1. Stop buying it. Starve yourself of it by just not having it around.
2. Keep a tall glass or bottle of warm water with you when you’re junking on content. Keep sipping it. Slowly. Over time you’ll finish the bottle and get up to pee. That’s there number 3 comes in.
3. Recognize another harmful pattern here. Is your approach to watching content affecting your mood or causing you to spiral into junk food addiction? Maybe cut down on the YouTube videos. Or if you enjoy them a lot, combine them with some other activity you can do with your hands - drawing, writing, lifting weights, anything. Basically understand that your hands are idle while your brain is engaged and that’s causing you to reach for that packet of food.
4. Recognize that junk food is an addiction. Deal with it as you would an alcohol or nicotine addiction. You can go cold turkey or taper down. But you have to commit. You have to hold yourself accountable. But do not let yourself get bogged down by failure. Addiction is difficult to deal with. Deal with it anyway.

Everyone is saying don’t but snack foods, which is one step. But if you don’t have some form of healthy snacks on hand, you’re just going to revert back to it. I suggest dehydrating fruits and having nuts and seeds available so you can still snack but not feel bad about it.

Lots of stop buying it comments in here. How about: Stop watching so many videos? The best way to stop eating is to occupy your mind and hands. Got any hobbies? Get one that involves using your hands and concentration. You must find something that you personally enjoy. You can’t eat if you’re busy concentrating on something you like doing while occupying your hands! Bonus points if it’s something physical that helps get you in shape.

Like others have said one of the easiest things to do is simply don’t buy the junk.

Personally I found that the real game changer is finding a healthy snacking alternative. For me this is almonds and dried apricots. They’re still quite a ‘dense’ energy snack but it scratches the sweet tooth itch and is much more filling. Plus you get the added protein, fats & micro nutrients that you would usually miss in processed items.

Try out some different alternatives (my wife loves to snack on dates and Greek yoghurt for example) and try mainly just to focus on finding something you enjoy so you can swap the habit.

Good luck!

I just want you to consider one more aspect of it. I’ve seen this discussed and backed up with scientific articles but I’m too lazy to find and include them in my post. Basically, all your cravings originate from your gut and your gut is ruled by the bacteria that have made your gut their home over the years. You’ve colonized your gut with a particular set of bacteria by giving them what you eat.

Now, if you change that food pattern, these bacteria, that control the gut, will make your body release chemicals that will make you crave for food that will keep them alive. Realise this and act accordingly. Being conscious about it has helped me overcome many food related ‘addictions’ i had like that of soda, of wafers. I still fall prey when I consume sweets continuously for a few days during festivities. Everytime it is the same struggle against the cravings, but I realise I’m just fighting against the settlers in my gut, brave it for a few days and notice my cravings become dull over time. Probiotics like kimchi, saurkraut, kefir, kombucha etc. help to some extent but ultimately it is more of a mind game.

Make what you will from my advice, but it does work for me. I wish you all the best in your fight against your gut settlers.

don’t buy it. ever. and if people bring it over make them take it back. make grocery lists before going to the store with healthy snacks you like on it or meal plan filling meals. and eat before you go to the store so you shop with your head, not your stomach lolol.

You could try to start replacing individual things with better alternatives. Its much harder to just suddenly change your diet

Just stop buying that kind of food if you can’t control your consumption of it. If that’s too extreme for you, buy less of it, and when you do eat some, put one serving in a bowl and eat it out of the bowl. When the serving is gone, no more, no refills, you’re done snacking on that food.

This is ultimately about your willpower.

Replace it with normal food (during meals).

I was able to curb my nervous/bored eating and drinking with bitters and sours. Instead of reaching for food I now reach for some tea (with just lemon), coffee (decaf black), a glass of water with lemon, or just suck on a lime wedge. The lime thing is mostly to curb alcohol cravings.

PS: My wife’s answer was Kombucha. Everybody is different.

Basically we all need to learn how to hack ourselves.

Whatever that may look like for you is fine, so long as the hacks don’t cause secondary problems then whatever works works.

Your Ritual = sit, watch, snack on crap, repeat until ??

So maybe try and replace each bit, one at a time, and see what you can bear to white knuckle long enough for it to transform into an enjoyable habit:

• Sit -> walk on treadmill / exercise bike / whatever while you watch, or go outside for a walk while you listen to podcasts etc

• Watch -> listening to podcasts and music or video audio frees up your eyes to be doing a crazy or hobby while you listen. This also means your hands will be occupied and not snacking.

• Snack -> swap in fresh sweet crunchy veg (carrots, sweet bell pepper etc) or popcorn (no butter ya sneaky bugger) etc

• Repeat until ??? -> Portion control. You don’t take the whole bag of chips out of the kitchen, you take out a small bowl full and that’s your limit

Pick whichever one you want.

Change is hard. We kinda hate it. But it’s worth it.

Stop buying it.

It’s a lot easier to stop yourself from eating a bag of chips while watching YouTube if it’s not just sitting there in your pantry and you have to go to the store to buy it.

You just have to resist the urge to get the junk food during your grocery trips, not every hour you’re at home and bored.

• don’t buy the junk.
• don’t snack, you’re not 6 months old to need to eat at 3 hours interval.
• during the transition period try to find alternatives like carrot sticks or whatever.
• don’t eat at TV or equivalent, eat only at the dinning table when you decide and without distractions.

Good luck

I love me some salty food so I feel the pain. I’ll echo the sentiment of not buying it in the first place. Will power is an exhaustible resource.

I find that it almost doesn’t matter what I snack on I just want to snack. I will literally buy a huge bag of carrots and just eat those. Or my other favorite is toss a couple of strained cans of garbanzo beans in an air fryer, spray a bit of cooking spray, toast those suckers for 25 min, and salt/season them for a protein heavy snack that actually has fiber. Cheap, easy, and gives me similar vibes to a potato chip in an incredibly more healthy way.

Drinking lots of water or brushing your teeth might help you resist the urge.