how to stop eating junk food?

[theholygideons]

I can't stop nibbling on snacks every chance i have, like when i'm listening to music and just chilling.
How do you gather that moment to break down the barrier of resistance and stop indulging?
 
*unravels another snickers bar while listening to some ravel....*

I wanna go on a diet, but there's always snacks in my house!! I keep telling my rents not to buy friggen chips and chocolate BUT THEY KEEP BUYING ALL THESE UNHEALTHY SHITTTT....

this is like harder than quitting smoking...

 

[prestoconfuocco]

You're not gonna like the answer - just stay away from it and eat a carrot or something to keep yourself busy. There isn't much else you can do.
You can also try replacing the habit with a different one - biting fingernails, snapping your fingers, etc.
Everytime you feel you really want to eat junk go hiking for half an hour with some music or something.

[Bob]

You've kind of got the answers in the question.

I was going to say don't buy it... Tell your parents not to buy it, to save their money.

Focus on the negatives about it every time you think about it.  Calories, unhealthy, doesn't actually taste that good....

After you overcome it, it could be a good test to having tempting things around all the time.  Although if you don't care about junk food at some point, it won't matter if it's around.

Just for interest, you could try eating half as much if you do eat it.  Or postponing eating for a something like five minutes.  It's some amount of control.

An easier idea.... Add more negatives to it.  I was going to say eat a lot, but maybe.... Drink a lot of water or something so you're very full.  Then eat more junk food.  You won't want to eat it so much and it will be a bit painful, ie negative associations with the junk food.  Originally I was thinking 'eat junk food until you puke.'  Eat it until your sick of it.  The body is kind of stupid and will just associate junk food together with a really negative experience.

A simpler, similar idea -- Add something to the junk food that tastes bad (or does make you puke).  Then force yourself to eat it.  Maybe a spice, red hot chili pepper, something like that.  Force it down, possibly it comes back up.  The next time you think about that food, you won't want it at all.

Or tell your parents you're planning on doing something like that.  That might give them the idea that you're serious about getting rid of junk food.

Another simple idea -- Take all the junk food and throw it out.  That's healthier and easier than having it around.  Do that a few times, and what are your parents going to?  Are they going to say, "Hey!  We need that around!  Stop throwing out/wasting the candy bars!"  They just won't buy it anymore.


I'd do the 'trash it' method combined with forcing down some junk food covered in spices so it tastes horrible.  Then use some willpower to break the habit.  You could drink a glass of water when you feel the need to eat that stuff.  You could go cold turkey for quitting it or ease in some willpower and slowly reduce it each day. Or figure out when you're most likely to eat it and add something to that routine to break the pattern.  Like drinking water before you sit down in front of the TV.


Another idea -- Make sure you're eating healthy otherwise so you're not hungry for anything.  You might be craving fat in junk food.  Calories, possibly, but that's doubtful.  It's easy to find calories.  To get rid of fat cravings I've noticed I can eat extra virgin olive oil which is healthy.  The need to eat fat goes away -- I've already got the healthy version from the olive oil and an ounce of willpower plus thinking about the negative of something like a donut makes it easy to avoid.

[thalbergmad]

Having my Cholesterol measured was sufficient to get me to give up junk food.

Thal

[oxy60]

Hey Thal, don't let them start you on statins. They'll kill you quicker than the ch levels. And no gastric bypass either. I've lost two great buddies who had it done.

Maybe the poster should examine the regular meals and if they are big enough with the right stuff. Getting hungry between meals shouldn't happen if you've eaten enough at mealtime.

[Bob]

Fear of death.  That ups the willpower a lot.  Haha.  Until you slowly forget about it.  Or don't mind/give up on fighting it I guess.

