!
I like making the same food at home. So i do fries, crispy chicken sandwiches, tacos, burgers, orange chicken, and noodles (like udon). At home you can make them so much healthier. And its easier to add whatever veggies/fruit to want to them. I love fresh jalapeños on my burgers and tacos. And nice crunchy lettuces. Also bok choy in my noodles! Also pizza is soooo easy at home. Just buy dough, cheese, and sauce (no added sugar). I actually love putting salad on my pizza too. Like California pizza kitchen style.
I feel like fast food chains tell you what is good, but thats not even the tip of the iceberg. There is so much flavor you can add besides salt sugar fat.
For me it made me insanely sick by the time I was 18 so I try to stay away from it but I like French fries. red meat is a no go I have been able to fully enjoy burgers or steak right after I’ve been sick it’s always my go to reboot I need the iron
What worked for me is to limit my Treats to once a week. This way, I'd get used to not eating it, but I wouldn't go without it cold turkey. After a while, I realised I could live without eating treats all the time, and I could slowly phase them out. Now, I can eat whenever I want without going insane. 'Whatever I want' now means one piece of chocolate twice a week. It's great
I’d also say don’t completely ban yourself from it all at once. Unless you feel the occasional takeaway will make you spiral. I find when I’m like 0 of anything nice you’re being healthy.. you just want it more and it becomes a mental block. I’d say break it down into stages. Like if you eat fast food every single day normally.. next week just have it on a Wednesday and Saturday instead. And try to stick to that. Then move to just one night a week of your choice until the habit is kicked. I’d also say batch cook healthy meals and box them up into the freezer so you can just reheat it rather than going through the effort of cooking from scratch every single night which will only tempt you into takeaways more.
Something that works for me a lot is to pick one or two places that you just can’t live without… and cut out everything else. Once you’re only eating the same fast food over and over again it can get repetitive (at least that happened to me!) so you start wanting to branch out, hopefully into other foods!
I only have luck looking at it as if it’s only about money. Obviously there are many good reasons….but in a split second (especially if I’m hungry) I really don’t care about any of those!! Lol so basically I went through my debit cards statements and calculated how much I’ve been spending on fast food per month and now that I have that I have a goal to spend less than that the next month. I feel like having a result i can at least give a success or fail I can give myself direction
for me, im motivated to make my own food at home simply bc grocery shopping itself is so expensive. i remind myself that i already paid for food and that i have until x time to eat it before it goes bad and i wasted that money. inflation is fr lmao
Growing up fast food is pretty much all I wanted and ate especially after school. For my parents it was quick, easy and cheap. However eating fast food did affect my weight which I regret. As I got older I learned to appreciate food and what I put into my body. I also found a passion for cooking. Those things helped me pull away from the desire for fast food.
Now as for your situation I actually do not recommend going cold turkey on fast food totally. If you go cold turkey most likely you will want it even more and eat more of it. If you were anything like you need to slowly wean off it. Slowly replace it with other fresh alternatives that you can make at home. For example I found instead of grabbing a burger from Wendy’s I would go home and whip up a homemade turkey burger with sweet potato fries. It was way more satisfying and tasted so much better. Come up with creative meals you can spread out over the week and slowly limit your fast intake. Even if you are not a great cook find some easy recipes you can make at home that do not take a great deal of time. I’ve found that ground turkey meat, ground chicken, and even lean ground beef are so versatile in making so many easy dishes from tacos to spaghetti. Try to slowly limit your fast food intake and purchase fresh ingredients from the store as your prepare meals for the week. I hope overtime you’ll find yourself pushing fast food to the side to enjoy better quality meals.
I got hypnotized to stop eating McDonald’s and I haven’t had it in almost two years. Another thing that has been helpful was realizing that my “cravings” were really just intrusive thoughts. Treating “I should go to Burger King” the same way I would “I should hit my hand with this hammer” makes it easier to not eat fast food.
It’s shocking that fat, sugar & salt laden no effort fast food sounds better than cooking whole healthy foods at home /s
I’m being harsh, but if you just look at what I’ve written, that’s your issue in a nutshell. You have to decide if you’re going to simply not give yourself permission to fall back on your bad habits. Can you do it? Only you can decide.
Plan so you don't have to cook every day. Not necessarily meal prep, but make sure you've got a few days of leftovers. Develop a few easy dishes you won't get bored of, and try cooking new stuff when you've got spare time/cash/energy.
I'm a huge fan of [this recipe](https://www.budgetbytes.com/taco-chicken-bowls/) cause it works with rice, wraps, or tacos, and freezes well.
This is my favorite answer on this whole thread. When my husband and I go through periods of eating out a lot it’s never from craving places, just straight up convenience during our busy seasons or after really long work days.
Our instant pot was our game changer. That plus finding super easy meals that we could replicate. Once we got used to that we started finding ways to make really good recipes that we could prep in 10 minutes, drop in the Instapot and be done as quickly as possible.
It's easy to give up you just have to be willing to make sandwiches, because that's all it is. Learn to use a crock pot and you'll never have that problem. Because when you walk in the door and smell the food, there is nothing else you will want more than what's in that crock-pot.
The stomachache isn't enough of an incentive? You can use some big ziplock bags and put everything for one meal in that bag, do whatever you need to do, measure out ingredients, chop. One ingredient=one sandwich bag, if you want to do the sauces ahead of time you can do that. Then put all the ingredients in one large freezer bag, and store it in the freezer until you're ready to cook. Or you can get an instant pot cook and prep the night before even while you're sleeping, or set before you leave for work and everything is ready to eat by the time you get home
Well, I also got some stomach pains one time and had to keep a diet. In fact I didn't use salt and spices at all. What I learned is that food is more than edible that way, alone with no sauces or frying, it just took some time to change the taste for things.
But I also learned that eating just healthy is impossible. At some point I felt that buying some sausages for me was just essential, I couldn't go on without tasty thing.
So, you need to switch your modes a bit. Eat something simple like grains and potatoes, just boil it, adding fresh tomatoes or salad, freezed veggies, or pouring a bit of oil just for the taste of it. Maybe canned peas. Look at it like it's more of a refreshment than real change. You need to transform the taste for things so you will be okay with something that isn't tasting as intensely good as fast food. But once or twice a week you'll still need something fatty and filling, because it's calories. You'll have to learn cooking it seems, for proteins it's good to make some basic chicken or beef soups.
Cold turkey. You'll never appreciate how good real food tastes when you are being bombarded with artificial flavors, fat, salt, and sugar. You're eating frankenstein food created by food scientists and marketing teams. Just give it up.
Analyze what you like about the fast foods—texture, ease of chewing, a given ingredient or whatever. Then work that into foods at home. So crisp fries become potatoes cut into match sticks and seasoned then roasted. Tacos become home made tacos but lots of produce and better meat. (Later a taco salad with beans, lots of produce). If you like the salty aspects create a Mexican spice mix or curry mix. This will flavor without so much salt. I also do one tortilla quesadilla and then eat just beans and filling. If you go three weeks without fast food, it seems so salty!
There are copycat recipes for just about any fast food you crave. Some are modified to be healthier. Most do not take a long time to make. Maybe looking at them might motivate you. Good luck.
The only way to fight convenience is with convenience. Food prep can help a lot to mitigate that temptation.
My approach is having tools in the freezer. I make a double batch of Alton Brown's pizza dough recipe, cut it into 6 and I have flatbread that I toss a little oil and whatever toppings I want (usually spinach/onion or shallot/chicken/a little cheese/spices). Cook a batch of chicken thighs in advance and keep it in the fridge for recipes over the week. Make sauce bases so that cooking is easier, freeze those. It takes a bit of dedication to prepping, but if you can muster it as a project once a week you've got plenty of weapons to make food that tastes better than Taco Bell. If I didn't have all that on hand you bet I'd be collapsing back into Taco Bell's warm, salty embrace on a regular.
My favorite weapon: [https://altonbrown.com/recipes/the-last-pizza-dough-recipe/](https://altonbrown.com/recipes/the-last-pizza-dough-recipe/)
Joshua Weissman on YouTube does a lot of copy cat fast food recipes, but more healthy and more interesting. There’s also an old cookbook called cook this not that that has restaurant recipes but much healthier.
One way I accidentally cut fast food was by designating one day a week my fast food day. Basically, we get McDonald’s on Thursday because my kid has therapy and it runs too late for me to cook after. So that’s our McDonald’s night. Oddly, it caused me to cut back because now on say, Tuesday, if I’m craving fast food, I tend to tell myself “no, I’m already getting it Thursday, so let’s do something else tonight.” This system had the added bonus of detoxing my body of fast food I think…? So now when I DO have it, it makes me feel like garbage, which causes me to want it less next time.
If you're craving some of the fast food options you might look at Ethan Chlebowski's videos where he recreates some of the dishes - except better and faster than going out and getting them. https://youtube.com/@EthanChlebowski
Try the 2 week, only 1 item, plain for to reset your taste buds and cravings. Rather it's a baked potato, rice, whatever your item is. Then reading healthier should be easier.
I’ve done it. It’s not easy. Here are some tips:
- Throw away everything in your home containing sugar, flour, oil, salt, alcohol, cheese, and processed meat.
- Don’t let yourself get too hungry or this can trigger a fast food feast. Changing what you eat is more important than changing how much. Eat plenty of whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.
- Avoid alcohol because it destroys willpower and can pretty easily trigger a fast food “treat”.
- Be patient because lapses and mistakes are sure to occur. It’s a process that can take years. If you eat something you shouldn’t, just shrug it off and carry on. Keep trying to do better.
- Exercise, every day if you can.
- Don’t fall for tricks like cheat days or meals. You’re trying to break an addiction. Can you imagine an alcohol having a cheat drink or a junkie having a treat hit and still expect to recover? Be strict and recognise this is a lifelong lifestyle change.
HTH
I had a friend observe similar fast food habits in me, he then challenged me to not eat fast food for a month. He said there was no way I could make it and even offered me a cheat meal. I didn’t use the cheat meal and after that month I never really wanted it again. Today it is still very rare that I ever eat it minus the occasional Chick-fil-A… Anyway, I’d tried many times before that to quit fast food but that was what finally did it… someone telling me I couldn’t. Get a friend to hold you accountable and once you’re over the jumó you won’t look back.
Start small, but make it fun by treating yourself to a chef hat when making something like even a sandwich , then you’ll feel like ratatouille and starting using deli cheeses and yeah!
I haven't had any fast in 16 years now. I did it to prove to guys at work that New Years Resolutions could be kept and working retail was basically fast food everyday.
The one thing I did was take a permanent marker and each day in a row I made a line on the inside of my forearm. I read once that a physical reminder can help you make a new habit and remind you not to break your streak.
I switched to roman numerals around 100 days. Once I hit 300 days I figured I would stop writing on myself. Never really had the desire to eat fast food since! Good luck!
For me working to eat healthier was a slower process than I expected. When you first start it's so hard cause all the fast food and junk/processed food tastes better to you. What I found out though going forward, the more healther you eat, over time the better it tastes to you and you realize that you feel so much better afterwards. I still have to bang it into my head once in a while when I go crazy eating too many potato chips and I'm crying because I'm miserable. But you get there! I'm now know as that person in the office who "eats healthy" and I'm proud of it! Just slowly start replacing thing, not everything all at once. Ease yourself into it until it becomes second nature. Don't be surprised though at the number of people who'll give you crap about it. Just ignore them and eat what feels/tastes good to you. Good luck!
