Everyday Systems

I love junk food. For me it is worse than a sweet. Has anybody tried taking junk food (fast food, chips, pizza, etc.) and making it an S day only food? Or will this be too constricting?

In my limited experience, the "three MEALS" component of no-s kind of takes kind of takes care of my junk food consumption. Personally, I just don't have the guts to fill a sizeable portion of my plate with junk. I am only going to get three plates of food a day, so I have to plan ahead so I don't get scurvy or something...

I guess what I mean is this. At some point in my life I ate 2/3 of a bag of fried pork rinds at a single setting. In our culture, that is thought to be somewhat normal behavior, especially if one is watching a ball game or something. But, I just don't have the chutzpah to dump half my plate full of pork rinds. People would think that I had lost my mind, or that my liver was going to fail...

brotherjohn wrote:But, I just don't have the chutzpah to dump half my plate full of pork rinds.

I do! But not very often. Living on junk food is often its own punishment, in my experience. If it's a problem, make it an 'S.' Otherwise, don't. You could always try for a while and see if it makes a difference.

I have some junk-food cravings too, but in my experience junk-food binges are self-correcting: they make me feel so foul that I tend to stay away for a while after that.

So, what is the problem you're having with junk food exactly? Is it that it's around the house and you're tempted to snack on it, or that it's hard to stop eating once you start and you want seconds, or what? If having the stuff around the house is a problem, you might want to eat junk food only in controlled portions, from fast-food places. But if you're eating one plate of it at meals and that's it, I wouldn't beat myself up about it. I think it's perfectly OK to make a meal of a burger and fries, or pizza (in controlled portions), from time to time.

I avoid fast food anyway, even on S days. I don't think pizza is necessarily junk food; it's actually not terribly unhealthy depending on what's on it and how much of it you eat - and what you eat with it. Then there's the salty things. I don't consider chips or fries an "S" food if there are some on a plate with a sandwich. I do consider them "S" foods if I want to eat a whole bag of them for a snack or a meal. My solution is to keep them out of my home (or car) except for special occasions.

If the stuff is around the house and tempting you, get rid of it! Don't use the excuse that the kids or the spouse will miss it and complain. They don't need it any more than you do!

I guess for salty snack foods, my answer is yes, to keep them for S days. Fast foods and salty or sweet snack foods originally weren't meant to be consumed regularly. We just started eating them that way for any number of reasons.

I found NoS fairly self-regulating. You can have McDonalds for every meal (no soft drink), but it won't be long before you don't want it for every meal.

On the other hand, I try to keep some variety in my life, so if I start eating at Maccas (or having muffins for breakfast, or kyudon for lunch) every few days, I try and limit myself to a certain number of visits just so it doesn't become a habit.