[ted]

I suppose I am just lucky in that I have a sort of perverse self-discipline about these things, the same as I do with my training. The last time I discussed lipid results with my doctor (my LDL ratio has always been slightly high) he told me not to worry about diet at all because of the weight of my other factors such as exercise. I didn't take any notice of him and I keep a strict eye on what goes in. If I fancy a bar of chocolate, a sticky bun or a brandy, I'll have one, but in moderation; moderation in my case being about once every two months. Sugar intake, in particular, I keep to a bare minimum because of the frequency of diabetes in a quarter of my antecedents. I might not have inherited the propensity of course, but it's a good habit anyway.

[Bob]

If it's a candy bar, just transition over to pure dark chocolate, no sugar added.  That's healthy.  Tastes bitter, but it's still 'chocolate.' 

[indianajo]

Well, having it announced by the physician I was diabetic was motivation, but the answer has become painless: Eat proper food our bodies are designed for.  Then you are not hungry between meals.  And brush and floss your teeth afterwards, that much work gives one motivation to not mess it up by eating again.  
Watch Dr Furman's "Immune Solution" on PBS or read the book.  Actually the diet he is reccommending corresponds well to what my grandparents ate when they had access to the neighbors garden, could garden freely on coal company land, but didn't have much money.  Not much meat, not much animal fat, not much sugar, plenty of bulky vegetables to fill the stomach.   Modern food science says the body is more satisfied with cruciform vegetables (cabbage, brussel spouts, bok choy, kale, etc) than iceberg lettuce, for example. Plenty of nuts and berries, that is something else my grandparents had no access to except blackberries by the sideof the road.  
For beans of his diet, I do peanut butter & jelly sandwiches on low sugar bread, with sugar free jelly, and low sugar peanut butter, crunchy.  That sandwich is a real filler upper twice a day.
And chocolate without the sugar.  I make choco-tacos out of sugar free cocoa, olivio margerine, aspertame sugar substitue, and a little sugar free maple syrup for lasting flavor.  Delicious, and all that vegetable fat has pulled down my chloresterol and tri-gliceride levels.  
I did the sugar free/more vegetable fat/more bulk/less animal fat diet before I heard of Dr. Furman, but his program confirms the good results I have been getting on weight, A1C, chloresterol, triglicerides, heart rate, and less craving.  
Drop all sugar, it just causes craving and shaking if you don't get it. I'm down to 4-5 grams of sugar a meal by looking at the labels.   Diet sodas are great compared to vile old Tab with the saccarine, and malitol and sorbitol sugar alcohols seem to satisfy my sweet tooth with one piece of sugar free candy, without the huge craving when I run out of blood sugar.  Also, my A1C is under control now, no pills for diabetes in the last two years and I've lost 30 lb.  
And aerobic exercise helps you bring your body into its natural state, make you tired at night, not in the day, and stop the cravings with endomorphine.  Read Dr Cooper's aerobics books, check with your physician about your heart, then start walking swimming, bicycling, calesthentics, or polka dancing.  Heart rate up to .67*(200-age) if I read the book right, for 30 minutes a day.  
It is a great life when you feel better.  

[thalbergmad]

Hey Thal, don't let them start you on statins.

Too late old chap, already started. I was not happy as they appear to be the most overprescribed pills in the World, and my level was 6.2 which is not particularly high, but it had gone up from 5.9 over 6 months which my doctor wanted to reverse.

Don't seem to have had any side effects after 3 weeks.

Thal

[oxy60]

Too late old chap, already started. I was not happy as they appear to be the most overprescribed pills in the World, and my level was 6.2 which is not particularly high, but it had gone up from 5.9 over 6 months which my doctor wanted to reverse.

Don't seem to have had any side effects after 3 weeks.

Thal

My cardiologist wanted me to use Crestor. I got the flu-like symptoms and stopped. 6.2 is hardly worrisome...