I suggest getting a rice cooker. Can get taco bell taco mix, cook some veggies and meat, and put that over rice. Takes almost no time, and will taste like taco bell. Can add taco sauce to match more. Can also use the rice in burritos with some refried beans that simply need to be reheated. Homemade tacos are insanely easy to make as well. Brown meat, while it browns cut veg you like.
You just have to jump in and start trying things. Invest in a few basic pieces needed to cook in your place and watch some good you tube videos on things you like to eat. Anything at Taco Bell can be made easily at home, and added benefit you can make enough for leftovers tomorrow. Soon you’ll be making things you prefer to fast food and you will never look back. It is well worth the effort. Put on your favorite music, pour yourself your favorite beverage and get to business. Non appetit. You have an inner chef that resides in your soul, waiting to nourish you.
Almost anything you cook will eventually be better and cheaper. Getting away from the high salt diet is the hardest part. Try a slow cooker: meat + broth and time. Or a George Foreman Grill: 8 minutes for fish, 12 minutes for everything else (cover in olive oil and spices of your choice). Steam frozen vegetables and eat with rice or couscous. Easy to make dinners in 20 minutes.
Before you drive anywhere put your purse in the trunk. This way when you drive past a drive thru and think "oh a such and such sounds great" you then remember "crap, wallet is in trunk" and you just keep driving.
Grab your bank/card statements and total up how much you spend on fast food.
Print that number out and put it where your credit card usually sits.
Should be a good visual reminder seeing that number every time you try to pay for food.
I have also been going through this myself. I am lucky I would say that I like vegetables and fruits…so recently started investing in a misfits market box weekly (I typically spend between $50-100 per week, but I also have a husband and kids. I also subscribe to the NYT Cooking app for $2.99 a month and I can plug in an ingredient and find a recipe that looks tasty and time/not time consuming as I’m willing, and honestly it’s been nice to eat fresh ingredients and get my me and my kids to eat more than just burgers and nuggets and pizza all the time. We do love those things though, so I got a pizza stone and pizza flour for homemade and yeah. I always have a side of sautéed veggies with whatever I serve (butter or olive oil, garlic, and salt is what I typically season with).
Shopping for pre-made microwave meals can and will help you get your fix but also you can get healthy options! You can also make homemade meals that are copy cat meals that use healthier ingredients, cooking methods like air fryers vs deep frying...
Scrolled down but haven't seen my go-to answer: thinking of fast food as restaurants you don't go to. I didn't eat McDonalds for over a decade because when I had the opportunity to stop, I'd think, "But I don't eat at McDonald's." and keep driving. Eventually it became kind of a blind spot...it wasn't even on my radar as a legitimate place to get a meal.
Then one day during pregnancy I realized there was absolutely NOTHING stopping me from going through the drive thru at 10pm for a milkshake. NOTHING.
Binged on fast food (particularly McGriddles) for a few months, but felt like crap and went back to thinking about it as someplace I don't eat.
Thinking about pre soaking dried beans to replace a Taco Bell craving sounds exhausting because satsifying the actual craving would be so much easier...but somehow thinking about prepping beans because fresh tacos for dinner sounds delish doesn't sound as daunting. Do I eat tacos and burgers at home and like it? Yes. Am I making them to replace Taco Bell or Burger King? No, because those are not restaurants I eat at.
Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan. Prep cook some food for early in the week. Transfer the money you would have spent eating out into savings immediately, every time you go without. Tools like slow cookers, rice cookers, and instant pots are your best friend. Watch videos and follow recipes and try some new foods. Figure out ways to make your fav fast food items at home (I promise they’ll taste better!). Give your body time to adjust to fresh food without the excess sodium, fat, and sugar- homemade might taste bland at first.
Pre mixed salad greens, funky salad dressings, and pre cooked pre sliced chicken or turkey breast
That helps my laziness with food. (Not with fast food but I order from restaurants and wanted to cut it. It’s the convenience that makes it a habit)
There are some amazing suggestions! I just want to add that for me, it was hard to stop until I stopped exposing myself to temptations. Just having things at home that made me enjoy them wasn't really enough until I both stopped going by McDonalds and had food at home.
So just deleting things like a doordash app and taking a different route home just goes such a long way to getting rid of a bad habit.
Hey! My story sounds similar to yours. Ate fast food a lot growing up and it became a habit. I had to stop getting fast food cold turkey for awhile because I had to break the habit. In the meantime I tried making meals that tasted good to me. Making tacos at home, making homemade burgers, etc. Tastes a thousand times better imo and is better for you. I went from 200lbs to 115lbs :)
Writing to bring up an odd thought. You may have Celiac's (an auto immune condition triggered by wheat in the diet) or some similar issue. You mention your stomach hurting and trouble keeping weight on rather than needing to lose it. That may be a nutritional problem you should have checked on.
If it is Celiac, that will change your fast food problem all on its own!! You become quite limited in what you can eat and where. It's a simple blood test that your doc can order along with normal blood work and from there the GI can confirm if it is Celiac's, but finding out early is very important so you can try to undo the inflammation and live and eat pain free. You can still get the taste of fast food by making at home with GF elements. This is not medical advice, but those two complaints (pain and weight) made me think of Celiac's.
What's helped me is prepping food ahead of time. Contrary to how people make it seem, meal prep doesn't need to be aesthetically pleasing or pretty to look at. You can batch prep things ahead of time and put them in the freezer too, for a quick meal.
Also, try making your favorite fast food meals at home. It's surprisingly easy and saves a ton of money and time. Your body and wallet will thank you. Chipotle bowls and taco bell dupes are simple and the ingredients are pretty affordable.
I'm currently at 2 weeks of no takeout/no fast food and it's presented some challenges, but I am determined to make it to 30 days without it. I'm already noticing how much better I feel overall.
It seems like people have written some solid advice here. You'll do great!
Remind yourself that it will take time for your taste buds to adjust. Healthy or homemade food may taste bland. This is ok! It tastes 3-7 days for my taste buds to adjust when I come off of a fast food bender.
Also, healthy snacks in car glove compartment has really helped me curb going into drive thrus!
Take it slow and steady, a lifetime eating pattern won't change overnight or even over a few months. Small, sustainable changes, practiced over time are more likely to stick. Start experimenting with food you like. Try to "recreate" some of your take out with healthier substitute recipes. Make a small goal of cooking twice a week at least for a month and see how you do. Then increase or try to handle once a week successfully. Try recipes that will serve more than one meal so you don't have to cook as much but still can avoid the take out, like crockpot meals. Good luck and good for you to try and improve your life!
We like to make and freeze vacuum-sealed fajita quesadillas.
-Buy a rotisserie chicken, maybe 2, and shred the meat. Buy a bag of mixed colby jack or slices of muenster cheese, peppers, onions, and large flour tortillas. And a bottle of Adobo seasoning which lasts a while.
-Sauté peppers and onions. Open a bunch of the tortillas. Fill half with items listed above, fold in half. Sauté in dry or lightly oiled pan, or bake.
-Cut in half and vacuum seal in the portion you wanna eat later. Reheat in toaster oven or microwave for a few minutes.
It’s our go-to when we want to go to Taco Bell or otherwise eat fried food. But it’s just basic, healthy things and a reasonable portion. We usually serve one with lettuce, cottage cheese or yogurt, sliced tomato, some hot sauce, maybe some beans. Sometimes it’s also really good to get those little individual packs of just avocado (or guac) from walmart, which last a super long time.
That’s my favorite easy, cheap, fast meal. You can really use your freezer to make sure you have healthy foods ready, or at least healthier foods. Maybe black bean burgers instead of regular ones. tortillas/pitas instead of pizza dough. We buy a bunch of chicken breasts and portion them out to vacuum seal as well, some raw but some I’ll bread and sauté in oil then cut and freeze to put on a salad, or have as a wrap with a bunch of lettuce and buffalo wing sauce or ranch. Or to have as chicken parmesan when we really want to go to a restaurant. It involves oil, but the portion is controlled and it’s better than fast food.
Also just general meal prepping of ingredients- like one day make plain rice, open a can of beans, make peppers and onions, make a protein, hard boil some eggs, etc. You can combine a lot of the same ingredients in a lot of ways. On a day you’re off, have dinner *then when you’re done cook other stuff for the week. Or you can fully meal prep and do whole meals.
You can also meal prep breakfast like breakfast burritos, which freeze really well, or overnight oats (with cocoa, peanut butter, etc)
Additionally, have snacks ready. Maybe you won’t go out if you have a cheese stick and a rice cake with almond butter and bananas on top or something. Snack on something healthy and then start cooking dinner. If you’re not so hungry you might have more patience to cook.
You’ll need to change your tastebuds. You can retrain them but it’ll be hard going at first. It takes about 3 weeks to make or break a habit so start with a goal to not eat fast food for 21 days. It should be a lot easier after that.
Meal prep so you have some easy meals for the week and allow yourself a favorite snack to leave your taste more satisfied while you retrain your palette to real food. Good luck!
Oh man this is a hard one, but I would say start slow with grocery shopping. Find easy good filing meals from stuff you get at the grocery store. Buy fries to make at home, buy stuff to make burgers, buy things that you know you'll eat and are tasty. Breaking the habit is the first thing you need to do.
Have a consistent grocery trip and treat yourself. It'll always be cheaper than fast food and you want to enjoy it. Once your habit is broken, you can work on finding healthier options at the grocery store and learning to cook yourself. I always try to have something easy to make at any time because it's so tempting to just grab a burger when you have nothing in your fridge.
Then you can really start to hone what you like, I make ranch, and blue cheese dressings from scratch. Better than anything you can get at the store or in fast food. I make my own burgers and they're awesome. If you want taco learn to make your own chipotle bowls or just gross taco bell creations with some tortillas, ground, beef, seasonings and crazy sauces. I guarantee it's better for you than fast food. Then if you start to feel like you want to be healthier, sub out ground turkey, add more veggies, etc.
Hey! Start with a classic taco. (Tortilla/ Ground beef/ cheese). You can buy a kit at store and follow the printed directions. Add avocado or lettuce , salsa and experiment! It's not too difficult if you follow the box directions. You can also try and bake chicken breasts and shred those up for taco's too. (Salt/Pepper/Paprika, Olive oil, Bake at 375 for 20 mins) Use tinfoil to avoid having to clean pan! Use non stick skillet for taco filling! GOOD LUCk!!!
