Here are 5 common excuses and/or justifications for eating junk food. Add yours and we’ll have a survey to determine the top 10 favorites.

1. I didn’t have time to prepare a meal.

2. It’s just candy corn. There’s no fat in it.

3. Hey, this diet isn’t working anyway.  I might as well eat what I like.

4. I’m doing a fat flush tomorrow so I have to finish off all the junk food tonight so I won’t be tempted.

5. Well, ice cream does have calcium in it, and the nuts have protein. It’s better for me than chips.

Fellow food addicts and emotional eaters, I have used all of these. Sometimes I made a conscious effort to give in to my food addiction, and sometimes I chose something more healthy.

When your work schedule is such that you have to eat while driving, or there were no breaks for 3 hours so you were famished after the meeting and grabbed some chips from the vending machine, it’s hard to resist junk food.

Anyone with a food addiction or a problem with emotional eating has to arm themselves with a plan. You have to be prepared to follow that plan so you can reach your goal.

Being healthy is a great goal. It takes some work but it is worth it. You will add years to your life and you will enjoy those years.

No matter what we tell ourselves, we will follow the commands of either our mind or our heart. Some of the excuses for overeating are hilarious. I can relate to all of them except the ones involving beer.

I carry around 30 extra pounds because I choose to. There are plenty of reasons but none of them have anything to do with my life goals.

They’re just part of my food addiction. They remind me that I get lonely, that I sometimes feel overworked and under-appreciated, that my friends aren’t always there when I need them. And so I visit my friends in the refrigerator.

I can’t deny that it gets harder as I get older. I can’t say that it’s the best I can do. It’s not. I just don’t feel like doing the work some days, and I have to pay the price for that.

Still, when I look back at all the excuses, I’m really only kidding myself. So maybe now that the weather has cooled off a bit, I’ll trade in my candy corn for a nice walk in the park. Now, there’s an idea.