[elasticplastic]

I used to be a hard core junk food addict.  The "just don't do it" option never worked for me.  What did work was finding healthy substitutes that i REALLY REALLY like to eat and eat those instead.  Not "organic disgusting things that I have no interest in eating but that are supposed to be good for me" stuff.  My main substitute - now this is just for me, not necessarily for you but just as an illustration - is for ice cream.  During the day when I used to eat ice cream I make myself a smoothie with milk, sucanat (really healthy sugar that doesn't cause more sugar cravings), frozen bananas, and other fruit, maybe some chocolate spirulina powder, and chia seeds.  Now this may sound disgusting lol but it really really fills my craving for ice cream and i feel really good when i eat it.  doesn't mess with my energy levels - in fact increases them.  Or trail mix might work for you - make sure it's healthy, it will help your energy levels and piano playing.

[indianajo]

For those of you east of the Atlantic ocean, a choco-taco is on a wheat tortilla wamed in the toaster overn. It is like a Russian blini with the chocolate sauce. Only the chocolate sauce has no sugar in it, only aspertame sugar substitute and a little malitol syrup.  Malitose metabolizes way slower than fructose, sucrose, glucose.  There is not a blini within 1000 miles of here, but one may be for sale across the street from you in greater London.  
Got my annual physical numbers today: BodyMassIndex 183 (fat but decreasing), A1C (diabetes) 6.0, Total Chloresterol 188, HDL 48, LDL 122, Triglicerides 90.  No statins, no diabetes pills for two year, no shots or blood tests with needles,  Nothing but high blood pressure pills (father & grandfather also took these, maybe I need to control foods with sodium better). I eat  Three meals a day, 2500-3000 calories of old fashioned foods and low metabolic rate treats, and nothing in between.  

[Bob]

*Bob compares numbers....*

Dang.  Got me beat on all number indianajo.


*Bob wonders if that was a heart palpitation....  Is that an artery clotting up?*  That way a joke, but it's probably actually true.  That IS a freaking part of the heart running a little less efficient.

[senanserat]

When I was a kid I started to get fat... But I didn't...Now I am freaking sepsi so I advice you do the same.

On a related note stay away from the damn food you're a pianist so you ought to have a least some auto control.

[oxy60]

For those of you east of the Atlantic ocean, a choco-taco is on a wheat tortilla wamed in the toaster overn. It is like a Russian blini with the chocolate sauce. Only the chocolate sauce has no sugar in it, only aspertame sugar substitute and a little malitol syrup.  Malitose metabolizes way slower than fructose, sucrose, glucose.  There is not a blini within 1000 miles of here, but one may be for sale across the street from you in greater London.  
Got my annual physical numbers today: BodyMassIndex 183 (fat but decreasing), A1C (diabetes) 6.0, Total Chloresterol 188, HDL 48, LDL 122, Triglicerides 90.  No statins, no diabetes pills for two year, no shots or blood tests with needles,  Nothing but high blood pressure pills (father & grandfather also took these, maybe I need to control foods with sodium better). I eat  Three meals a day, 2500-3000 calories of old fashioned foods and low metabolic rate treats, and nothing in between.  

Good numbers and good habits!

Remember, high blood pressure can only be traced 20% of the time to any cause. All the myths about sodium, etc., are just that. Mostly they are an excuse for for lazy cooks to serve bland food!

[j_menz]

Mostly they are an excuse for for lazy cooks to serve bland food!

How hard is it to add salt?

[hfmadopter]

I have absolutely no idea what the correlation between eating someones crap they stock in a live in situation has to do with what an individual eats for a snack. Anyone can have a snack between meals, just make them healthy and minimal. Ignore the junk food. On the simple side, cut up an apple and have a slice of apple here and there ( melon works too). Open a box of raisins have a hand full mid afternoon, eat one at a time, not an entire box.  Drink water. Getting more involved, make fresh salsa, don't lay into a jar of store bought crap . Get whole grain tortilla chips but have half a dozen with your fresh salsa, not half a bag. You can even have some dark chocolate, break off a piece of a bar, it will last three days that way. Satisfy the little cravings but don't pig out on junk, it helps renew energy. Along with exercise it's actually good for you. You will lose weight not gain weight.