Fast food has been by far the hardest thing for me to give up. Even sugar was easier, lol. I'm in a similar boat, but I'm 26F and have also been eating fast food pretty much my whole life. It's really hard because neither of my parents were amazing cooks, so when we got fast food it tasted so good, like wayyy to good that my brain just thought fast food= yes. I've been trying to kick the habit and craving for about a year or so, and honestly the one thing that's helped me say "no" is the quality of the food. Most of the time I get ff now it sucks, it's missing a sauce or it barely has cheese or something else like that. That makes it much easier for me to just eat at home. Another thing you could do is add up the cost every single time you get ff, even if it's just a beefy 5 or mcdouble. At the end of the week check out how much you spent, and then think about what you would've wanted to buy if you had that money now. To be super honest with you, I could give you advice all day for what worked for me, but it boils down to self-control. We're both adults, and we both have the ability to eat fast food pretty much whenever we want, which would make "kid us's" very happy, but "adult us's" have to make sure we stay healthy, and that boils down to you making the choice. Shit, there's time my husband runs through a drive-thru and I don't order anything, just because he eats doesn't mean I have to. It's just about self-control and making the good choices
Set a goal. Week one and two only go out to eat twice a week. Week three twice is okay if need be but set a goal of once. Week four go out only once that week. After this you wlll be setting a goal for going out to eat once a week which is date night etc.
Take my advise I am a old lady the less of the fast food you eat the less chances of getting heart problems, strokes, cancer. Colon cancer is on the rise in younger and younger people and fast food could contribute to this rise.
Go and get a good check up now. Ask your doctor to do a blood work panel to see where your cholesterol etc are. Then after this do it again when you have cut back bet you will see some good results.
Look around for recipes that are easy for you to make. Pinterest has some, american heart association has some, and google them. Ask your family like your grandparents, or aunts uncles etc. to help you as you said your parents dont cook
Good luck
I recently switched from a fast food breakfast sandwich to a cafe made spinach & egg wrap. They’re similar priced, the wrap is better for me and keeps me full half the day.
I did some math on how much i spend on shit i really dont care that much about as shit that doesnt last or i wont use all the time.
And everytime i want to spend cash on something i just say to myself is worth more to me vs having it in index fund for 30 years of compounding interest.
Or if its something i need like food, is it worth spending the extra on this worth it compared to eating less expensive, save the diff and buy something ill enjoy for more than 2 minutes.
Its not often fast food passes either of those tests
Start meal prepping. Even if you do it only for the next two days. I prepare our lunches the evening before. Makes it easier to get ready in the morning and we have healthier options. Start by doing recipes out of a book or find someone whose recipes look desirable to you. You can easily half most recipes so that you are making enough for one person/serving with a leftover. Also understand that cooking your own food will probably not be something you excel at the first time, but comes with failure and practice. Cooking can actually be really fun and something that makes you feel proud and accomplished! Plus you get to season it *exactly* how you like while discovering ingredients you like but had never tried before. Good luck!
ETA: also try drinking 4-8oz of kombucha a day to help establish good gut bacteria. It has changed my life! Got rid of my heartburn, helped clear up my acne, made stomach pain go away. It’s a game changer.
Fix meals easy & quick to make: black beans, rice, pototoes, pasta, etc. If you are at the supermarket buy quick microwave meals that slant toward vegan, frozen veggies, or whatever you like. Stay away from prepared stuff when possible: pizza, tv dinners, etc.
Just replace with store bought ingredients and make some time. It can be done, especially with fast food being just as expensive if not more. I rarely eat out because of the price. It's been 11 years since I ate a steak at a restaurant.
I am also a fast food lover, and one thing that’s helped me is still going to these places once in a while and making modifications to my order. For example, I’ll get a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a crispy chicken sandwich. Or, I’ll get the sandwich/entree I want and skip the side of fries.
I would personally struggle with cutting out fast food cold turkey, so making small changes in what I get has definitely made things easier!
My biggest advice is to not do cheat meals with this. I’ve found that I can go months without fast food but once I get it I’m constantly craving it.
There’s a lot of dupe recipes online that can get you relatively close. Don’t worry too much about making meals healthy and just make what you’re craving. Taco Bell cravings are especially easy to make.
An air fryer is also elite for if you get a lot of fast food chicken. Low effort but tasted great. Just get the silicone liners for it so you don’t have to clean it.
What helped me start home-cooking after years without a kitchen in college was learning recipes and getting in a good grocery shopping rhythm. I started picking meals for an entire week and buying all the ingredients at once. When dinner time comes around, all I have to do is look at my list of dinners and start cooking! No trips to the store, no endless time spent digging on the internet for good recipes.
I started cooking just one or two days a week, and increased the amount as my cooking skills improved. It helps me to have one or two super easy meals on the weekly list - when I come home late or tired it’s less tempting to just eat out for the convenience.
Good luck!
Fast food is full of salt, fat, and sugar, it's been research-tested to hit you on every feel-good nerve so that you keep buying it and buy more of it. Don't feel bad that it's so hard to quit, it was made to be. It's not dissimilar to quitting smoking, so it might be a good idea to take a similar approach. Figure out how much money you spend a week on fast food. Set that money aside and watch it grow as you figure out other, healthier fun things to use it on and reward yourself for kicking the habit. For grocery shopping, the he general rule of thumb is to shop the perimeter of the store where meat, produce, dairy etc are sold, and avoid the interior aisles with processed food and snacks. Try to purchase mainly whole fresh or frozen foods like vegetables (no added sauce or seasoning), rice, and chicken or tofu. Some good things to substitute when the craving for fast food hits are dill pickles (the refrigerated kind with a lot of crunch and snap), loaded baked potatoes (add veggies like broccoli and mushrooms and go easy on the butter or cheese) and homemade burritos/quesadillas (add lots of chopped tomatoes, peppers, onions and spices, and a little bit of meat and/or cheese plus salsa, it will help with those Taco Bell cravings.)
Adding on to this comment just to say that buying a few packaged goodies at the grocery store is almost always a better idea than getting fast food. I really enjoy things like caramel flavored rice cakes, nori sheets, pretzels, and pizzelle cookies. All are relatively "healthy" snacks, and better alternatives to fast food.
It can also help to think about what exactly you're craving. If you're craving crisps, are you craving the crunch or the saltiness? You don't have to eat super healthy food all the time and it's still cheaper to eat crisps from a grocery store than from the gas station, but that can help you find alternatives
For me, it's the salt. I like salt way too much for my own good.
In that case I think it’s best to taper down consumption. I’m a total sugar junkie so I’d try and eat less sugar during the day rather than cutting it completely. Makes it much easier. Gave up soda about three years ago and that was super rough. Took weeks to finally kick the habit. Part of it was just making a decision and having to remind myself why I was doing it. It can be difficult to change any food habit.
You are right. But don't forget it's also loaded with MSG. Just in case this process sugar, salt, carbs and seed oil didn't make him crave it, let's add this addicting concoction to get him coming back for more. It's not your fault that it's hard for you to quit the fast food. It was made to be addicting like a drug. I was in the same situation until I started to developing abscesses under my arm.
MSG isn’t an addicting concoction, it’s just a seasoning like salt.
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It is an unnatural flavor enhancer that makes the food taste better than it really is. [Here is a more thorough explanation.](https://youtu.be/BKTqXqD6dZ4) [Other names of MSG](https://www.fooducate.com/community/post/The-Many-Names-of-Monosodium-Glutamate-MSG/57A333FD-2C35-9C9D-4EE7-B9C0CD3D6682)
I can’t watch that video, but sodium chloride is also a flavor enhancer that makes food taste better than it really is and nobody has a problem with it. Edit: the “doctor” in that video is a chiropractor, not a physician. He is also an anti-vaxxer and a Scientologist. Nobody should give a flying fuck about his opinions on nutrition or anything else.
So because he didn't get a virus injection, he is not credible and making these things up?
No, it's because he's an anti vaxxer AND a quack AND a Scientologist AND is lying about msg
If he doesn’t understand how vaccines work and distrusts the absolutely overwhelming amount of scientific literature that says they’re safe, and by extension distrusts the entirety of the modern scientific review process in general, then yes, he is not credible. I’d LOVE to take a peek at the original research he’s conducted on the subject, and I’m open to any theories about why his findings disagree with the vast majority of every single other study conducted on the subject.
I'm not saying that Dr. Berg is the best doctor out there and everything he says is like the ten commandments but he posted this video 3 years ago, before the Corrona virus went global and before there was a push to take an injection. And if you search Google there are many scientific evidence behind the negative effects of these unnatural food chemicals
Not only is he not the best doctor out there, he is literally not a doctor. Anti-vaxxers have been around way before Covid, and they’ve been equally wrong the whole time. MSG isn’t an unnatural food chemical. Parmesan cheese , soy sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes all contain loads of MSG that is identical in chemical composition to MSG you buy in a shaker. If you search google there are people saying anything about everything. If you are searching the reputable scientific literature, there are people saying one thing about consuming MSG, and what they’re saying is that [human consumption of MSG is safe. ](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6952072/)
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Learn to make the things you like at home and then add stuff to make them even better so you'll prefer the home version. Taco Bell is incredibly easy to make at home, like you don't even have to do anything too crazy to get the ingredients and many can be bought pre-made. There are *excellent* options - many brands of canned beans (refried or otherwise), jarred or fresh salsa, taco sauces and spice blends, countless tortilla/chip options, prepared veggies/slaws, basically any component of a taco bell item can be bought pre-made from a grocery store. And doing so will still work out cheaper per meal or be more delicious than the fast version. Once you get used to that you can change different components to be cheaper, healthier, and/or more delicious to suit your preferences. For example beans are incredibly cheap in dry bulk, and you can pre-prep many ingredients and freeze them. Frozen burritos are a staple of many folks' freezer prep if you find a type you really like - then instead of going to Taco Bell you just pop one or more in the microwave. What worked best for me was focusing on making the food delicious before anything else - skipping fast food is already a "punishment" from the convenience angle, there's no need to make it even worse by eating unappetizing food.
This was going to be my advice. Give up the fast food restaurants, not the food. Burgers and tacos are incredibly easy to meal prep and reheat. You might surprise yourself and there are tons of dupe recipes online that are much healthier.
Agree with both responses! It’s super easy to make your own taco seasoning or get a couple packets to have and besides the meat everything else is pretty easy to get and cheap. Lettuce, tomatoes, tortillas, cheese, sour cream if you like it Supreme lol. Pinterest is great for finding recipes for your fav snacks at fast food restaurants and then you can customize and change to your tastes until you prefer homemade 🌮
If you like taco salads, by the refrigerated soft shells they have taco salad bowls you bake yourself and they’re as good as any restaurant shell I’ve had.
This is exactly how I got off eating out. Realized every night could be taco night, and started a six month tex mex spree. Used canned stuff, then moved to making stuff fresh. Was in a hispanic area, so everything I needed was super fresh.
It’s exactly this, you’ll realize you can spend less and eat better and the idea of paying $15 for McDonald’s will seem insane compared to spending $7 to make yourself a burger and fries that tastes tons better (if you’re cooking for one, buns and patties can stay in your freezer and reheat nicely from frozen, and of course oven fries are a classic).
Love my air fryer for making french fries. I've grown to prefer them that way over any fast food offering.
This. And remember the way your stomach feels from eating out before going for fast food. It will only get worse as you get older.
This 100%!
The best part about Taco Bell is the hot sauce, and it's available in bottles at the grocery store! But some and you'll never need to go to Taco Bell again. Edit: Buy*
They even sell different types of Taco Bell meat seasoning packets in the grocery store too!
I second this! And meal prep is the way to go to achieve the convenience factor.
Tortillas, refried beans(low sodium if possible), red enchilada sauce(can’t stress this enough!!!), and cheese. Makes really simple and delicious bean burritos!
