3 Steps to Revolutionize Your Cheat Days Right Now
Transform your cheat days into a diet that lasts!
The concept of “cheat days” is a strange thing. Initially, cheat days were meant to help us find balance in what we eat. In principle, they could be beneficial, but honestly, cheating sucks! Nowadays we equate “cheating” to a sin﹘French fries to an oil spill for our bodies, chocolate chip cookies to hyper generators for fat. When we eat these “forbidden” foods, we feel guilty…ashamed that we ate foods which offered only momentary pleasure, followed by a mental beat-down, and feel that anything outside of the keto diet or Whole30 is a failure in following the plan! How can that be right?! It’s not. We are doing it wrong. It’s time to re-imagine “cheating!”
1. Remove “Cheat Days” from your Vocabulary!
The first step we take to creating a diet, or, more accurately, a nutrition plan, that lasts is to stop talking about “cheat days!” From now on, imagine that your grandmother will wash out your mouth with soap every time you say that phrase. Let’s not let our grandmothers down!
What makes “cheat days” so important to remove from our diets is the way in which they stifle long-term sustainability for our eating plans. By classifying some of our favorite foods as wicked and forbidden, we only make our diets miserable! The “cheat day” also implies we must be perfect every other day; there’s no room for error. The “cheat day” reinforces the on/off, good/bad thought process around foods and our nutrition plan, exactly the opposite of the balance intended by it! When the goal is health and long-term results, our bigger picture diets (and lives!) must be in the grey area, including both healthful foods and treats! There is no point in bogging ourselves down in misery, that only makes it exceedingly difficult to maintain our nutrition goals.
By having “cheat days” we give the power to our food when we could reclaim it for ourselves. Let’s make one thing clear: not only do we deserve the power to choose what value we ascribe to our food, we have it right now, and we always have! Instead, let’s choose to say we splurged or indulged, stripping “cheat days” of their power and returning it to our forks, right where it belongs! But without “cheat days,” how do we classify our decisions to eat foods which stray from our optimal meal plan?
2. Decide It’s ALL Part of the Plan!
When we stop “cheating,” we take a powerful step in the right direction, towards creating a sustainable eating plan. This change begs the question: what does it mean to eat what used to be our guilty pleasures now that they are not considered “cheating?”
When we eliminate the concept of “cheat days” we are shifting our mindset to no longer consider eating these foods as “cheating,” but rather viewing them as part of the bigger picture. We cannot control the timing of anniversaries, weddings, or birthday parties, and who doesn’t want to eat cake during these times?! Cake is joyous! And what is the human experience without cake?! Cake, and all our treats, are an occasional part of our diets. We must accept that there will be times when we eat foods that are not as healthful and we will follow our eating plan as best we can, when we can.
We also must accept that a “bad day” doesn’t have to be “bad” or the end of us focusing on our health. Let it be a blip on the radar, just an occasional occurrence as part of our larger diet, and keep moving forward. Eating something outside of Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, or kale does not make the day a wash or even “bad.” It just means for that snack or dessert, we drifted away from our optimal eating plan and, at the next meal/snack, we can make another choice﹘ something which more closely aligns with our diet and health goals.
3. Embrace the Zig-Zag
For those of us who have gone sailing, we know it is literally impossible to go from Point A to Point B in a straight line. To create a wellness lifestyle that lasts, we must accept that there will be zigs and zags on the way to our destination. Sometimes, we will veer further away from our optimal health plan, and other times we will be zooming in the fast lane towards our health goals. Embrace this, and we move much closer to where we want to be with each course adjustment.
The bottom line is that it may be shocking for us to realize we have all this power to change the way we think. But we do have it. And we can use it to our advantage! So, get going! Eliminate “cheat days” from your vocabulary, put the power back in your hand, and become a true wellness warrior for life!
