I wanted to talk to you about what drinks may trigger eating junk food snacks you know you shouldn’t. For example, if you drink wine, coffee and tea, these can cause hunger for the wrong foods. What we need are alternative healthy snack ideas to help us avoid eating our favorite addicting junk foods.

Wine, tea and coffee are acidic. Our bodies naturally have an alkaline pH. These three can cause an acid stomach or acid reflux. This can also fool your stomach making you feel you are hungry.

Alcohol and caffeine can alter your blood sugar and you will seek out all those forbidden junk and snack foods to eat that are oily, salty and sugary. I always got hungry with anything that had alcohol or caffeine.

You will likely want to eat refined carbs that make you gain weight. To name a few, these empty calorie snacks are cookies, doughnuts, crackers and chips. What’s the work around?

You must prepare yourself. You either can’t have these items in your house or the willpower not to drink or eat them. It’s easier though, if they are not there in the first place to tempt you.

When you get hungry (because of the hunger triggers caffeine or alcohol,) your mind will play tricks on you and before you know it you will open that bag of chips or other salty, oily and sugary snack.

Healthy snack ideas…

• Homemade potato chips
• Roasted red bell pepper hummus
• Microwave popcorn
• Homemade baked French fries

If you want to stop drinking coffee, black tea or green tea has much less caffeine. But, black tea has more caffeine than green tea. It also helps if you can limit drinking these to one glass or one cup each day (including wine.) Can we do this? To be honest, I never could.

I had to stop doing all of them at once, because one thing led to another. And, then all of a sudden out comes the chips and dip and buttered salted popcorn, etc.! Maybe, it’s because I’m a man. More of something good is always better!

So, it seems I always have to wrestle with my ‘past food craving addictions’ when others around me start eating the wrong foods. I don’t know if one can ever get over it. Best not to have those tempting snacks within reach!

Disown family? Probably not. All you can do is set a good example with mom, pop and siblings. But, is it time to change ‘junk food eating friends’ to those who will support your healthier way of eating?

What works for me is substituting healthy things for the unhealthy. I also never go to the store and shop hungry. That’s my number one rule for me. It might work good for you, too. In the real world, we buy the wrong foods when we go to the store hungry.

Furthermore, make sure to get rid of all the junk and snack foods you have left. These are those empty calorie foods that make you gain weight. You know which ones they are. I know it’s not easy to stop eating these.

They are designed to be addictive. I know what you are going through. We always remember which cupboard door to open to find them in the ‘wee’ hours of the night. But, you can succeed by slowly changing your eating habits over time to plant-based whole foods.

Note- before you change your diet contact your doctor.