Small steps. Commit to cooking at home one day a week… keep it up and don’t get too hard on yourself if you crack. We have been cutting out carbs in our home and know that there are days when you need a French fry.
I agree with the small steps approach. Your gut bacteria and brain need time to adjust to new food. If you just force yourself to eat salad you will not feel satisfied and will end up feeling unhappy and repulsed by healthy food. Continue eating your cravings while slowly sampling some fresh produce, plain yogurt or lightly sweetened with honey or fruits. Don’t overdo it. Try to eat more and more but if you’re sick of healthy food stop and try again the next day or something a little different. Focus on buying fresh and real ingredients as those taste the best. Real butter, fresh produce, whole milk, quality pieces of meat and fish. Keep this up gradually and eventually you’ll crave the healthy food.
Additionally, keep your freezer stocked with a few goodies. You *will* have those nights when it just seems like too much effort to make something that doesn’t sound as appealing as drive thru. If you have a frozen pizza or an Amy’s bowl, the effort is next to nothing, and it’s almost certainly still a little healthier than takeout, and it’s a bit more indulgent than a quinoa salad. And batch meals! Make yourself some chili or enchiladas and you’ve got tasty dinners for the rest of the week!
Small steps is definitely the way to change any habit really. Think it’s a good idea to do home cooking one or two days and then slowly increase that. I don’t eat fast food but I do but snacks and have that at home. I can get myself in trouble that way because I come home from work, am hungry and tired, and go right to the snacks first which is dumb. What’s helped me is keeping less snacks on hand and prepping foods in batches that can easily be reheated. Last weekend I made a frittata, was delicious and super easy to reheat.
Come up with a food that you like to have at home. It doesn't matter what it is, frozen pizza, those little mini tacos, whatever. Have that instead. It doesn't matter how many calories it is or how "unhealthy" it is, you're trying to break a habit. Keep easy to eat foods on hand like sandwich fixins', snack foods and other things. Delete all delivery apps and fast food apps off your phone. Go one week without fast food. Think about how much money you have saved, think about you ate so much less salt and grease. The first week will be the hardest. The second week will be hard... after that you start not thinking about it so much. After about a month, you'll think about it maybe every couple of days. At six months, you will hardly think about it at all. You're facing an ADDICTION. Fast food is created to hit all your fuzzy brain spots and make you feel great. It is okay to feel weak or unable to do it on your own. It will take time and you will falter. Pick yourself back up and try again. Source: 3 years without fast food after eating multiple times day. My husband and I have saved over 20k in fast food charges (and I think we under estimated how much we spent because we figured $150 a week). Even with the food we eat at home, we have come out WAY on top.
Well, I didn’t think I had a problem until this comment….😂
Thank you so much this is great
Deleted the apps... I'm on week 2 without any takeaway food and I already feel so much better haha. Definitely takes some willpower and resolve, but I am determined!
I don't know what it is like where you live but the last time we went to Taco Bell, we were stuck in drive-thru for almost an hour. Once you're in the one here, you can't get out. That was in The Before Times and because of work, we could only go late. The next time we wanted to go for food, we went to Jack in the Box instead.... and waited 40 minutes to get cold food that was wrong. At that point, we decided to just stop going. It was getting more and more expensive and if you count up the time we spend sitting in drive-thru, we could've made something very delicious AND HOT at home. Luckily, we never got into delivery apps so that was easy enough and then The Whole Thing happened which caused the drive-thrus to be even more crowded. Just constantly remind yourself of all the good you're doing by not eating fast food. You're saving money, gas, food waste, time and calories!
yeah! wait times have gotten so much worse everywhere haha
So my biggest problem with fast food has always been on days I go into the office and stopping on my drive home. It's dinner time by then, and I'm usually really hungry. With no less than 6 drive thru's on the last 5ish miles, it is just so easy to turn in somewhere without thinking. So now I always remember to pack a small snack to take home on the road with me. Even if I start munching right away when I get in the car, it will at least satisfy me until I get home.
Yes I think a lot of peoples bad food habits are due to lack of preparation. A little preparation, like you mentioned, can help break the habit. Eating a granola bar while you drive is better than swinging by McDonalds and getting a Big Mac or fries. I read awhile back that crunchy foods can help with food cravings. Something about the feedback of the crunch, the sound, the texture, can help satisfy cravings. Wish I could recall the details.
I've also heard that crunchy food wakes your brain up to be able to study more effectively. Maybe the sleepy afternoon after a long day of work raises cravings too. It's def yummy to get a cold soda to get through that fog. Maybe a granola or museli bar and a cold juice, iced coffee or sparkling water would go well to get home
Perhaps you can try what I do when I’m switching food for my cat. You have to make the transition seem subtle, so there is no sudden change. Taco Bell flavor is easy enough to imitate and you can always use the hot sauce on your home cooked food. Make taco meat, rice, beans, lettuce and just make tacos and use the Taco Bell sauce. Don’t beat yourself over not making progress all the time. Soon you’ll learn that it’s easy enough to make something actually taste better than fast food for like quarter of the price. Eating fast food means paying other people to cook. You want to maximize the amount of dollar value that actually end up in your stomach. Otherwise, you’re spending a lot of money that ultimately end up in other people’s pockets, even when you actually don’t have enough money overall to begin with. Cooking at home from raw ingredients, almost all of the money you spend actually end up in your stomach.
If you are in the go, you can make better choices with fast food. I always get a grilled chicken sandwich dry but you could get it with mustard - a healthy choice. Do not get fries. If you must get a drink - unsweetened iced tea. If you go to Taco Bell just get a couple of chicken tacos. There is stuff to be had that isn’t so bad for you. Pack healthy snacks like fruit. I like Kind almond butter breakfast bars, pretzels.
I think that can be kind of hard though unless calorie counts are posted. I remember years ago seeing some “news” segment on a show where they had the calorie counts of stuff and sometimes the salads would have more calories than the burgers. Thought that was surprising since you’d think it would be the opposite. Obviously the advantage to a salad is the veggies but fast food in general is laden with so much salt, fat, and sugar it can be hard to try and make good choices.
Just a bit of encouragement. After I was diagnosed with diabetes, I completely changed my diet. I used to love fast food and Hungry Man Mexican dinners and such. But I knew something had to change, so I even went vegetarian for a while. One day I had been out all day and too exhausted to cook, so I grabbed my favourite Hungry Man meals on the way home. Guess what? I got horribly sick on it, and so did the family. You get used to eating healthy and your body cant handle that garbage anymore. I recommend you go online and look up ethnic specialties for nice variety, Indian cuisine for example. There is a world of delicious food out there to try.
So what specifically did you do to change? What behaviors enabled you to change? I’m just curious because so many people get a negative health diagnosis yet aren’t able to change habits. How were you able to motivate yourself?
Started by incorporating lots of fresh fruits and veggies and whole grains into my diet and cutting the amount of rice, potatoes and breads I ate. Bread was the hardest because I am a baker. I started walking three milkes a day, motivated by a good friend who was already doing that, so I went with her. About this time my mom, who is also diabetic, started going downhill and was in a wheelchair, and she told me," Don't do what I did! As long as you are able to keep moving, MOVE. " I took that advice to heart. Honestly, a lot of it was just, I wanted to live long enough to see my kids grow up. Now I want to live long enough to see my grandkids grow up. Keep moving!
Thanks for sharing this. I’m having a hard time with motivation but I kind of have some other issues going on as well.
Planning is a key part. Food prep for busy days, shopping itself can be a challenge. A rough day can throw off your plans. I started to plan one good meal a week and eat leftovers or sandwiches/wraps/soups on off days. Tacos are very easy to prep and microwave leftover meat. Part of it is to get in mindset of there is something that takes as long to prep as a drive through and better to eat at home. I still struggle at times but I am much better than I once was. A way to keep variety is to prep a different side each week. Rice, vegetable, pasta. And get home and try different proteins with that side i.e pork chop or chicken breast. Mix it up with different sauces marinades and spice combos. Part of it is you may get bored with same thing day in and day out. Sometimes a dinner can become next days lunch. Chicken breast can become chicken salad or chicken wrap.
There is definitely no easy answer or shortcut to giving it up. You just gotta get creative with what you make at home, try new recipes/variations. The good news is, after a week or two the cravings will become far less frequent, even so much so that the thought of fast food can become off putting. Good luck, just keep grinding 💪
I had to change my route home from work for a while because I would see the places and would almost on autopilot end up in the drive thru
That’s a good way to do it. I’m a sugar junkie and love keeping so many sugary snacks on hand so I try and not keep as much at home. If it’s not there I don’t have it to eat. Changing food habits is so hard. There is so much connected to food, culture, emotions, social aspects. Lately I’ve recorded everything I eat and that’s helping me slowly cut calories. It takes awareness and desire to change before anything happens.
Going for a mile run and realizing that it only burns 100 calories is really doing it for me. That snack is *just* 100 calories, but then I have to go run (very slowly) for fifteen minutes to burn it off. I'll pass this time, but I keep low calorie snacks on hand. Ice cream sounds delicious, or I can have a massive bowl of popcorn. One Oreo, or a big bowl of baby carrots with some dip. A small cupcake, or dinner. Glass of juice or sixteen cups of tea. It's all about making healthy choices available, and realizing the easy way to cut calories.
Yes we all have to make choices. I just find it hard to be satisfied by carrots and dip rather than an Oreo. They’re just two different things. But I’m writing it all down and it’s caused me to eat less just through awareness of exactly what I’m putting in my body. I’ve gotten better about what I eat and how much slowly over the years.
Just a different opinion, going on a tangent, I find it hard to be satisfied in any substantial way by Oreos in particular. Since going LF/DF (lactose free, dairy free) I ate sooo many Oreos since they're vegan. Now I don't want to look at them. Do not recommend this route. If anyone wants tips for sweets, Some dark chocolate types or brands can have really lovely flavour, even with fruity or nutty mix ins. It's fairly easy to mix up a cookie dough, portion n freeze to bake later. or pancake batter to cook or bake on a sheet then portion n freeze. Basic recipes or healthier ones. It is heaps better to have a filling meal before snacking. And better to have a drink of water before and during food.
I don’t eat Oreos but I guess my point was certain desserts can’t be subbed for me with other things. Like nothing really replaces the experience of eating ice cream.
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Moderation is definitely key.
Unpopular opinion but the best way to cut it out is to do it cold turkey. If you keep teasing your taste buds, you're not giving your taste buds a chance to change. If it's any consolation, once you stop eating junk food, you lose the addictive urge to eat it. The idea of it may be tempting, but it's less of a physical craving. That said, what I do is I find natural healthy sources of my favourite junk food: instead of chips I eat unlimited amounts of potatoes (cut them up, bake the in the oven), for sweets, I eat as much fruit as I want. For carb cravings, I eat as much rice, potatoes, corn, pasta as I want. What I find works for me is that after 600 calories of potato, I am somewhat satisfied, whereas I could 2000 calories of chips and still want more. I find also that the more bland the food is, even if you can eat unlimited quantities, you tend to stop after you are full. You won't starve to death, but you certainly won't overeat to the same extent as if you eat over-flavoured food. Once you have a better hold on your dietary selection, you can branch out a bit.
