Dieting may seem like an impossible feat, especially when you’re trying to do it for long period of time. Allowing one cheat day a week, which is a day when you can eat whatever you want to, is common among dieters/ weight watchers.
For those following a strict diet or following a clean diet, cheat days are often a weekly ritual. But are the psychological merits of these food frenzies worth the potential physiological consequences? Let’s take a deeper look at cheat days and cheat meals to see if they’re helping or hurting your weight-loss diet plan.
To start, we must consider what it means to be healthy. In biological terms, “health” is defined as the prospect of our survival. Therefore, anything conducive to extending our lifespan is healthy.
On the contrary, anything that threatens our survival is unhealthy. Thus, things like carcinogens, toxic substances, and noxious chemicals are seen as categorically “unhealthy.
All chemicals that enter the body abide by the same principle that the dose makes the poison. Even the most dangerous toxins can be harmless in small enough quantities, just as seemingly healthy chemicals, like water and vitamins, may be dangerous in excess.
Vis-à-vis diet, food is nourishment that helps sustain us physically and mentally; we cannot discount the fact that food serves more of a purpose than merely changing the shape of our body.
As such, a “healthy” diet is relative, and there are no unanimously “unhealthy” or “healthy” foods. The amount that you eat is what determines the healthfulness of food. In other words, any food can be healthy in appropriate quantities.
Yes, even a slice of pizza, a mini burger or a few pieces of chocolate candy can be completely healthy for someone who is regularly active and controlling their overall calorie intake. It might take some time to wrap your head around this concept, especially if you’ve been a diehard “clean eater” for years.
So, how does this circle back to the topic of cheat meals and cheat days? Well, once you acknowledge that there are no “off-limits” foods, you start to realize that you don’t need to be so restrictive about what you eat on your diet.
You can eat some “junk” foods and still lose weight/be healthy. The key is moderation and portion control, both of which are ironically the antithesis of cheat meals and cheat days.
HERE ARE 3 WAYS TO COPE WHEN SEEKING PLEASURE FOODS:
Re-create your favorite guilty pleasure food and create a healthy twist to the recipe.
For example, if you enjoy fried foods, try baking or using an air-fryer instead. If you love baking and have a sweet tooth, try substituting half the sugar with stevia, or using a fruit substitute like dates, applesauce or mashed banana in the recipe to help sweeten it.
Share your pleasurable food with a friend! This reduces the portion size, and adds to the fun and experience of eating.
Follow the ¼ of the plate rule when seeking a pleasure food. Fill no more than ¼ of your plate full of an item that you know will not lead you towards your goals.