November 20, 2007 by Kavit Haria

How to replace your addiction of the Big Mac

Does your stomach rumble and give you an uncontrollable craving every time you drive past McDonald’s and smell the burgers cooking? The Big Mac sandwich, one of McDonald’s signature sandwiches, consists of two all beef patties, lettuce, cheese, onions, pickles, and special sauce, all on a sesame seed bun.

McDonald’s has estimated that roughly 550 million Big Macs are sold in the United States alone each year. That’s about 17 per second! Do you know what else the Big Mac sandwich contains? This greasy, half-pound burger has a calorie count of 540, which is 28% of the USRDA! The calories from fat alone are a whopping 270!

Eaten now and then, this sandwich doesn’t pose a health problem for most. However, the consumption of the Big Mac has become an addiction for some people. Are there ways to break this addiction and eat healthier foods?

Addictions form slowly, over a period of time, are performed repeatedly, and can be difficult to break. However, it is possible to break addictions like drinking, smoking, overeating or gambling. The first step to overcoming your addiction is to admit you have a problem and to understand why it is that you do it. Then, you need to be motivated to stop the habit. Do your best to replace the negative behavior with positive behaviors. For example, if food is an addiction, slowly replace your unhealthy choices with healthier ones, until after some time, you’ll be emotionally free of the foods that are detrimental to you.

Make positive lifestyle changes. If you crave a Big Mac, don’t even enter McDonald’s - go somewhere else to eat! It’s important to have an accountability partner or a support system of friends and family in place when fighting any negative habit. When you make healthy or positive choices, make sure to reward yourself with something totally unrelated, such as a new shirt, book or CD.

There are several other restaurants that offer healthy, fulfilling and delicious choices in sandwiches, soups, salads, and entrees. Subway stores offer sandwiches that have as little as 6 grams of fat and yet are packed with veggies, cheese and meat on your choice of a white or whole wheat hoagie bun. A bag of baked chips and bottled water or milk makes for a healthy and filling meal.

Applebee’s is a fantastic choice with lunch and dinner-size salads, whole grains and steamed vegetables available on the menu. Today’s restaurants, whether sit-down or fast food, truly offer healthy options. Baked potatoes, whole grain breads, fruit, side salads, soups, grilled chicken or fish sandwiches and yogurt are just a few of the delicious and healthy choices available to us. We must purpose to choose foods that are nutritious instead of choosing the greasy burger every day.

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Posted to: Mental Health, Weight Loss

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