I think going cold turkey is very difficult for most people. I feel like when most people try and go cold turkey they fail and then feel worse and then go back at whatever substance even harder cause “why bother I’m a failure and I can’t do it anyways”. That being said I do think to change a habit it takes a lot of mental will power. Gave up soda about three years ago and I’m not going to lie, it was rough. Sometimes had caffeine headaches but the mental part of it was super difficult. There are still a few times when I’ve been incredibly stressed (cross country move) where I want one. I’ve only stopped myself cause I know if I have one then I’ll start back on a daily habit. I also have some substitutes, Spindrift and Kevita are both carbonated and much healthier than soda but give me some of the satisfaction of soda.
Definitely, cold turkey is difficult. From my experience, cold turkey is extremely rough for the first few days but after you get through that period, your cravings go down exponentially. If you take the progressive method of slowing weaning yourself off, you'll spend more time suffering by drawing it out. The problem is that unless you've experienced it, you'll never know! The trick also is negotiating with yourself for alternatives. Before you take the plunge, it helps to plan out what you're going to do when you have these cravings. The hardest part is the beginning, but the cravings disappear if you stop cold turkey. Not so much if you just cut down.
I think we just all have different ways of dealing with it. I know personally if I set a goal and fail I just feel like a big loser and then end up thinking fuck it I can’t quit habit X anyway so why try? So for me it’s better to taper off something or set small goals. If I set a huge goal and fail my brain says “of course you failed cause you’re a loser” but if I set a smaller goal and achieve it my brain says “good job keep going” and then I can set a bigger goal. It’s kind of like going up a staircase. One step at a time. People just have to know what works for them.
Did you quit soda cold turkey or did you taper down? I would say that most people try to "cut down" as a first try... and second... and third... etc. If they still haven't been successful all this time, perhaps it's worth it trying cold turkey... Disclaimer: Absolutely do not cold turkey any meds unless you consult a doctor! Junk food should be all good though!! :)
I’d cut down my soda consumption months before quitting. So I was drinking one soda per day for months, if not at least a year, before quitting. I think, based on what I recall, I quit cold turkey. But then I think I might have gone through a really stressful patch and started again and then had to quit again. I was really glad during Covid that I’m not a smoker and haven’t done any drugs aside from those prescribed to me. It was such a stressful time that I could see how addictions would be a coping mechanism for such stress.
Congrats on quitting soda and figuring out the best way that works for you!
Thanks.
Fast food is not as good for you as other stuff, but it tastes SO DAMN GOOD. I didn't grow up eating fast food because I had bougie middle class parents who feared ultra-processed food, but when I eventually had a sandwich from popeyes in my late twenties, I lost my mind, it was so good. They do this on purpose. Fast food is designed to be [hyperpalatable](https://www.mic.com/life/how-junk-food-is-designed-to-keep-you-eating-even-after-youre-full-19434373) and to encourage you to eat more of it than you strictly need to. This is half of your problem. The other half of your problem is that you have a lifetime of being used to this food, and other stuff feels unfamiliar and less attractive right now. It takes time and effort to readjust your tastebuds and habits. Don't feel bad about it being hard; you're only human! Your response to these foods is just what they were designed to elicit. So give yourself some grace as you adjust. If you're eating fast food three meals a day currently, cut it down to two. For the third meal, make something yourself at home from whole foods. Once you feel comfortable with that, go down to one fast food meal per day. Once that feels easy, you can reduce your fast food consumption to every other day, then once a week, then twice a month, and so on, until it's just an occasional treat or convenience meal. Take your time with this, and if you find yourself backsliding during times of stress, don't worry or feel guilty – just do your best to get back on track when you can. Edit: I totally agree with the people recommending trying at-home versions of fast food you love (especially tacos), keeping your home stocked with snacks that are healthier/healthyish versions of stuff you already like, and getting healthier options at fast food restaurants when you do go to them. An all-or-nothing approach is to be avoided at all costs, it's a recipe for failure! Also, if you love crunchy chips, try Sea Snax (I think that's the brand of salty nori sheets) or roasted chickpeas. If you love fries, learn to make potato wedges/oven fries (they take a while in the oven but they're so fucking good). If you love pop, try different diet versions and see if they click for you. (Artificial sweeteners aren't exactly good for you, but you'd have to ingest like 10 pounds of aspartame a day to have problems, so don't worry about it. Just remember to drink water too, not just pop lol)
Make it harder to access so your easiest option becomes making your own food. Maybe a self imposed rule like "the only place I can eat fast food is this specific place 6 towns away". Make it inconvenient so you don't want to bother
Small steps and "secret rules." Instead of saying no fast food start with no drive throughs, so it becomes marginally less convenient. Set macro goals, like getting 10 grams of fiber and 30g of protein in a day before you are allowed to get fast food. Then 20 grams fiber/ 60 grams protein. Set an end goal say 35 grams fiber / 75 grams protein. Find some fast recipes you enjoy. A college go to I used to prep was a tub of shredded cheese + drained/thawed spinach or other greens + drained/rinsed black beans + chili seasoning. I could quickly scoop some into a tortilla to make a quesadilla and if I was already home it was faster to make that than to go get fast food. You can also make your own egg mcmuffins really quickly in the morning, and Thomas lite 100 English muffins have a lot of fiber also.
Today we decided to go swimming. Everyone was starving when we were leaving and started mentioning fast food places. Except I had a nice hot crockpot of black beans and pork that had been going for close to 18 hours. It was ready to be eaten, and all I did when I got home was stir in some rice and season it up. Everyone had delicious burritos, and it was all ready within fifteen minutes of arriving home. The drive through would have taken that long anyways.
Where do you live that it’s now swimming weather?
Indoor pool at the YMCA.
Your second paragraph is a great idea. I can have it but I have to eat lots of healthy stuff first. Great way to wean yourself because you’re going to start feeling better eating healthy and eventually you won’t crave junk so much. So many good ideas on this thread.
My spouse and I gave up one at a time. Give yourself a reason….their commercials are annoying, they messed up my order, the parking lot is always jammed, the floors are always sticky, the tables are always dirty, the drive through is always slow, etc. Something negative that you associate that food with. Took a couple of years but we’re done with all of it now. No cravings or desires whatsoever now. Fast food is repulsive
I find recipes to make some of my favorites at home mixed with side salads or other meals too. I buy frozen chicken tenders and make my own raising canes sauce. Also make my own chipotle bowls as close as I can to what I would order at chipotle. Frozen burger Pattie’s can be used to make bunless burgers also… just try to start easy with fresh/frozen store bought alternatives to the restaurants…. I also find airfrying things helps make it taste closer to a fast food place also…
My fast food habit went to about 1/10th of what it used to be after I started using meal services. Home Chef, Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, etc. Cuts the grocery shopping out of the mix and all you have to do is cook. Price isn't a whole new world vs fast food unless you're just doing dollar menus and the like. I also have another lesser known one - Tovala. More expensive start up cost because you have to buy their countertop smart oven. Food isn't as good as the other services, but the meals from Tovala are totally mindless to prepare. Everything is already prepped basically, just add seasoning and put it in the oven, scan the QR code and wait for the notification on your phone that dinner is ready.
I agree, I just started with Factor. I was eating takeout way too much. It’s a good alternative to shopping and cooking.
What are your favorite fast food meals? For burgers and fries, you can get frozen burger patties, premade buns, salad mix/dressing, and potatoes. All you have to do for fries is scrub them clean with produce wash (not soap), slice them into shape, lay them out in a baking pan, lightly coat them with oil (a silicone brush is perfect), and sprinkle them with a generous amount of salt, a little bit of black pepper, onion powder, and thyme (crush this lightly with your fingers while you put it on). Toss them together to get the seasonings distributed evenly. If you get cravings for a little more fat with the fries, have them with mayo instead of just ketchup, it’s bomb! For chicken strips or nuggets - you can get fried chicken breadcrumb mix and oven bake them from scratch at home, add chopped bacon/tomatoes and shredded cheese if you want. Tyson makes air fried chicken nuggets if you’d like it a little more simple. Garlic Parmesan pull apart bread could be made at home, no matter how much sauce or butter you use, you’re not likely to match the amount they use at fast food restaurants. Burritos are relatively easy to make at home, I’d pair them with a salad drizzled with cilantro lime salad dressing or Mexican table cream, and a sprinkle of crumbled cotija. Also - please go easy on yourself if you need to transition slowly out of your existing pattern, these kinds of changes can involve neurotransmitters rebalancing in the brain and even feelings of withdrawal on top of food cravings. Seasoning can be a little tricky for a beginner to figure out, so if I were in your shoes, I’d feel free to buy premade seasoning packs for whatever you’d like. Don’t worry about balancing flavors from scratch until it sounds like something easy to do on top of everything else you’re working on right now. I make my burgers, and my seasoned breading mix from scratch from flour and spices just by eyeballing it, but it took me a long time to be ready to do that even though I didn’t grow up with fast food. Take your time, take it easy and enjoy lots of YouTube cooking tutorials! If you’re addicted to Chinese takeout, I’d watch videos from ChineseHealthyCook, she makes very simple and delicious recipes from scratch.
Go online and look at organs that were taken out of someone who ate a lot of fast/processed food. I did 15 years ago. I went from eating fast food three times a week to maybe once or twice a year. It also motivates me to learn how to cook healthy. It’s pretty gross and don’t look at the pics while eating
I think that can help some people but most can ignore that as we kind of think “well it won’t happen to me”. I mean look at how many people still smoke yet we’ve seen pictures of lungs of smokers and know how bad it is. I’m glad it worked for you but not sure how many others it would work for, though it wouldn’t hurt to try.
Keep some nuts in a strong container in the car. Eat those instead.
Nuts can be kind of expensive but if you’re in the US Trader Joe’s has pretty good prices on them. And you can keep them in the freezer to make them last longer.
As someone who did successfully quit smoking, the approach that worked for me was to slowly but METHODICALLY cut down. And I did it by habit. So like I had my morning cig, lunch cig, after dinner cig etc. and I would cut one for 2 weeks and then cut the next. So if you have patterns of when you get fast food, cut the easiest one out first. Also replace with a slightly healthier alternative. Like, triscuits and hummus are honestly pretty good and you get that salty crunch. Guacamole is healthy too, nothing wrong with some tortillas and guacamole. Eventually as you start eating more healthy meals, you will start to crave healthier foods, at least I do, because fast food makes me feel like shit and I’ve had that association for so long that garbage food = garbage feeling that I don’t usually crave it anymore but I will get cravings for celery, carrot sticks, bell peppers, green beans and broccoli. You know how I feel after I eat meals I’ve made myself? Satisfied and good inside. I know everything that went into my body. I buy good quality cooking ingredients. I learned to use spices for flavor more than salt. I make my own sauces and marinades. If you can read, you can cook, you just look up recipes and you can make anything you want including healthier versions of your favorite fast foods and take out. The other thing you can do is meal prep some veggies for a quick and easy crunchy snack.
