Something other people said on a post about pizza got me thinking – how do you all handle temptation of various foods? What works for you?

For me, depending on the circumstances, I find that sometimes avoidance works, sometimes subsitution works and sometimes indulgence works. However, for the most part, avoidance with the occasional indulgence seems to work best for me.

For example, with pizza and me, substitution of “healthier pizza” just doesn’t work. I feel deprived and find myself craving the real thing. So my method is avoidance, but every so often indulgence. If I don’t indulge in pizza every so often, I am more apt to fall of the wagon and binge on it in the future.

However, with Mexican food , I find substitution works. I feel very satisfied making my own healthy beans, quality meat, avocado, greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I don’t feel deprived.

I used to eat a lot of junky low cal snacks and treats. I have learned that this doesn’t work for me. I end up eating too much non-nutritious junk and don’t feel satisfied. Plus I find that sugar cannot be a regular part of my life if I want to avoid binging and abusing food. My new method is to indulge in a small piece of high quality chocolate here and there, and every so often indulge in high quality dessert. I never bother with crappy substitutions. However, this has made me sort of a dessert snob – I think “is this really worth it?” and would never touch something like a crappy store made cookie. But my dad just came into town and made homemade cannollis – to me, that is worth it! Being a dessert snob works well for me.

What are your thoughts on the balance between avoidance, substitution and indulgence? What works for you? What tricks have you discovered?

Basically i do it by becoming obsessed with calorie counts. In other words, I CAN have anything i want...but i want to get the most bang for my buck (calorie-wise), so i just don't even want those high-calorie foods anymore. Sure, pizza would taste really good right now, but would i rather have a tiny slice of pizza, or a huge piece of grilled chicken? When it comes to food, i'm all about quantity...so i'd rather have something that i can have a large quantity of.

It's gotten to the point where i don't even want to go out to restaurants anymore. I'd rather sit down at home to a huge plate of chicken and veggies, than sit in a restaurant and worry about how many calories are in the plate of pasta and what fraction of the plate i am allowed to eat. (Yes, i know you can order healthy in a restaurant too...but it's harder to do). It's kind of bad...i'm almost antisocial because of it

Yeah , the "its not worth it approach" can be really good. My equivalent is that I am also doing this for health and to cure a headache problem. So if things have "weird" ingredients (as a lot of unhealthy food does), I think ..."I don't want to poison my body with that." The mantra of looking at certain foods as poison has worked well for me.

I don't have any health issues like that...HOWEVER, my huge thing is BLOATING. I bloat soooo easily. So anything that is overly processed, i really shy away from...not so much because of the calories, but because i know i will suffer days of bloat from it! Not worth it! Even though i know the bloat will go away eventually, i'm not that patient! This is a huge reason why i don't like eating in restaurants

I do all of the above: avoidance, substitution, and indulgence.

I like potato chips, the real thing. I can't eat them often. I don't buy them - or EVEN THE SUBSTITUTES - in big bags where I am responsible for measuring portions. Avoidance.

At home, I keep single-serve bags of things like pop chips or baked chips and have them a bit more often than I have real potato chips, though not super regularly. Substitution.

Occasionally - I have a few chips. At someone else's house, when they are being served with lunch. Or when I go to Panera. There I ALWAYS get a bag of their real chips with my meal. Indulgence.

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That's true for all my other trigger-ish foods, like pizza or ice cream or nuts. I don't keep them at home. I'll never order take-out pizza. I will make pita pizzas sometimes and find them delicious. I never keep ice cream or nuts in the house. Avoidance.

I'll make pita pizzas sometimes, and keep ice cream substitutions (like Arctic Zero, which isn't great honestly so I don't eat much of it, or popscicles, or whatever) at home. In the winter my 'ice cream' substitute is usually diet hot chocolate, but still, it serves the same purpose. Substitution.

If they are serving pizza at my volunteer gig for lunch, or if friends want to order something, I make sure it is worthwhile and eat a piece or two (depending on the size and the crust). My parents have the BEST pizzaria near them, and I remind them that I don't want any to take home, then eat two whole pieces of veggie or cheese pizza if they are serving it. I eat a small 'real' dessert about once a week, which is pretty often if you ask me, and that is sometimes ice cream. Indulgence.

I'm also a calorie counter, and generally I let myself have anything. However, I'm obviously thinking about how that will impact on my day's calories and whether it's really worth it if I have to cut down elsewhere. More often than not the answer is no, it's not worth it, so I don't bother. It tends to be the smaller treats that get the yes answer, like a few squares of chocolate. So despite the fact that I love Ben and Jerry's ice cream and full fat cheesecake, I can't really justify the calories to myself anymore.

Oh...there are however some things that i try to substitute for. I don't think anything could substitute for pizza. But for sweets (i have a HUGE sweet tooth) i try to find something that is moderately sweet, but not quite as addicting. Like protein bars, or healthy-ish cereal. Neither of those two things are particularly healthy, but they help satisfy my sweet tooth, AND they're not so delicious that i will overeat them. I can't be trusted around a cake...a "serving" would be several slices...but i find substitutes that i won't overeat

I definitely avoid. I do some substitution, but not as much as I once did. I do indulge once in a while, but only in very controlled situations (restaurants, parties, not at home).

I also use the over-powering-flavor trick when I can. For instance, just the other day, my husband brought home half a cherry pie. He ate half of that, and left the rest on the counter. I'm not one for pie filling, but I LOVE crust. I ate just a nibble of the crust, and immediately realized it was a mistake.

I thought of what I could do to head off an off-plan choice. I ate a dill pickle. The craving completely broke.

Pickles, cough drops, Listerine strips... they can be VERY helpful in heading off cravings.

Synger, that's a great trick!

I use all 3 methods.

Substitution: I make homemade pizzas with wheat flat bread, sauce, cheese, turkey pepperoni and lots of veggies.

Also, I cut up potatoes and sprinkle them with garlic infused olive oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic salt and pepper and I bake them. (Homemade french fries: SOOO YUMMY!)

Indulgence: I'll indulge in cookies or things like that. I just account for them in my calories/points.

Avoidance: I don't think I have anything on my avoidance list right now. But, in the past, I have found myself unable to control myself around Cheez-Its, pretzels, crackers and things like that. But, things like that ebb and flow with me.