I learned this when bike riding actually, 6 or 8 white raisins really boosts energy and it has fiber. Same for a couple of figs, no not a bag full of figs, a couple  ! When bike riding you actually need an energy supply and plenty of liquid. It's not wise to wait till supper time in that case.

[indianajo]

How hard is it to add salt?

I never add sodium salt to anything.  When due to intense summer exercise my legs start twitching and getting charlie horses, I add a little "lite salt" in summer which is 50% potassium chloride. One portion a week is usually sufficient to stop the nerve effects.    
Economic forces stopped my consumption of raw beef and ham this year, which shifted my diet into packaged foods. Some of these have 980 mg sodium a portion.   With the non-availability of running water at my summer property, I don't cook much anyway out there, nor are economical fresh foods available within bicycle distance of the property. When I wasn't eating Hormel microwave dinners, I was eating an ounce of bologna or weiners, which are also high in sodium.   My consumption of sodium from packaged foods went over 2 grams a day this summer, and my blood pressure upper number went from 135-140 to 140-148, even on lisinopril.  Coincidence? I don't know, it could just be age. It's not weight which went down 6 lb, this summer, or fat in the blood, which appears to be under control due to the lab test numbers above on 9/28.  This summer I went from 1/2 dose lisinopril ~10 mg to a full 20 mg, and still the BP upper number went up.  We'll see this winter when I have access to raw turkey and can cook flour pancakes or eat shredded wheat and soy milk, for breakfast, whether lower sodium brings my  BP back down.  Have fun with your food.  

[hfmadopter]

   We'll see this winter when I have access to raw turkey and can cook flour pancakes or eat shredded wheat and soy milk, for breakfast, whether lower sodium brings my  BP back down.  Have fun with your food.  

You might want to read up on soy products, you will find that the body really doesn't get along so hot on soy. As an alternative milk, seriously consider trying almond milk or rice milk with your morning cereal. These both are much better digested and heart healthy products.


I'm off gluten now and feeling quite a bit better than 10 days ago. Now to get my strength back. I still don't have the results from the celiac blood test but it may be inconclusive anyway. The neurologist said he didn't care about that if I feel better. I was down and out, went from 11 mile bike rides to 6 miles to not being able to walk 1/4 mile, to spasmodic attacks on my body progressing from about Aug 1st to a week ago Monday when I landed in the hospital. Now I'm working a full day, I've gotten back on the bike, can only do 7 minutes so far on it's stand but I can pedal it at least, that wasn't even a thought 10 days ago.  All I've changed is going to a gluten free diet. I'm tired but people at the Celiac forums say it takes months on up to a year to rid the body of toxins and adjust. I've had two slip ups, our oatmeal we keep in the house is not gluten free and I didn't know that. Cheerie Os are not gluten free as well, though they make them now that are. We just have to switch those up. My body tells me within 45 minutes if I've eaten gluten, I get dizzy, I get a pain between my shoulder blades and a cramping that goes from my very most upper belly area to one or the other arm pit. But that's mild compared with where I came from and is gone in about 6 hours.

[oxy60]

How hard is it to add salt?

Very easy. The problem is that you need to add much more salt at the table to get the same taste as cooked in salt.

[indianajo]

You might want to read up on soy products, you will find that the body really doesn't get along so hot on soy. As an alternative milk, seriously consider trying almond milk or rice milk with your morning cereal. These both are much better digested and heart healthy products.
I'm off gluten now and feeling quite a bit better than 10 days ago I was down and out, went from 11 mile bike rides to 6 miles to not being able to walk 1/4 mile, to spasmodic attacks on my body progressing from about Aug 1st to a week ago Monday when I landed in the hospital. Now I'm working a full day, I've gotten back on the bike, can only do 7 minutes so far on it's stand but I can pedal it at least, that wasn't even a thought 10 days ago.  All I've changed is going to a gluten free diet.