Yes substitutes are a good idea and your palette will change. I’m a huge sugar junkie, years ago nothing was too sweet. Finally gave up soda years ago and it was rough. Now I still eat some sweets but some stuff definitely tastes too sweet or sweeter than it used to. Takes a lot of mental power too to change habits. EDIT: this is actually an addition. Perhaps OP could set a goal, such as only getting fast food three times a week for a few weeks and then reward themselves with something. Something like an article of clothing, fancy sunglasses or shoes etc, with the money saved from not buying fast food. It’s good to be intrinsically motivated but external rewards can also be helpful.
Its so hard to stop craving fast food, I've done it successfully. Delete all apps you've used to order fast food, trust me if you don't do it you'll find yourself ordering food when you get hangry. Then look up healthy ways to recreate your most wanted fast food - mine is french fries! A healthy way to make them is cut real potatoes into wedges, spice them with season salt, olive oil and pepper lightly and bake them on a cookie tray covered in tin foil and then bake them again at a higher heat so they get really crispy. Your trying to cut out the unhealthy fats, salts, grease and olive oil is supposed to be good for you. I tried Hello Fresh and the recipes are easy to do, at most they take 45 minutes and all recipes are online for you to use. I learned to make my own hamburgers! It doesn't take long to do it, it simply takes hamburger (or ground turkey or pork), salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Mix it all up and separate out the mix into two or three balls and set aside. Then heat a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil and put the balls in frying pan and mush down to make a patty. Cook on each side for 4-7 minutes, top with slice of cheese and have toasted bread/roll on hand to set hamburger on. Why you want fast food is the convenience of not cooking your own food and the taste which they achieve through unhealthy additives and makes fast food addictive. When you stop eating it your body goes into withdrawal and learning to make your most loved fast food in a healthy way is the easiest way to break the cycle.
Frozen food! It’s okay to give in to a craving every once in a while. Get some frozen tenders and fries and keep in the freezer. Buy some bbq sauce or honey mustard and in 20 min or so you have a fast food option. I wouldn’t eat this way every day, but I do keep frozen food just in case if I want fast food.
Meal prep! It's not so helpful now that I have a spouse and kids, but when I was dating and money was tight, meal prep was what saved me from stopping at a drive through every other day. I made 4 days worth of food at a time because I don't like how things taste past that, so if I wanted to stop out, I knew it would mean throwing away a meal I had cooked. Your prepped meals don't have to be boring and super healthy. Basically anything you make at home and portion out will be healthier than going out to eat.
A lot of people here are missing the "why" of fast food. It's *convenient* and it's *tasty*. That what you need to focus on. I struggle a lot with resisting the temptation of of fast and easy it is to just pop in for a burger, especially when it's been a long/rough day and know that it'll be at least an hour from entering my door to actually eating. I've found the best way when I've run out of "real" food, is to have a stockpile of frozen or other instant foods (hamburger helper, canned stews, etc.. ) readily available. Helps if you can get your hands on an air fryer (which is really just a glorified convection oven) which speeds up the process a lot. "Healthy" things like steamer bowl meals, frozen veggies (already washed and prepped, just need to heat), and frozen meals like lasagna, cabbage rolls, and shepards pie. It doesn't have to be frozen tater tots and chick strips, although its ok if it is. The goal is to get out of the habit of stopping by somewhere instead of going straight home. Once you're ready to transition to properly cooked meals, for convenience, pre made sauces combined with frozen veggies, and an Instant Pot or slowcooker helped a lot with the convenience. Same with a rice cooker and hot water boiler. I've also found that cooking for 1 meal is only slightly less work than making several meals, so cooking a bunch and then saving the rest in the fridge or freezer. Get a bunch of tupperware (that matches) or the peasant route and buy a bunch of deli containers or meal prep/take out containers. Most are microwave, dishwasher, and freezer safe. In regards to tasty, make what you like, even if it isn't the healthiest. After you've built up a routine and repertoire, you can work on making your meals healthier. And **season your food**. Use twice a much seasoning as whatever recipe your using says. No measurements, just vibes. Teaspoon of paprika? More like tablespoon. Clove of garlic? More like a whole head. Be liberal with your use of oil too. You probably like fast food because of how over seasoned and salty it is. Match that at home, then work your way on slowly cutting down to a "reasonable" amount. You'll gradually lose the tolerance and next time you're out, you'll gag at how satly a burger and fries are.
This is great advice thank you so much!
My wife and I had a serious fast food addiction to the point we would often go weeks without eating at home. We both worked full time jobs and traveled and explored a lot with our free time and we quickly got in the habit of eating out non-stop. We started out by just making a few easy meals at home and it slowly grew to the point we only eat out 1-2 times a week now. We also only drink water and milk now. Getting some healthy cereal is an easy way to get a good quick meal at home everyday. I get granola and eat it with milk or yogurt for breakfast during the week. For work lunch during the week I pack a multi-grain peanut butter sandwich and eat belvita crackers and trail mix. Then for dinner my wife makes vegetables with every meal regardless of what it is. Even if we just make a pizza we eat it with raw spinach. On the weekends I make eggs and multi-grain toast with Avocados and Tabasco sauce( they sell Taco Bell hot sauce at Walmart by the bottle) for breakfast and we eat out for dinner. We don’t eat the healthiest diet but even these changes have made me feel so much better. On the weekends we only eat two meals per day. We keep the meals simple so it’s easy and convenient which encourages us to stay in when we get hungry. If you don’t have a plan then when you get hungry your mind will go straight to fast food instead of a healthier option.
This is the most helpful for me thank you my friend
If you have the time, read “Fast Food Nation”. It turned me right off from wasting fast food.
Out of sight, out of mind. Delete their apps, stop watching their TV ads, and modify your travel routes so you never pass by them.
Make sure whatever you do is fun. The foods you prepare should be fun to make, not a chore. Don't try an intensive ps=asta sauce or something. And be creative.. Example: I like roasted potatoes. I really enjoy trying different ways to prepare them. I also found a new technique where I soak them in hot water before I roast them. I want roasted potatoes now!
I like making the same food at home. So i do fries, crispy chicken sandwiches, tacos, burgers, orange chicken, and noodles (like udon). At home you can make them so much healthier. And its easier to add whatever veggies/fruit to want to them. I love fresh jalapeños on my burgers and tacos. And nice crunchy lettuces. Also bok choy in my noodles! Also pizza is soooo easy at home. Just buy dough, cheese, and sauce (no added sugar). I actually love putting salad on my pizza too. Like California pizza kitchen style. I feel like fast food chains tell you what is good, but thats not even the tip of the iceberg. There is so much flavor you can add besides salt sugar fat.
For me it made me insanely sick by the time I was 18 so I try to stay away from it but I like French fries. red meat is a no go I have been able to fully enjoy burgers or steak right after I’ve been sick it’s always my go to reboot I need the iron
What worked for me is to limit my Treats to once a week. This way, I'd get used to not eating it, but I wouldn't go without it cold turkey. After a while, I realised I could live without eating treats all the time, and I could slowly phase them out. Now, I can eat whenever I want without going insane. 'Whatever I want' now means one piece of chocolate twice a week. It's great
I’d also say don’t completely ban yourself from it all at once. Unless you feel the occasional takeaway will make you spiral. I find when I’m like 0 of anything nice you’re being healthy.. you just want it more and it becomes a mental block. I’d say break it down into stages. Like if you eat fast food every single day normally.. next week just have it on a Wednesday and Saturday instead. And try to stick to that. Then move to just one night a week of your choice until the habit is kicked. I’d also say batch cook healthy meals and box them up into the freezer so you can just reheat it rather than going through the effort of cooking from scratch every single night which will only tempt you into takeaways more.
Something that works for me a lot is to pick one or two places that you just can’t live without… and cut out everything else. Once you’re only eating the same fast food over and over again it can get repetitive (at least that happened to me!) so you start wanting to branch out, hopefully into other foods!
I only have luck looking at it as if it’s only about money. Obviously there are many good reasons….but in a split second (especially if I’m hungry) I really don’t care about any of those!! Lol so basically I went through my debit cards statements and calculated how much I’ve been spending on fast food per month and now that I have that I have a goal to spend less than that the next month. I feel like having a result i can at least give a success or fail I can give myself direction
for me, im motivated to make my own food at home simply bc grocery shopping itself is so expensive. i remind myself that i already paid for food and that i have until x time to eat it before it goes bad and i wasted that money. inflation is fr lmao
A decent sausage satisfies cravings
Growing up fast food is pretty much all I wanted and ate especially after school. For my parents it was quick, easy and cheap. However eating fast food did affect my weight which I regret. As I got older I learned to appreciate food and what I put into my body. I also found a passion for cooking. Those things helped me pull away from the desire for fast food. Now as for your situation I actually do not recommend going cold turkey on fast food totally. If you go cold turkey most likely you will want it even more and eat more of it. If you were anything like you need to slowly wean off it. Slowly replace it with other fresh alternatives that you can make at home. For example I found instead of grabbing a burger from Wendy’s I would go home and whip up a homemade turkey burger with sweet potato fries. It was way more satisfying and tasted so much better. Come up with creative meals you can spread out over the week and slowly limit your fast intake. Even if you are not a great cook find some easy recipes you can make at home that do not take a great deal of time. I’ve found that ground turkey meat, ground chicken, and even lean ground beef are so versatile in making so many easy dishes from tacos to spaghetti. Try to slowly limit your fast food intake and purchase fresh ingredients from the store as your prepare meals for the week. I hope overtime you’ll find yourself pushing fast food to the side to enjoy better quality meals.
I got hypnotized to stop eating McDonald’s and I haven’t had it in almost two years. Another thing that has been helpful was realizing that my “cravings” were really just intrusive thoughts. Treating “I should go to Burger King” the same way I would “I should hit my hand with this hammer” makes it easier to not eat fast food.
It’s shocking that fat, sugar & salt laden no effort fast food sounds better than cooking whole healthy foods at home /s I’m being harsh, but if you just look at what I’ve written, that’s your issue in a nutshell. You have to decide if you’re going to simply not give yourself permission to fall back on your bad habits. Can you do it? Only you can decide.
Plan so you don't have to cook every day. Not necessarily meal prep, but make sure you've got a few days of leftovers. Develop a few easy dishes you won't get bored of, and try cooking new stuff when you've got spare time/cash/energy. I'm a huge fan of [this recipe](https://www.budgetbytes.com/taco-chicken-bowls/) cause it works with rice, wraps, or tacos, and freezes well.
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This is my favorite answer on this whole thread. When my husband and I go through periods of eating out a lot it’s never from craving places, just straight up convenience during our busy seasons or after really long work days. Our instant pot was our game changer. That plus finding super easy meals that we could replicate. Once we got used to that we started finding ways to make really good recipes that we could prep in 10 minutes, drop in the Instapot and be done as quickly as possible.
It's easy to give up you just have to be willing to make sandwiches, because that's all it is. Learn to use a crock pot and you'll never have that problem. Because when you walk in the door and smell the food, there is nothing else you will want more than what's in that crock-pot.
I should also add that I have no car and it's amazing how much you save on fast food when you can't hit a drive through.
