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How to Stop Trigger Foods from Sabotaging Your Healthy Diet

An image of someone eating many different pastriesDo you find that you manage to eat well until youā€™re presented with a specific type of food? And that once you see that food, you canā€™t stop eating it, and end up eating other foods that arenā€™t good for you? These foods that seem to open the door for unhealthy eating habits are known as trigger foods. When you eat them, they can leave you feeling completely out of control, as if you canā€™t stop eating. And afterward, you probably feel awful and want to prevent that situation from ever occurring again.

If youā€™re trying to eat healthy so that you can be healthy, the foods that trigger you are a major factor in sabotaging your efforts. Thatā€™s why you need to learn how to identify and conquer your trigger foods.

What Are Trigger Foods?

Eating isnā€™t just for survival for many people. Sure, you need to eat to live. But many of us eat for other reasons as well. Food addiction is very real, and itā€™s all because of the way your brain functions.

Looking at or thinking about a food you enjoy activates the reward segment of your brain. This part is known as the nucleus accumbens, and itā€™s the same part of the brain thatā€™s stimulated by drugs and alcohol. This stimulation prompts the release of the hormone known as dopamine, which lifts your mood and makes you feel good. This is why you may find yourself reaching for your favorite comfort food when youā€™ve had a bad day.

This activation of the pleasure center of the brain can cause you to crave certain foods, overeat, gain weight, and even develop metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes. And often, these effects begin with trigger foods. These foods are basically like gateway drugs. The rush of dopamine you get when you eat them is addictive and makes you feel out of control, as if you canā€™t stop eating. And this can wreak havoc on your diet and health.

What Happens After Eating Trigger Foods

But the real problem with eating trigger foods is what happens after eating them. That first bite engages all of your senses and causes your nervous system to release insulin, dropping your blood glucose levels. Your stomach muscles also relax, which will make it hard for you to tell if youā€™ve had enough.

These effects occur with fatty foods because of their saturated fat content. Saturated fats lower your brainā€™s ability to regulate appetite and cravings, and the effects can last up to three days or until the fats are flushed from your body. So, if you find yourself eating poorly for days after a binge of your favorite trigger foods, this is why.

And then you have the sugar content, which increases ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates your appetites and cravings. So, when you combine the feel-good endorphins you get from eating, the increased appetite from sugar, and the decreased ability to feel how full you are, you have the perfect storm for a massive binge that may seriously impact your health and your healthy eating habits.

The Health Impact of Binge Eating

You probably already know that unhealthy eating is not good for you. But the food binges that often accompany eating trigger foods can have some unique effects on your body such as:

Common Trigger Foods

Chances are that you already know what your trigger foods are. If youā€™re like most people, then you can probably identify the foods that weaken your willpower and are impossible to resist. Hereā€™s a list of some of the most common food that may trigger your poor eating habits:

  • Bacon
  • Soda
  • Potato chips
  • Fries
  • Burgers
  • Pizza
  • Doughnuts
  • Cookies
  • Ice Cream
  • Chocolate

How to Get Control Over Your Trigger Foods

With a little planning, it may not be as hard as you think to take control of your consumption of trigger foods. Hereā€™s how to get started:

Keep a Journal

An image of a page of someone's food diaryFirst of all, to get control of your eating habits, you need to know where the problems are. Chances are that youā€™re not eating your problem foods all the time, just in specific circumstances, so you need to be aware of whatā€™s setting off your eating habits. Cravings can be brought on by:

  • Work, relationship, or financial stress
  • Strong emotions
  • PMS
  • Anxiety
  • Dehydration
  • Hormonal imbalances
  • Fatigue
  • Low blood sugar
  • Nutrient imbalances

By keeping a journal of what you eat, your cravings, and what might be bringing them on in your life at the time, you can identify whatā€™s triggering your unhealthy eating.

Distract Yourself

It sounds simple, but sometimes a distraction can help when you have cravings. Thinking about food uses up mental energy, so if you use that energy for something else, there will be less space to think about food. Try doing some kind of mental exercise when the cravings hit like sudoku, math, or meditation, and see if it helps. Or try making a list of chores or tasks to complete to stay busy.

Hide the Triggers

Of course, the best way to not eat your trigger foods is to not have them. Fill your fridge and pantry with healthy choices and hide or just donā€™t buy the foods that trigger you.

But Donā€™t Forbid the Triggers

You should never try to completely forbid a trigger food, though. This will only turn it into a forbidden fruit and make it seem even more tempting and difficult to resist. Instead, allow the food in the portion you choose, occasionally, so you can practice eating a small portion of it but not binging. You can also try getting a kind of trigger food you don't like as much, because that is easier to exercise self-control over.