Well, poor thing.  I'd wondered what the gluten free labels on packages were all about.  I'm so racially different from Europeans & Africans we probably aren't even 8th cousins, so I don't worry about gluten and have seen no effects of it one way of the other.  But I can't say gluten is not attacking your metabolism.  I'm not sure about effect of the the summer sodium overdose, but after 2 weeks in town on maybe 600 mg sodium a day my upper BP is down to 138 again.  Pulse hit 62 this morning sitting in a chair.  One funny thing this summer, my times on the 27 miles bike trip are shorter September 2x, but I get just as tired.  After 30 minutes at home after the ride BP was 114/62 pulse 107 and after an hour BP 99/59 pulse 100.  I think my heart valve leaks when I feel tired. I get the same effect when I have the inevitible bacterial infection after a viral cold.   Oh, well, I don't want valve surgery, I'd probably get some stupid infection if I stayed in a hospital.  I'm not going to ask any phsician about it. My valve was leaking from walking pneumonia the day of my pre-commissioning phyical at AAFES in 1972, and they passed me as 1A condition.    
I try to limit my experiments to foods costing under $2 a pound, so thanks for the tip on almond or rice milk but they are $6 a quart here.  I'm using soy milk because of the sugar; low fat soy is 5 g sugar/8 oz instead of 12 for real milk.  And soy milk is $1 a quart at Dollar Tree.  My phsician friend is always bragging about the natural foods he pays $12 a pound for imported from Chili in the dead of winter.  I could afford those too if I had the immune system of a European or African and could have studied to be a physician.  They call it lukocyte envy.  

[oxy60]

Well, poor thing.  I'd wondered what the gluten free labels on packages were all about.  I'm so racially different from Europeans & Africans we probably aren't even 8th cousins, so I don't worry about gluten and have seen no effects of it one way of the other.  But I can't say gluten is not attacking your metabolism.  I'm not sure about effect of the the summer sodium overdose, but after 2 weeks in town on maybe 600 mg sodium a day my upper BP is down to 138 again.  Pulse hit 62 this morning sitting in a chair.  One funny thing this summer, my times on the 27 miles bike trip are shorter September 2x, but I get just as tired.  After 30 minutes at home after the ride BP was 114/62 pulse 107 and after an hour BP 99/59 pulse 100.  I think my heart valve leaks when I feel tired. I get the same effect when I have the inevitible bacterial infection after a viral cold.   Oh, well, I don't want valve surgery, I'd probably get some stupid infection if I stayed in a hospital.  I'm not going to ask any phsician about it. My valve was leaking from walking pneumonia the day of my pre-commissioning phyical at AAFES in 1972, and they passed me as 1A condition.    
I try to limit my experiments to foods costing under $2 a pound, so thanks for the tip on almond or rice milk but they are $6 a quart here.  I'm using soy milk because of the sugar; low fat soy is 5 g sugar/8 oz instead of 12 for real milk.  And soy milk is $1 a quart at Dollar Tree.  My phsician friend is always bragging about the natural foods he pays $12 a pound for imported from Chili in the dead of winter.  I could afford those too if I had the immune system of a European or African and could have studied to be a physician.  They call it lukocyte envy.  

How about those numbers? We'll engrave it your tombstone "he had great numbers."

Those numbers won't kill you or keep you alive. If you want to them to have meaning, you must average them over time and look for the trends. Most automatic BP monitors have the capability to average readings.