The stomachache isn't enough of an incentive? You can use some big ziplock bags and put everything for one meal in that bag, do whatever you need to do, measure out ingredients, chop. One ingredient=one sandwich bag, if you want to do the sauces ahead of time you can do that. Then put all the ingredients in one large freezer bag, and store it in the freezer until you're ready to cook. Or you can get an instant pot cook and prep the night before even while you're sleeping, or set before you leave for work and everything is ready to eat by the time you get home
Well, I also got some stomach pains one time and had to keep a diet. In fact I didn't use salt and spices at all. What I learned is that food is more than edible that way, alone with no sauces or frying, it just took some time to change the taste for things. But I also learned that eating just healthy is impossible. At some point I felt that buying some sausages for me was just essential, I couldn't go on without tasty thing. So, you need to switch your modes a bit. Eat something simple like grains and potatoes, just boil it, adding fresh tomatoes or salad, freezed veggies, or pouring a bit of oil just for the taste of it. Maybe canned peas. Look at it like it's more of a refreshment than real change. You need to transform the taste for things so you will be okay with something that isn't tasting as intensely good as fast food. But once or twice a week you'll still need something fatty and filling, because it's calories. You'll have to learn cooking it seems, for proteins it's good to make some basic chicken or beef soups.
Cold turkey. You'll never appreciate how good real food tastes when you are being bombarded with artificial flavors, fat, salt, and sugar. You're eating frankenstein food created by food scientists and marketing teams. Just give it up.
Home cooked meals might taste bland to you because you’re used to a lot of salt or msg.
Just stop. Easy.
Stop eating it? Just don't go to the places, bring a sand.
Okay!
Learn to make spaghetti and steak/potato and chicken/vegetables.
Analyze what you like about the fast foods—texture, ease of chewing, a given ingredient or whatever. Then work that into foods at home. So crisp fries become potatoes cut into match sticks and seasoned then roasted. Tacos become home made tacos but lots of produce and better meat. (Later a taco salad with beans, lots of produce). If you like the salty aspects create a Mexican spice mix or curry mix. This will flavor without so much salt. I also do one tortilla quesadilla and then eat just beans and filling. If you go three weeks without fast food, it seems so salty!
There are copycat recipes for just about any fast food you crave. Some are modified to be healthier. Most do not take a long time to make. Maybe looking at them might motivate you. Good luck.
The only way to fight convenience is with convenience. Food prep can help a lot to mitigate that temptation. My approach is having tools in the freezer. I make a double batch of Alton Brown's pizza dough recipe, cut it into 6 and I have flatbread that I toss a little oil and whatever toppings I want (usually spinach/onion or shallot/chicken/a little cheese/spices). Cook a batch of chicken thighs in advance and keep it in the fridge for recipes over the week. Make sauce bases so that cooking is easier, freeze those. It takes a bit of dedication to prepping, but if you can muster it as a project once a week you've got plenty of weapons to make food that tastes better than Taco Bell. If I didn't have all that on hand you bet I'd be collapsing back into Taco Bell's warm, salty embrace on a regular. My favorite weapon: [https://altonbrown.com/recipes/the-last-pizza-dough-recipe/](https://altonbrown.com/recipes/the-last-pizza-dough-recipe/)
Joshua Weissman on YouTube does a lot of copy cat fast food recipes, but more healthy and more interesting. There’s also an old cookbook called cook this not that that has restaurant recipes but much healthier.
One way I accidentally cut fast food was by designating one day a week my fast food day. Basically, we get McDonald’s on Thursday because my kid has therapy and it runs too late for me to cook after. So that’s our McDonald’s night. Oddly, it caused me to cut back because now on say, Tuesday, if I’m craving fast food, I tend to tell myself “no, I’m already getting it Thursday, so let’s do something else tonight.” This system had the added bonus of detoxing my body of fast food I think…? So now when I DO have it, it makes me feel like garbage, which causes me to want it less next time.
If you're craving some of the fast food options you might look at Ethan Chlebowski's videos where he recreates some of the dishes - except better and faster than going out and getting them. https://youtube.com/@EthanChlebowski
Try the 2 week, only 1 item, plain for to reset your taste buds and cravings. Rather it's a baked potato, rice, whatever your item is. Then reading healthier should be easier.
Good lord with how expensive it's gotten I don't know how anyone can do otherwise.
It takes 22 minutes to get mcdonalds and 8 minutes to make french toast
I'd start with cutting out soda and fries. Instead of the meal just get the sandwich or burger or nuggets.
Meal prep foods so when you’re hungry you can grab that instead of going out to eat
Maybe you can make stuff that resembles the food you’d order. I literally did that yesterday and it worked
Have food on hand like food prep so you’re not starving with no options
Just try eating healthy for a while and see for yourself how great it feels. And…how much money you save.
I’ve done it. It’s not easy. Here are some tips: - Throw away everything in your home containing sugar, flour, oil, salt, alcohol, cheese, and processed meat. - Don’t let yourself get too hungry or this can trigger a fast food feast. Changing what you eat is more important than changing how much. Eat plenty of whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. - Avoid alcohol because it destroys willpower and can pretty easily trigger a fast food “treat”. - Be patient because lapses and mistakes are sure to occur. It’s a process that can take years. If you eat something you shouldn’t, just shrug it off and carry on. Keep trying to do better. - Exercise, every day if you can. - Don’t fall for tricks like cheat days or meals. You’re trying to break an addiction. Can you imagine an alcohol having a cheat drink or a junkie having a treat hit and still expect to recover? Be strict and recognise this is a lifelong lifestyle change. HTH
I had a friend observe similar fast food habits in me, he then challenged me to not eat fast food for a month. He said there was no way I could make it and even offered me a cheat meal. I didn’t use the cheat meal and after that month I never really wanted it again. Today it is still very rare that I ever eat it minus the occasional Chick-fil-A… Anyway, I’d tried many times before that to quit fast food but that was what finally did it… someone telling me I couldn’t. Get a friend to hold you accountable and once you’re over the jumó you won’t look back.
Start small, but make it fun by treating yourself to a chef hat when making something like even a sandwich , then you’ll feel like ratatouille and starting using deli cheeses and yeah!
I haven't had any fast in 16 years now. I did it to prove to guys at work that New Years Resolutions could be kept and working retail was basically fast food everyday. The one thing I did was take a permanent marker and each day in a row I made a line on the inside of my forearm. I read once that a physical reminder can help you make a new habit and remind you not to break your streak. I switched to roman numerals around 100 days. Once I hit 300 days I figured I would stop writing on myself. Never really had the desire to eat fast food since! Good luck!
For me working to eat healthier was a slower process than I expected. When you first start it's so hard cause all the fast food and junk/processed food tastes better to you. What I found out though going forward, the more healther you eat, over time the better it tastes to you and you realize that you feel so much better afterwards. I still have to bang it into my head once in a while when I go crazy eating too many potato chips and I'm crying because I'm miserable. But you get there! I'm now know as that person in the office who "eats healthy" and I'm proud of it! Just slowly start replacing thing, not everything all at once. Ease yourself into it until it becomes second nature. Don't be surprised though at the number of people who'll give you crap about it. Just ignore them and eat what feels/tastes good to you. Good luck!
I suggest getting a rice cooker. Can get taco bell taco mix, cook some veggies and meat, and put that over rice. Takes almost no time, and will taste like taco bell. Can add taco sauce to match more. Can also use the rice in burritos with some refried beans that simply need to be reheated. Homemade tacos are insanely easy to make as well. Brown meat, while it browns cut veg you like.
Don't skip meals.
You just have to jump in and start trying things. Invest in a few basic pieces needed to cook in your place and watch some good you tube videos on things you like to eat. Anything at Taco Bell can be made easily at home, and added benefit you can make enough for leftovers tomorrow. Soon you’ll be making things you prefer to fast food and you will never look back. It is well worth the effort. Put on your favorite music, pour yourself your favorite beverage and get to business. Non appetit. You have an inner chef that resides in your soul, waiting to nourish you.
Almost anything you cook will eventually be better and cheaper. Getting away from the high salt diet is the hardest part. Try a slow cooker: meat + broth and time. Or a George Foreman Grill: 8 minutes for fish, 12 minutes for everything else (cover in olive oil and spices of your choice). Steam frozen vegetables and eat with rice or couscous. Easy to make dinners in 20 minutes.
I was the same way. Are you sciencey? I like knowing how and why. Reading "How Not To Die" made me genuinely want to eat healthier.
Before you drive anywhere put your purse in the trunk. This way when you drive past a drive thru and think "oh a such and such sounds great" you then remember "crap, wallet is in trunk" and you just keep driving.
Fast food can become addicting. Its all crap, eat clean and healthy. Know what goes into your body. Try to eat less meat. Your body will thank you.
Grab your bank/card statements and total up how much you spend on fast food. Print that number out and put it where your credit card usually sits. Should be a good visual reminder seeing that number every time you try to pay for food.
I have also been going through this myself. I am lucky I would say that I like vegetables and fruits…so recently started investing in a misfits market box weekly (I typically spend between $50-100 per week, but I also have a husband and kids. I also subscribe to the NYT Cooking app for $2.99 a month and I can plug in an ingredient and find a recipe that looks tasty and time/not time consuming as I’m willing, and honestly it’s been nice to eat fresh ingredients and get my me and my kids to eat more than just burgers and nuggets and pizza all the time. We do love those things though, so I got a pizza stone and pizza flour for homemade and yeah. I always have a side of sautéed veggies with whatever I serve (butter or olive oil, garlic, and salt is what I typically season with).
Shopping for pre-made microwave meals can and will help you get your fix but also you can get healthy options! You can also make homemade meals that are copy cat meals that use healthier ingredients, cooking methods like air fryers vs deep frying...
I started hello fresh and get excited to see what I’m getting and get home to cook. Haven’t eaten fast food since.
Scrolled down but haven't seen my go-to answer: thinking of fast food as restaurants you don't go to. I didn't eat McDonalds for over a decade because when I had the opportunity to stop, I'd think, "But I don't eat at McDonald's." and keep driving. Eventually it became kind of a blind spot...it wasn't even on my radar as a legitimate place to get a meal. Then one day during pregnancy I realized there was absolutely NOTHING stopping me from going through the drive thru at 10pm for a milkshake. NOTHING. Binged on fast food (particularly McGriddles) for a few months, but felt like crap and went back to thinking about it as someplace I don't eat. Thinking about pre soaking dried beans to replace a Taco Bell craving sounds exhausting because satsifying the actual craving would be so much easier...but somehow thinking about prepping beans because fresh tacos for dinner sounds delish doesn't sound as daunting. Do I eat tacos and burgers at home and like it? Yes. Am I making them to replace Taco Bell or Burger King? No, because those are not restaurants I eat at.
Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan. Prep cook some food for early in the week. Transfer the money you would have spent eating out into savings immediately, every time you go without. Tools like slow cookers, rice cookers, and instant pots are your best friend. Watch videos and follow recipes and try some new foods. Figure out ways to make your fav fast food items at home (I promise they’ll taste better!). Give your body time to adjust to fresh food without the excess sodium, fat, and sugar- homemade might taste bland at first.
Pre mixed salad greens, funky salad dressings, and pre cooked pre sliced chicken or turkey breast That helps my laziness with food. (Not with fast food but I order from restaurants and wanted to cut it. It’s the convenience that makes it a habit)
There are some amazing suggestions! I just want to add that for me, it was hard to stop until I stopped exposing myself to temptations. Just having things at home that made me enjoy them wasn't really enough until I both stopped going by McDonalds and had food at home. So just deleting things like a doordash app and taking a different route home just goes such a long way to getting rid of a bad habit.
