But, I like Bacon... Cheat Meals, and converting to a healthy eating lifestyle
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What is a cheat meal?
A Cheat meal is a meal that is considered unhealthy and usually replaces a healthy meal once a week to satisfy a craving when someone starts a new meal plan or healthy diet change to keep you on track. This could be a burger with fries, cheesy pizza, or a doughnut for breakfast. The key word here is cheat meal NOT cheat day! Having a cheat meal can help one so they do not feel deprived of some of the foods they enjoy, and keep them on track with healthy eating.
Do cheat meals work to help you stay on track?
For many people being able to indulge once a week in a naughty meal helps them stay on track and satisfies their cravings. But for others, it can pull them back on an unhealthy diet with cravings the rest of the day. For anyone who is trying to start eating healthy, it’s up to you if a cheat meal helps you stay on track or if you realize it causes destruction. YOU know your body the best.
Many people who start a diet plan have a hard time sticking to it. Converting to healthy eating habits, for some people, takes time and lots of trial and errors for them to make healthy eating a part of their normal lifestyle. That is OK! It took me years to finally not have crazy cravings or to get my healthy eating on track. I think what took the most time is digging through all the false information on healthy eating that is released in social media. What’s important is understanding lifestyle changes can take time.
Here are some tips to help you stay on track to converting to a healthy lifestyle:
Don't suddenly change your entire diet completely (unless you know you can)
When deciding to eat healthily you have to understand that maintaining a healthy diet isn’t temporary. It should be a permanent lifestyle change. I’m sure you have heard that “Diets” don't work. The reason why is because going on a diet for one month might give you some quick results but after that month you can’t go back to eating how you use to and expect the weight to stay off. This is why changing your diet habits slowly for a more permanent change is more successful.
For example, when you can start adding more fruits and veggies to your diet. Instead of getting something fried, have it grilled. Once you start to feel full stop eating, save the rest for later. Doing this for a few weeks to a month slowly instill good habits. Once this becomes a lifestyle, you can cut out the random cravings.
Cheat Meals
If having a cheat meal once a week helps you stay on track, do it! Or if you have eaten healthy but every now and then have a craving, go ahead eat the burger, the donuts, or the cookie. If you tell yourself no, you might end up never satisfying your craving and end up eating a bunch of unnecessary foods until you finally give in to the cookie. That ONE naughty item isn’t going to make or break your diet.
"Have you ever looked back at yourself and hated how much junk food you ate, then ate a burger, fries, mash potatoes and gravy, 5 tacos, and a snickers bar to calm your sorrows?"
We are only human.
Consistency
Being consistent is important, don't let a cheat meal that turned into a cheat day ruin your healthy diet routine. Pick yourself up and keep at it the next day. Trying to make an effort to eat healthy every day and staying consistent will make a huge difference in the long run. So, don't expect things to happen that day, that week, or even that month.
For me, making a healthy diet a lifestyle took practice and lots of failures to become permanent. That is OKAY. What was important is I never gave up and eventually eating healthy became second nature, and more preferable over unhealthy options.
The Special Trick
There is no special diet, no one healthy diet, no quick fixes that work for everyone. Here’s some science for you. Just like everyone’s Genes/DNA are different, the diet for each person will be different. What works for Sally, might not work for Joe. It’s your duty to figure out what diet works for you and then stick to it. What I mean by this is some people do better on vegetarian diets, or dairy-free diets, while others eat meat, or enjoy cheeses. Make the subtle changes and stay consistent, and do your research.
Do Your Research
Chose a diet that works best for you. Whether it be Paleo, vegetarian, vegan, high protein, or just adding more fruits and veggies to your diet. Other things to think about is if certain foods make you feel bloated and if others make you feel good and energized. Do you have food allergies? Does meal prepping work for you, or choosing healthier items when you eat out? Does having 4-6 small meals work, or fasting?
Stop Eating When You Start to Feel Full
You don't have to eat every single item on your plate. Most places over serve in portion sizes, so don't feel bad leaving food on your plate, or saving it for later. When you stop eating right as you start to feel full, you won't crash after a meal. Usually stopping eating as you become full will keep your energy going throughout the day. Also when you over eat your body needs all its energy to digest the food, hence the crash. Once all your energy stores have been replenished that extra food that you over ate, can be stored as fat because your body doesn't know what to do with it. Doing this over and over again will cause weight gain.
Stop Stressing About Your DIET
Obsessing over your diet causes more harm than good. Beating yourself up for eating the loaded baked potato when you really should have ordered a side of steamed veggies does nothing but harm in the form of stress. For some people, stress can cause weight gain. If you want the loaded baked potato, order it. Then cut it in half and only eat half. That way you’re not overdoing it, and you’re still satisfying your craving!
I used to beat myself up over every little thing, I was on a roller coaster of going to the extremes of healthy eating, to crash and burn in unhealthy choices at the end of the week. Don't let your entire world revolve around your diet. Once I stopped stressing and just stayed aware, I was able to keep a balanced diet. I did this by by adding in more fruits and veggies, satisfying a craving in small amounts, and not eating everything on my plate. You can still eat healthy foods with eating naughty every now and then and not letting it drag me down.
Just remember what ever you choose, make sure you are eating more whole foods. Eliminate eating processed and sugar filled foods. Its very easy to make healthy foods taste good using herbs or broths to season your meal. At the end of the day what's most important is that you are feeding your body the best sources of nutrition to fuel it. Providing your body with the best nutrition gives your cells what they need to function, which in turn helps increase health-span, physical and cognitive performance. Cheers to a long functioning life!