[indianajo]

I'm a physicist, I know how to average in my head.  Numbers for ACL, fats in blood have been consistent 2 years in a row, down 10-20% from 3 years ago when diet was "normal American". Physician concurs, stopped diabetes pills and no anti fat statin pills.   BP numbers I quote are averages except spot readings that are way wrong (like 99/59 105 bpm without a headache or passing out. confirmed by another low reading 30 minutes before and normal reading next day and therafter).    
For more data on the weird more vegetable fat/nuts/legumes/starch/sugar alcohols less meat/saturated fat/sucros/glucos/fructos diet see Dr. Furman's Immunity Solution book or PBS TV show, which  quotes papers in medical journals.  
But my biggest threat of an immediate tombstone now IMHO is cars hitting my soft corpus while walking or on bicycle. Propelling self along roads is not as dangerous as hang gliding or rock climbing, but I spend a lot of time in the ditch or grass avoiding distracted or aggressive drivers. Some drivers need 53'6" of 54' of pavement all to themselves.   Still, my senior event is bicycle drag racing out of traffic signals.  My top bicycle speed is limited by my upright posture on a mountain bike compared to bent forwards racer bike riders that don't feel the need to see what is coming at them, but at the end of summer I'm feeling pretty frisky.  

[Bob]

Drive against traffic.  You'll have less chance of getting hit... Because you'll get out of the way of those cars.

[hfmadopter]

Well, poor thing.  I'd wondered what the gluten free labels on packages were all about.  I'm so racially different from Europeans & Africans we probably aren't even 8th cousins, so I don't worry about gluten and have seen no effects of it one way of the other.  

I don't know about a poor thing but I am having some issues. As for you, if you have none that's wonderful, seriously !! I didn't either back in July, besides regular meds for BP etc. and plenty of energy but now I have to investigate various avenues. Suppose over the next 8 weeks you go from the senior moments of trying to race your bike, to half that speed and energy, to having to stop riding the bike, to finally having trouble walking across a large parking lot. You would be investigating why this is happening to you. I'm a bike rider too and that's what happened to me. So far all regular medical testing has come back negative, which is a good thing but it doesn't point to any particular problem. So since gluten and celiac are in the family and directly linked back to me via my daughters who have it, I'll try that. That blood test came back negative as well but so did theirs except through a colonoscopy, there they found it in a tissue sample. My neurologist said stay on the diet since it seems to have helped.

I'm not advocating that anyone else has to do the same, just conveying the story. I'm up to 8 minutes on my bike which is on it's winter stand in my studio right now. So from 0 riding to 8 minutes so far. When I get to about 15 minutes I'll get my other bike from the shed and take a ride outside if winter hasn't set in. It's actually easier to ride down a bike trail or the street than on that stand. The stand being constant resistance.

[oxy60]

Drive against traffic.  You'll have less chance of getting hit... Because you'll get out of the way of those cars.

Can you do that where you live? In CA we can't.

[hfmadopter]

Can you do that where you live? In CA we can't.

It's funny you mention that, I was thinking the same thing. You see people riding bikes all different ways here but there are rules to the road for bikers. They are, follow the rules of the road that cars use, with some restrictions. This is why I use a rear view mirror on each bike I own. And, at night use lights. These days the bright LED lights for bikes are relatively inexpensive and don't draw power from your wheels at all, unlike the old generator lights I grew up with. I find that most road bikers that travel past my house all summer long and automobile drivers dislike for getting in their way, actually are using proper rules of the road. Some other more casual riders are ridiculous though.

[Bob]

If you coast at 1-2 mph and get out of the way of any oncoming traffic, no one cares.  There are sidewalks too.  Very few cars on the sidewalks.   As opposed to having cars drive up behind you.  Everyone is vigilant and careful and no one texts while driving so those cars, esp. the silent Priuses, are perfectly safe.

[hfmadopter]

If you coast at 1-2 mph and get out of the way of any oncoming traffic, no one cares.  There are sidewalks too.  Very few cars on the sidewalks.   As opposed to having cars drive up behind you.  Everyone is vigilant and careful and no one texts while driving so those cars, esp. the silent Priuses, are perfectly safe.

