Because my goal was to have a diet that I can live with the rest of my life, I did not think that I could completely leave out my favorite foods. Therefore, I allowed myself 150 calories a day for junk. Now I find that I don't need or want that everyday. I still have my baked Cheetos, 130 calories/ounce, a couple of times a week. I have sugar free pudding for 60 calories for a little cup. I have tried Skinny Cow products but I never want just one so I can not keep them all the time.

The best thing is that my taste has been changing. I find that I want fruit as my treats most of the time.

now i binge on multigrain sushi = /...so long as its in my calorie limit..but i now try to have fruits as a treat. i can't have other foods because i know i can't just have one.

I look for textures and try to substitute what I know will work for me. For example, I need something grainy and crunchy in the evenings, so for chips I eat Fiber One or Corn Chex cereal (I like it dry :D). I love chocolate and I find that a serving of dark chocolate chips or a few squares of really good dark chocolate do the trick. I agree that it's finding the right foods, though. I've tried doing an apple for the "crunch" factor at night but it doesn't work for me. Somehow, an apple is more of a mid-morning snack, not a night snack.

Tam

i add my own fresh toppings to a lean cusine pizza

actually I don't understand how you can talk about a substitute for a favourite binge food... if I binge, it doesn't really matter what I eat, what I use to stuff my face :( It's not something I can control to the level that I choose to eat something instead of something else. And actually it doesn't really make a difference :(

BUT, if you are talking about substitute for cravings... well, I found out that drinking an herbal tea really fulfill me and push the craving away :carrot:
I also tried to use fruits when I have the desire of something sweet... but it doesn't really work, sometimes I end up eating "too much" fruits and feeling anyway deprived of my sweet craving :dizzy:

I've been trying to add a snack in to my daily amounts that may or may not be healthy. So, yesterday I counted out a cheestos serving and put in a bag. Throughout the day I ate one: knowing I could eat Cheestos 16 times throughout the day (ie 16 pieces). It seemed to work. Instead of only getting to eat it all at once, I got many more times to eat. Pacing out the trigger food might be my strategy for a while. It also helped that my kids saw the bag and finished it so I wouldn't have ANY possible option of adding to my 16 pieces.

Like said by others, I don't think it's realistic for me to eliminate my trigger foods. I need to remind myself of my own abilities to control and then figure out tricks and strategies for helping me strengthen up.

I used to binge on nacho chips. I'd usually eat them right before bed which was horrible.
Now I will have a snack of a plain rice cake with a little bit of peanut butter smeared on with chopped banana on top. Soooo good. Way better then nacho chips by far. :D

If I'm truly, truly hungry then I let myself have a reasonable portion of whatever it is I'm craving. Not a "tiny" bit, but whatever will satisfy my hunger, or else I'll obsess about it and end up eating way too much. That old saying that something really calorie-dense and delicious doesn't taste as good after the first couple of bites really is true.

Foods I tend to binge on are weird--I have strange taste buds. I would rather have 500 calories worth of fat-free cottage cheese than ice cream any day, but 500 calories are 500 calories no matter what way you slice it. If all else fails, I just don't keep that food around me. I've recently gotten a lot better at admitting to myself when I know I can stay in control and when I know I can't.

It's all about the introspection bebe.

I found something way better than the whole grain pasta. I was watching the Food Channel and they were showing a new pasta that is being made now. The company is Dream Fields pasta and this stuff tastes the same as "regular" pasta. There are only 5 grams of carbs! It's a dream come true - because I love pasta, grew up on it and don't want to do without. They have online coupons, you can order it on netrition.com and you won't have the regrets after enjoying a nice bowl full.

I've found Bryer's Carb Smart ice cream to be awesome! They've managed to put all the flavor with only 4 grams of carbs per serving. There are only 3 flavors right now though, vanilla, butter pecan and rocky road. Problem is, you need a good grocer to carry them. Some only carry vanilla and no matter what they stock they don't stay in stock very long!

Enjoy

Used to be sugar free jello, then low carb yogurt. Now its boiled eggs.

For fast foods, I studied the calorie counts in the items I tended to get, and knowing how many fat and calories I would be eating helps me say no. I have some things that are ok for me to eat, like Wendy's chili, S&S marinated chicken breast sandwich, Mcds side salad, wendys oriental chicken without the dressing. I'm on the road a lot for work. I try to bring my own food with me but sometimes I don't. For desserts the skinny cow ice cream bars and sugar free pudding cups have seen me through many hard times.

Boiled eggs?? Really? That's interesting.

I've been able to stop eating fast foods and other unhealthy snacks, but then the problem for me became binging on healthy-ish snacks, like Kashi cereal or Fiber One. It's not as bad as binging on chips or cookies because they have some semblance of nutrition, but still, calories are calories. Sometimes I'd just eat an entire box of Kashi in one sitting! It's horrible. :[ Too many carbs... So now I've resorted to eating as much veggies as I want at dinner, and snacking on fruits instead. Yesterday, I think I binged on broccoli, carrots, and fruit... but it made me full, and it wasn't as fattening as eating other junk foods, I guess. :/

Cult, I had a serious affair with fast-food. Yep, I cut it out completely. I will be honest here and tell you that now I do not miss it--not at all--never on any day. Once it's out of your system and your body is satiated with wonderful things, the love affair seems (at least for me) to wain. It almost seems like to indulge in them here or there makes it much more difficult.