[happy711]

I might be too young to go on a diet, but I still want to loose weight. I am so tempted by everything around me like chocolate and today I even baked cookies and cupcakes. I play soccer which helps but I just do not want to be tempted anyone and know when I should stop eating. Any suggestions/

[Santi]

How old are you? Going on a strict diet may not be the best idea if your body is still growing, but what I am going to suggest may sound strict if you are used to eating cupcakes and cookies.

Firstly, it is important to keep in mind that the body craves whatever we put in it. Everything from chocolate and cookies, drugs and alcohol, and yes, even leafy greens.

The second you tell yourself you "can't" have something, you want it. If I told you to sit in a chair and think about anything in the world you want to, except I tell you not to think about a monkey, what do you think you will think about? A monkey of course. The same holds true with food restriction. It takes incredible will power to tell ourselves we aren't going to eat something and stick to it for a significant amount of time.

That being said, it might be helpful to focus on inclusion, rather than exclusion. What this means is that instead of saying, "i'm never going to eat something sweet again," eat a large salad full of dark leafy greens (no iceberg lettuce please!), such as kale, collards, spinach, arugula, etc. before you eat something sweet, then wait 15 minutes. After that, if you want something sweet, have half of what you normally would eat of that particular sweet and give the rest to someone else.

The reason for suggesting dark leafy greens is not just because everyone knows salad is good for us. It is, but the main factor to consider in your situation is WHY you are craving sweet food. The body craves sweets when it is mineral deficient. This could be just one mineral, such as magnesium or calcium, or it could be a vast array of minerals (more likely the case).

So, before loading up on sweets, which your body is tricking you into thinking that is what it wants, be sure to get loaded up on minerals. It would be wise to take a high quality liquid mineral supplement in addition to adding more greens to your diet.

Main key is, if you don't want to be tempted by sweets, you have to change your body's internal constitution (meaning what is primarily floating around in your bloodstream). If you eat a lot of sweets, sweets are the primary driving force in your blood, meaning... you are going to crave sweets. On the flip side of the coin, if you decide to take control of your life and give your body what it actually needs to thrive on (organic fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds, seaweeds, grains and legumes) then eventually that will be what your body craves (plus you will look incredible with a radiant glow to boot).

In the end, the choice is yours.

[N0help4u]

I heard one time that if you eat protein it helps to get over sugar cravings. I guess partly due to what Santi is saying. The healthier you eat the easier it is to forget about the sweets and junk food. Eat healthy that is the main thing.

[oneguyinohio]

No age is too young to eat properly. You don't have to focus on denial, but on getting the right things as others have already said. Watch out for those empty calories that come from all that sugar and don't give your body much that it needs.

[SeleneFN]

Slowly train yourself to love healthy food and find junk food disgusting. Every time I think I have to run some 2 hours to burn of a slice of cheesecake, I think it is a waste of my precious time. Now I hate junk and fattening foods. The only thing I think of when I see fattening and sugary foods is fat and failure.

When you are craving food, try drinking some diet soda. It's sweet and it makes you feel full at least for awhile, until you can take your mind off the chocolate and candy.

Persephone
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Life and Death of a Model