The rules here are like for cars, since cars are not allowed to drive on sidewalks, well I don't need to say the rest. At one point here ( Massachusetts) in order to ride your bike to school it had to be registered and you had to pass a course to get it registered. I was proud of my license plate on my bike, for a short while anyway. Then I lived close enough to walk to school but rode it most everyplace else..  You walk your bike on sidewalks and in crosswalks. To turn right you get in the right traffic travel lane, to make a left turn you get over to the left side of the travel lane just as a car would do. You pedal with the flow of traffic. That's the law, if anyone uses it is another story, if anyone enforces it is yet another.

 However, more and more cities and towns are putting in bike and walking paths and or actual bike lanes in the roads. It will really tick off some drivers that they can't occupy the bike lane with their cars, I suppose, but they are there for bikers to commute with and serve the purpose of keeping bikes out of the automobile travel lanes. They work very well. These lanes are wider than a sidewalk in many cases. Bicycling for commuting purposes is becoming more common in these economic times we are in. additionally, many old abandoned railway lines have been converted to either hard packed gravel or shelled lanes or actually paved roadways for bikers and walkers to enjoy or commute on and cars don't come near them , so there is no clash of opinion or rules between them.. That's nice and the trails are nicely maintained, some year round. Many of those trails around here are heavily used too.

[indianajo]

Ha, lands of high taxes.  Here in our town the street department just "improved" an intersection I ride through by paving every inch of flat ground to make turn lanes, which drivers use out to 3 inches from the edge even if the other 50 feet of pavement are empty. I have to ride in the ditch there, and three weeks ago, a rock in the new embankment rolled out from under the front wheel and I pitched over the left handlebar and rolled. Rails to trails? There was a railway line from 4 blocks from my city house to 2 miles from my country property.  They pulled most of it up ten years ago, building houses on some of it, letting trash trees grow up everwhere else, and they plowed out all the culverts for good measure.   
The rule here is riding in the lane with the traffic.  Good way to get killed in my opinion.  When I do  some drivers overtake me way over in the other lane, forcing the other traffic over, and if the other traffic doesn't cooperate, you can be sure they wouldn't want to mess up a fender instead of running over me.   Where the traffic is particularly heavy, I ride against the traffic.  If a driver moves over 36 inches, I assume he can see me and I stay on the pavement at speed.  If a driver blythely carries on 12 inches from the edge, I brake down to 1 mph and bump down into the grass or rocks.  One driver in 10 doesn't see you, one in 100 tries to brush you off the pavement he is paying for with his high fuel taxes. There is no way I can see that behavoir well enough behind me.  
Sidewalks? ha!.  Bike lanes? The city just built a new bike lane on a wide street with existing sidewalks that had 5 cars an hour on it tops.  The highway with 5000 cars an hour at 50 mph between the last bus stop and Amazon.com warehouse, the city just paved all the flat ground for more turn lanes.  
For indoor use in the winter, I have a Tinturi exercycle.  Has variable from the handlebar tension with a disk brake. I run the tension up and down as I ride to move my pulse up to 140 and back to 110 at different times. It is a very stable heavy cycle, too, and going on 25 years old. One of the best values for  $600 I ever spent.    It has needed less maintenance than my $250 Schwinn bike. Only problem, the brakes squeak when I am trying to listen to music videos on the TV. But I am building an amplifier.

[oxy60]

Riding out there with traffic is just too dangerous for me. I try to find another route on the back streets, alleys, etc. Drivers are just too distracted to include watching for bikes as an extra task.

[hfmadopter]

Riding out there with traffic is just too dangerous for me. I try to find another route on the back streets, alleys, etc. Drivers are just too distracted to include watching for bikes as an extra task.

Can't argue with that reasoning. Seems to me if the drivers are so bad as to force a cyclist off the road on a regular basis then the alternatives are few but to do much as you say and get away from the larger lot of them. You don't have to get hit more than once and possibly never have to worry about another driver again !! That happened in Boston a couple of years ago, a 70 yo man was struck by a car on his bike and that was that,  dead as a pile of mackerels in a fish market.

I mostly ride the bike trails or lanes around here though.