Home Alone :( how to resist the temptation?
 

I've never been a fan of dieting, I simply do not believe in them, they are all about guilt and restriction and that's simply not how I want to live my life. someone once told me a very eye opening thing, which really put this all into perspective for me: 'We do not live to eat, we eat to live'. And so I never spend my time obsessing over calories and content, I'm am happier when I just keep in tune with my body and eat when i'm hungry, generally making healthy choices but not punishing myself when I reach for the chocolate.
However when home alone (which is often) I do get in the habit of not only eating a chocolate bar but having a complete binge. I swear I sometimes eat enough sugar to kill and elephant :S This is just as unhealthy as being on a diet (no offense to those on diets) and i'm eager to nip it in the bud.
Have you any tips that will prevent me from binging?

Edit: looking back on this I realise it should probably be in Food Talk section.

Keep to a minimum anything that could be a treat. Buy the single serving size M&Ms instead of a pound bag, that sort of thing.

Maybe you need to get the sweets out of your house. If you don't buy them and they aren't in your cupboards, you won't be tempted to pig out on them.

A few things that work for me...

- Like Dani said, just get the sweets out of the house. What you can't control are your triggers; you can't stop eating them once you start. So get rid of them.

- It takes time when eating clean before you lose your cravings for sweets. But it does happen, so just hang in there.

- Learn to eat "healthy snacks".

- Read up on the Nutritional Values of the unhealthy snacks. Reading that 1 Twinkie has 150 calories and a few grams of saturated fat may in fact dissuade you from eating it again, especially when considering how important your health goal is to you.

- Find a substitute for your triggers, and although it's not your 'favorite' snack, it's a good-bad substitute. For example, I was hooked on M & M's and Oreos. Never much of a hard candy person. But those two things have always been my triggers, so they had to go. I now substitute a Werthers hard candy for those times where I absolutely feel like I need some sugar. One piece is only 23 calories and it lasts a long time, easily controlled as well. So hard candy as a substitute has worked well for me.

Oh if only it where that simple, being only 18 I still live with my parents, my mum buys all the food and no matter how much I have begged her not to she always buys food I shouldn't eat :(

That's a tough one. The best you can hope for is they store the food in one cupboard, out of your site. That way you're not constantly seeing it and this will help reduce the temptation (out of site, out of mind). And ask them nicely not to eat the junk when you're around; if they do, you'll just have to walk into another room or go out.

I still struggle with the compulsion to "sneak" junk when I am home alone -- it was a habit of mine before I changed my lifestyle to wait until no one could see me eat and then gorge out. It wasn't sweets for me, it was chips and salty snacks, but it's all the same compulsion.

You'd think I'd be over it, but over a year later, when I find myself alone in the house (or sometimes even alone in the kitchen when other people are in other rooms and can't see/hear me) my first thought is "What can I get away with eating?"

I've learned to push that thought out of my head and 9 out of 10 times I succeed. Getting rid of the junk helps a lot since it's not there for you to "get away with eating" but even in the absence of junk I've gorged on healthier fare and still gone over my eating limits.

I found that for me, when I find myself alone, the best thing to do is to GET BUSY. I start cleaning, or I go out for a walk, or I work on a craft. Maybe I start reorganizing pictures. Anything that keeps me from being idle and gravitating towards the kitchen. Maybe if you find yourself home alone, it would be a great time to work out, or read a good book without noise surrounding you (if you aren't likely to snack while reading, anyway). Also, if you feel yourself starting to think about what you'd like to eat, I'll actually shout out loud "NO!" to my brain. It sounds crazy - but hey, you're home alone, who's going to listen? :D

It's tough being at home with parents or anyone else who doesn't comply with your wishes on food, but there's always a choice you can make for your good health, even if you don't realize it at first.

Good luck to you!

Everyone's on a diet, some are on better diets than others. Calories matter, you should find out what you need to eat in a certain range and stay there. You're young so you probably need more than someone older but still you have fit day at your disposal, so no reason not to at least track what you're eating. If you are home alone and give in to temptation just log it into your food log like you would anything else, it will show you the damage done so you can know how much you have to compensate later.

what to do when bored that will actually help
 

Yoga- I do Christian Yoga since I'm Christian. Pray while you do it. Start with the breathing techniques and do some centering prayer. Breath in through your mouth, out through your nose and then in and out of your nose after that using deep diaphramatic breaths. If you don't know yoga yet and just want to get started- try sitting with good posture and breath in and out to the count of four- breath in slowly 1,2,3,4 breathout out slowly 1,2,3,4 and do this five times. Notice how your body feels while you are doing that. Afterwards say a prayer of thanks for your body and tell God you are planning to nurture it as it is a temple of his love.

Go get a yoga tape and keep it up on a grander scale. This practice will bring your mind peace, bring you closer to God and will prevent you from eating from impulse. Let God help you on your way.

this has been show to work through research by the way- I'm not a guru- I'm a trauma therapist that stumbled upon the research, slapped myself in the head and said "Oh, you mean we don't have to talk about feelings to feel better?" and laughed out loud- years of schooling wasted. Just kidding- my skills have purpose, but this actually works and I use it. :) Kath

It's possible you should obtain the sugars through your home. Unless you purchase for them plus they are not as part of your pantry shelves, you won't possibly be silly enough to pig from these.