Start Again Afterwards

If you have a binge night in front of the television, then donā€™t take that as an excuse to abandon your diet. Instead, remind yourself of your long-term goal and start your diet again with the next meal as if nothing happened.

Interrupt the Binge

If you just canā€™t stop yourself from taking a few bites of pizza or a cookie, then try switching to a healthier snack once youā€™ve started eating. This means you get a burst of the flavor you want, but if you swap to fruit afterward, youā€™re less likely to overeat it while still indulging your senses. Try swapping it out for a high fiber food that is filling and has a similar flavor profile (sweet, salty, etc.).

Eat Mindfully

When you binge eat, you probably arenā€™t even really aware of what youā€™re eating. It may taste good at first, but after a while, youā€™re just automatically putting the food in your mouth without really tasting or enjoying it. Instead, try to eat mindfully when you do eat something tasty or not as good for you. Choose a small portion, sit down, and focus on the tastes and sensations of every bite. By focusing mindfully, youā€™ll actually enjoy your treat more and may not crave as much of it.

Consequences of An Unhealthy Diet and Stress

An unhealthy diet puts you at the mercy of nutritional deficiencies, foods that cause inflammation, and even dangerous chemicals and hormones. All of these things put physical stress on your body systems, which is a key cause of Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS).

When youā€™re stressed, your NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) stress response cues your adrenal glands to produce cortisol, the stress hormone. This hormone prompts changes throughout your body that help you cope with stress. And once the hormone levels decrease again, when the stress is over, all these changes are reversed, and the body goes back to its normal functioning again.

An image of the adrenal glandsBut when you have AFS, this return to normal doesnā€™t occur. Chronic stress causes ongoing high cortisol levels, so the NEM stress response must remain active. And over time, this can cause the adrenal glands to malfunction due to the high workload. The high cortisol levels and resulting changes in the body can also cause malfunctions throughout the body.

An unhealthy diet, or one thatā€™s filled with binges because of trigger foods, can play a major role in bringing on this condition. That also means that gaining control of your eating habits is pivotal to enjoying better health.

Inflammation and Trigger Foods

One way major way eating unhealthy foods causes problems is through causing inflammation. The Inflammation Circuit includes the gut, the immune system, and the microbiome, or the bacteria that live in your body. Inflammation is designed to help protect your body from invaders. But when you have low levels of chronic inflammation, it can actually be very damaging and has been linked to everything from cancer to heart disease.

Chronic inflammation occurs during AFS because of immune system overactivation and malfunction, gut problems, and bacterial imbalances. And one very big cause of all of these issues is a poor diet. Foods high in sugar and trans fats, for example, cause imbalances in the gut bacteria, leading to an overload of toxins that can then leak out and cause inflammation throughout your body.

When you eat fatty, sugary, or processed foods to excess, hereā€™s how it may affect your Inflammation Circuit:

The Gut

Low-quality foods can upset your stomach, leading to diarrhea or stomach cramps. This may lead to ongoing gut problems like reflux, constipation, diarrhea, or gas. If you have AFS, then these ongoing gut problems will cause more inflammation and stress.

The Microbiome

Sugary and unhealthy foods can prompt the growth of bad bacteria, which can then overgrow the good bacteria. This can lead to infections and impact digestion, nutrient absorption, and elimination. And because of the close link between the gut and the brain, as the gut and microbiome degrade in health, it may also impact your mental health as well.

It can also lead to a leaky gut. This condition occurs when the gut lining becomes permeable, allowing substances to pass from the gut back into the bloodstream. These substances can be very toxic, prompting the immune system to activate and attack, prompting widespread inflammation.

The Immune System

The bacterial overgrowth and gut problems that can occur because of eating the wrong foods also impact your immune system. This is the system that activates to deal with toxins by causing inflammation. It can become chronically activated, overworking itself and reducing its efficiency.Ā The result is infections that your body canā€™t fight off and increased susceptibility to cancer, autoimmunity, and allergies.

The Takeaway

Trigger foods can undo all the good work youā€™ve done changing your diet. And the only way to avoid the influence of these tempting foods is to acknowledge them and plan to avoid them. Hereā€™s a quick guide to conquering your trigger foods:

  1. Keep a journal so that you can track which foods affect you.
  2. Try to avoid the triggers without outright forbidding them.
  3. Talk to a medical professional about your eating habits if youā€™re having a lot of trouble.

For more help choosing healthier eating habits, talk to our team at +1 (626) 571-1234 or click here.

Ā© Copyright 2022 Michael Lam, M.D. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. Lamā€™s Key Question

Trigger foods are unhealthy foods that are gateways to poor eating habits. Basically, itā€™s very hard to say no to these foods. And once you eat them, youā€™ll probably find yourself devouring a whole range of other poor food choices until you feel quite sick!

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