Your 7 Step Practical Tactics to End the Junk Food Cycle

By Dylan J. England | Health, Fitness & Development Coach

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Have you ever thought to yourself, I just can’t resist the snacking, the chips, the cookies, or the ice cream?

That feeling of powerlessness when you open a bag of snacks is frustratingly common, and here’s a secret: It’s not entirely your fault.

Processed foods, commonly, are explicitly designed to be very palatable and irresistible. In our modern lives, it seems like there’s no context that’s not right for crunching on cheap, delicious junk food… in the car, at your desk, or standing over the kitchen sink.

Once that package is open, most people end up eating much more than they meant to. By pairing perfectly-engineered flavors with emotionally appealing marketing, food manufacturers devise products that make us feel powerless.

But here’s the good news: It is possible to beat the system and take back control.

Step 1: The Craving Code:

Barrier: How often do we keep the indulgence to one handful… just a taste? Once that package is open, most people end up eating more than they meant to. Much more. Especially with a larger portion presented in front of us.

It Matters: The food industry has expertly created products that bypass our internal “stop eating” signals. They are masters of the “Bliss Point”—the precise, engineered combination of salt, sugar, and fat that makes the food perfectly delicious, without any one element dominating the flavor. This sensory experience is one our brains are hardwired to want more of, even when our bodies don’t need the fuel.

Food is also designed now to mitigate hedonism, where there are multiple phases and profiles to taking a single snack item now. Allowing us to feel the urge to eat more.

Strategies to try:

Take Away: Recognize that the enemy is not your lack of willpower, but the intentional design of the food itself. Shift the blame from your character to the chemistry.

Take Away: Understand that the immediate rush you feel is a dopamine hit (a chemical reaction), not genuine satisfaction. This rush leads to the inevitable crash and desire for more.

Take Away: Frame this entire challenge as beating a sophisticated system designed to keep you hooked, not a personal moral failing you must overcome through sheer grit.

Pro Tip: Next time you crave something intensely, pause and label it in your mind: “This is the Bliss Point working on my brain, not genuine hunger.” Naming the mechanism takes away its power.

Step 2: Stopping the Vicious Circle of Guilt

Barrier: It’s creating a vicious circle of cravings, guilt, and feeling out-of-control. Not to mention poor health.

It Matters: The immediate pleasure of junk food is quickly followed by feelings of guilt, shame, or failure. Ironically, these negative emotions are often the very thing that drives us straight back to comfort eating. To break the cycle of cravings and emotional lows, you must interrupt this destructive emotional feedback loop first. We stop feeling out-of-control by taking intentional control of our environment and our response.

Strategies to try:

Take Away: You must take complete and direct ownership of your environment. If the food is out of sight, it is out of mind. If it’s not in the house, you can’t eat it.

Take Away: Develop a three-second rule when a craving hits to identify the underlying trigger. Are you truly hungry, or are you bored, stressed, or reacting to a habit? Try drinking some water and going for a walk. If you still want it after that, enjoy a portioned amount.

Take Away: See moments where you “slip up” not as reasons for giving up, but as valuable data points for adjusting your strategy next time. There is no failure, only feedback.

Pro Tip: You can’t eat what’s not there. Make your kitchen an unfriendly environment for your “Future Self” who will inevitably crave that quick fix at 9 PM.

Here Are 7 Take Strategies Thak Make A Difference:

Notice your chewing: Often processed foods require less chewing, thus you’re eating more; faster.
Check your pantry: Is there marketing by an athlete or celebrity? Any self-promises? How about “treat foods”?
Look for habits and patterns. Are there triggers that you notice affecting you?
- Try to identify those triggers
  - Location, feelings, time of day, thought pattern
find “feel good” habits that support your health and your goals.
- Exercise like going for a walk
- Reading or listening to music
- Spend time with others, getting out of your own head
- Meditation or yoga
- Creative hobbies
Put quality above quantity: whole foods the provide nutrition, without the additional expense of your health through fat gain, or compromise to your health
Slow down, give yourself more time to spend with chewing interacting with those around you. Eat until you’re around 80% full opposed to “stuffed”.
Last but not least: Be kind to yourself.

Get honest with how you’re feeling and behaving around food.
Work with yourself opposed to against yourself.
Explore habits with an open mind, not hyper focusing on feedback as harsh criticism.

Let’s dig deeper into this topic by listening to The Practical Edge Podcast.

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Ready for a coach who can help you sharpen these habits for life?
Check out my coaching program at www.dylanjengland.com. Let’s build the foundation for your best life—together.

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