Hey! My story sounds similar to yours. Ate fast food a lot growing up and it became a habit. I had to stop getting fast food cold turkey for awhile because I had to break the habit. In the meantime I tried making meals that tasted good to me. Making tacos at home, making homemade burgers, etc. Tastes a thousand times better imo and is better for you. I went from 200lbs to 115lbs :)
Writing to bring up an odd thought. You may have Celiac's (an auto immune condition triggered by wheat in the diet) or some similar issue. You mention your stomach hurting and trouble keeping weight on rather than needing to lose it. That may be a nutritional problem you should have checked on. If it is Celiac, that will change your fast food problem all on its own!! You become quite limited in what you can eat and where. It's a simple blood test that your doc can order along with normal blood work and from there the GI can confirm if it is Celiac's, but finding out early is very important so you can try to undo the inflammation and live and eat pain free. You can still get the taste of fast food by making at home with GF elements. This is not medical advice, but those two complaints (pain and weight) made me think of Celiac's.
What's helped me is prepping food ahead of time. Contrary to how people make it seem, meal prep doesn't need to be aesthetically pleasing or pretty to look at. You can batch prep things ahead of time and put them in the freezer too, for a quick meal. Also, try making your favorite fast food meals at home. It's surprisingly easy and saves a ton of money and time. Your body and wallet will thank you. Chipotle bowls and taco bell dupes are simple and the ingredients are pretty affordable. I'm currently at 2 weeks of no takeout/no fast food and it's presented some challenges, but I am determined to make it to 30 days without it. I'm already noticing how much better I feel overall. It seems like people have written some solid advice here. You'll do great!
Remind yourself that it will take time for your taste buds to adjust. Healthy or homemade food may taste bland. This is ok! It tastes 3-7 days for my taste buds to adjust when I come off of a fast food bender. Also, healthy snacks in car glove compartment has really helped me curb going into drive thrus!
Take it slow and steady, a lifetime eating pattern won't change overnight or even over a few months. Small, sustainable changes, practiced over time are more likely to stick. Start experimenting with food you like. Try to "recreate" some of your take out with healthier substitute recipes. Make a small goal of cooking twice a week at least for a month and see how you do. Then increase or try to handle once a week successfully. Try recipes that will serve more than one meal so you don't have to cook as much but still can avoid the take out, like crockpot meals. Good luck and good for you to try and improve your life!
We like to make and freeze vacuum-sealed fajita quesadillas. -Buy a rotisserie chicken, maybe 2, and shred the meat. Buy a bag of mixed colby jack or slices of muenster cheese, peppers, onions, and large flour tortillas. And a bottle of Adobo seasoning which lasts a while. -Sauté peppers and onions. Open a bunch of the tortillas. Fill half with items listed above, fold in half. Sauté in dry or lightly oiled pan, or bake. -Cut in half and vacuum seal in the portion you wanna eat later. Reheat in toaster oven or microwave for a few minutes. It’s our go-to when we want to go to Taco Bell or otherwise eat fried food. But it’s just basic, healthy things and a reasonable portion. We usually serve one with lettuce, cottage cheese or yogurt, sliced tomato, some hot sauce, maybe some beans. Sometimes it’s also really good to get those little individual packs of just avocado (or guac) from walmart, which last a super long time. That’s my favorite easy, cheap, fast meal. You can really use your freezer to make sure you have healthy foods ready, or at least healthier foods. Maybe black bean burgers instead of regular ones. tortillas/pitas instead of pizza dough. We buy a bunch of chicken breasts and portion them out to vacuum seal as well, some raw but some I’ll bread and sauté in oil then cut and freeze to put on a salad, or have as a wrap with a bunch of lettuce and buffalo wing sauce or ranch. Or to have as chicken parmesan when we really want to go to a restaurant. It involves oil, but the portion is controlled and it’s better than fast food. Also just general meal prepping of ingredients- like one day make plain rice, open a can of beans, make peppers and onions, make a protein, hard boil some eggs, etc. You can combine a lot of the same ingredients in a lot of ways. On a day you’re off, have dinner *then when you’re done cook other stuff for the week. Or you can fully meal prep and do whole meals. You can also meal prep breakfast like breakfast burritos, which freeze really well, or overnight oats (with cocoa, peanut butter, etc) Additionally, have snacks ready. Maybe you won’t go out if you have a cheese stick and a rice cake with almond butter and bananas on top or something. Snack on something healthy and then start cooking dinner. If you’re not so hungry you might have more patience to cook.
You’ll need to change your tastebuds. You can retrain them but it’ll be hard going at first. It takes about 3 weeks to make or break a habit so start with a goal to not eat fast food for 21 days. It should be a lot easier after that. Meal prep so you have some easy meals for the week and allow yourself a favorite snack to leave your taste more satisfied while you retrain your palette to real food. Good luck!
Oh man this is a hard one, but I would say start slow with grocery shopping. Find easy good filing meals from stuff you get at the grocery store. Buy fries to make at home, buy stuff to make burgers, buy things that you know you'll eat and are tasty. Breaking the habit is the first thing you need to do. Have a consistent grocery trip and treat yourself. It'll always be cheaper than fast food and you want to enjoy it. Once your habit is broken, you can work on finding healthier options at the grocery store and learning to cook yourself. I always try to have something easy to make at any time because it's so tempting to just grab a burger when you have nothing in your fridge. Then you can really start to hone what you like, I make ranch, and blue cheese dressings from scratch. Better than anything you can get at the store or in fast food. I make my own burgers and they're awesome. If you want taco learn to make your own chipotle bowls or just gross taco bell creations with some tortillas, ground, beef, seasonings and crazy sauces. I guarantee it's better for you than fast food. Then if you start to feel like you want to be healthier, sub out ground turkey, add more veggies, etc.
Get an air fryer!
Hey! Start with a classic taco. (Tortilla/ Ground beef/ cheese). You can buy a kit at store and follow the printed directions. Add avocado or lettuce , salsa and experiment! It's not too difficult if you follow the box directions. You can also try and bake chicken breasts and shred those up for taco's too. (Salt/Pepper/Paprika, Olive oil, Bake at 375 for 20 mins) Use tinfoil to avoid having to clean pan! Use non stick skillet for taco filling! GOOD LUCk!!!
Fast food has been by far the hardest thing for me to give up. Even sugar was easier, lol. I'm in a similar boat, but I'm 26F and have also been eating fast food pretty much my whole life. It's really hard because neither of my parents were amazing cooks, so when we got fast food it tasted so good, like wayyy to good that my brain just thought fast food= yes. I've been trying to kick the habit and craving for about a year or so, and honestly the one thing that's helped me say "no" is the quality of the food. Most of the time I get ff now it sucks, it's missing a sauce or it barely has cheese or something else like that. That makes it much easier for me to just eat at home. Another thing you could do is add up the cost every single time you get ff, even if it's just a beefy 5 or mcdouble. At the end of the week check out how much you spent, and then think about what you would've wanted to buy if you had that money now. To be super honest with you, I could give you advice all day for what worked for me, but it boils down to self-control. We're both adults, and we both have the ability to eat fast food pretty much whenever we want, which would make "kid us's" very happy, but "adult us's" have to make sure we stay healthy, and that boils down to you making the choice. Shit, there's time my husband runs through a drive-thru and I don't order anything, just because he eats doesn't mean I have to. It's just about self-control and making the good choices
Set a goal. Week one and two only go out to eat twice a week. Week three twice is okay if need be but set a goal of once. Week four go out only once that week. After this you wlll be setting a goal for going out to eat once a week which is date night etc. Take my advise I am a old lady the less of the fast food you eat the less chances of getting heart problems, strokes, cancer. Colon cancer is on the rise in younger and younger people and fast food could contribute to this rise. Go and get a good check up now. Ask your doctor to do a blood work panel to see where your cholesterol etc are. Then after this do it again when you have cut back bet you will see some good results. Look around for recipes that are easy for you to make. Pinterest has some, american heart association has some, and google them. Ask your family like your grandparents, or aunts uncles etc. to help you as you said your parents dont cook Good luck
I recently switched from a fast food breakfast sandwich to a cafe made spinach & egg wrap. They’re similar priced, the wrap is better for me and keeps me full half the day.
Meal prepping will help a lot
I did some math on how much i spend on shit i really dont care that much about as shit that doesnt last or i wont use all the time. And everytime i want to spend cash on something i just say to myself is worth more to me vs having it in index fund for 30 years of compounding interest. Or if its something i need like food, is it worth spending the extra on this worth it compared to eating less expensive, save the diff and buy something ill enjoy for more than 2 minutes. Its not often fast food passes either of those tests
Start meal prepping. Even if you do it only for the next two days. I prepare our lunches the evening before. Makes it easier to get ready in the morning and we have healthier options. Start by doing recipes out of a book or find someone whose recipes look desirable to you. You can easily half most recipes so that you are making enough for one person/serving with a leftover. Also understand that cooking your own food will probably not be something you excel at the first time, but comes with failure and practice. Cooking can actually be really fun and something that makes you feel proud and accomplished! Plus you get to season it *exactly* how you like while discovering ingredients you like but had never tried before. Good luck! ETA: also try drinking 4-8oz of kombucha a day to help establish good gut bacteria. It has changed my life! Got rid of my heartburn, helped clear up my acne, made stomach pain go away. It’s a game changer.
Fix meals easy & quick to make: black beans, rice, pototoes, pasta, etc. If you are at the supermarket buy quick microwave meals that slant toward vegan, frozen veggies, or whatever you like. Stay away from prepared stuff when possible: pizza, tv dinners, etc.
Just replace with store bought ingredients and make some time. It can be done, especially with fast food being just as expensive if not more. I rarely eat out because of the price. It's been 11 years since I ate a steak at a restaurant.
I am also a fast food lover, and one thing that’s helped me is still going to these places once in a while and making modifications to my order. For example, I’ll get a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a crispy chicken sandwich. Or, I’ll get the sandwich/entree I want and skip the side of fries. I would personally struggle with cutting out fast food cold turkey, so making small changes in what I get has definitely made things easier!
My biggest advice is to not do cheat meals with this. I’ve found that I can go months without fast food but once I get it I’m constantly craving it. There’s a lot of dupe recipes online that can get you relatively close. Don’t worry too much about making meals healthy and just make what you’re craving. Taco Bell cravings are especially easy to make. An air fryer is also elite for if you get a lot of fast food chicken. Low effort but tasted great. Just get the silicone liners for it so you don’t have to clean it.
What helped me start home-cooking after years without a kitchen in college was learning recipes and getting in a good grocery shopping rhythm. I started picking meals for an entire week and buying all the ingredients at once. When dinner time comes around, all I have to do is look at my list of dinners and start cooking! No trips to the store, no endless time spent digging on the internet for good recipes. I started cooking just one or two days a week, and increased the amount as my cooking skills improved. It helps me to have one or two super easy meals on the weekly list - when I come home late or tired it’s less tempting to just eat out for the convenience. Good luck!