h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Help! I have a major sweet tooth and cannot stop eating junk food, ESPECIALLY chocolate. I probably spend more money on the vending machine at school that it cost for me to attend school! I want to stop so that I can be healthier and in better shape, but I can't. Can anyone give me some suggestions?

On your way home, buy some fruit or cheese or whatever for tomorrow's lunchbox. Put any change that you don't need for bus fares or similar into a piggy bank - not the sort you can open.You are , of course, much too proud to borrow money from your friends.

That's a really good idea, unfortunatly, my friend's have all come to know my "I'm dying for some money from the vending machine" look, and donate without being asked. How can I refuse??

I find the best way to stop myself from eating junk food is sleeping in. On the weekend I have been known to sleep in till 2. So I can't have fast food and have to use cherrios as a combination breakfast and lunch. That won't stop you from eating all junk food but it will make it so you eat 2 meals a day instead of 3. Just make sure you don't get so hungry your blood sugar drops and you pauasssssssss....oaut.......(snoring)

Our soft drink machine is on the ground floor; our office is on the 8th. People going to the machine are not "allowed" to use the lift.

Good idea Now all I have to do is get my school to build an extra 7 floors and put the machine as far away from me as possible!

I would suggest rigging up a sort of electric shock device to the vending machine at your school. That way, when you attempt to get some junk food from the machine, you will receive an electric shock, thus creating the negative association of the shock with the purchase of junk food. I would also like to add that it's just tough cookies for the rest of the chocoholics at your school who wish to continue their indulgence. Hope this helps.

I don't think chocolate _is_ junk food, Old Cadbury's ads about a glass and a half of milk in every bar. Dark chocolate has rather less sugarand has recentlyl been pronounced very good for you (not by the people who make it, but some reputatble medic test)It's only really bad for you if you don't clean your teeth or if you're diabetic, (Diabetic chocolate tastes metallic and is totally awfu. It's worth doing some strenuous exercise so that you can have a small bar of the proper stuff)l

Electric shock, huh. Sounds like fun. Just hope it doesn't make the chocolate melt.

That theory is the best that I have heard yet!! I like people who think like you. I'll keep it in mind.

Hi Trillian,

I spent 10 months in college doing an intensive computer course. I found myself covering up my terror at being unable to absorb the material quickly enough, and constantly being under pressure for assignments, with refined sugar from the vending machines; I, too, used a lot of my student loan on candy-bars and pop. This was compounded by being almost immobile through the classes: we sat in front of our Macs most of the time and either built stuff with software, or listened to classes; no energy expended (that, and working 15 hour days to keep up).

Only when I was out of the course was I able to kick the intense "need" for sugar, although I was still covering up emotional states with over-eating. Then, the doctor ordered me to change my dietary habits because I was diagnosed as a borderline diabetic. My diet needed changing anyway, so this was a good motivation.

The upshot of all this is to ask yourself, and your friends, what you might be using the sugar to cover up. And if they're true friends, ask them to deny you the money when/before you ask - this is a form of support for your kicking the habit. Once you figure out what you're covering up through sugar (and this applies to cigarettes, alcohol, sex, and any other kind of dependency) you can work to change the condition, and the addiction should be dramatically reduced.

I know that sounds like a massive, heavy effort, and it might be; it also works. If you're serious about this, check it out.

Fruitbat

I agree _if_ you are sure you're addicted. Far too many young women think they're overweight because the don't look like stick insects. If you're eating a couple of bars a day your body can cope with that. If you're not eating anything else it can't Similarly one soda a day won't harm you, but 10 probably will. More good luck - get into more fruit and more exercise.

This is very true. Perhaps we should establish why you wish to stop eating junk food in the first place - is it the cost factor, your appearance or health concerns, or do you just wish to deprive yourself of things that you enjoy? Maybe there are other reasons...

When I was a student I pretty much lived on chips (of the hot variety) and chocolate bars. Fortunately I managed to offset this diet by studying at a campus which was basically built on the side of a hill. By the time I reached the cafetaria and got back, I would have burned off any calories absorbed.

That's a point I didn't consider; having neither been young, nor a woman, I've not had that problem (aside from being chronically annoyed at not looking like Adonis). I don't know WHAT to suggest now....

Fruitbat