"Cheat Meals"...the good, the bad, the ugly...

When we are on "diets", we often think of anything that is not on that diet as a "cheat meal". We beat ourselves up and tell ourselves that tomorrow we will start over. But we need to start changing this thought process and here is why. 

First, diets are tough. They limit the foods we eat. This in turn makes us eventually crave something that we used to eat, but aren't eating on that diet. We are depriving ourselves of certain foods, which makes our bodies want them even more. This isn't healthy, or necessary. Some people beat themselves up when they have a cheat meal. I was never one of those people. I always said oh well, gave in, and started new the next day. The problem with both of these thoughts is that we need to stop beating ourselves up for being human. For craving something. It is ok. Give in every once in a while. But this leads me to my next point.

When we deprive ourselves of something for a long time, or really restrict our foods, when we do have a "cheat meal", we end up over indulging sometimes. For me, it is cookies. I love chocolate chip cookies. I bought a box, ate the whole thing in the car, and threw away the evidence so no one could say anything and I didn't have to see what I did. That was because I restricted myself from so many things. Instead, when I happen to make cookies and eat 2 and tell my fiancé to bring the rest to work, I am fine. I eat two, am happy, and didn't "ruin" my "diet". We need to be ok with giving in every once in a while so that we don't go overboard. Above, I used the word "ruin"...which leads to me to why I said it in quotations. 

We don't ruin a diet, or fail a diet, especially when we aren't dieting in the first place. The goal is to make something sustainable. Relearn what healthy eating is. Create a healthy relationship with food. When we are on that path and that mindset, then nothing is "off limits" or "off the diet", because everything is fair game, in moderation. The key is learning that. 

It took me a long time to get to this place, but I have finally reached it. I try to eat "good" 90% of the time, which is a huge change from when I was 13 years old. The key is to do the best you can. I know I am saying this post now, and I am about to start a "diet of sorts", but it is for health reasons. I am going gluten free and dairy free for 13 weeks. This is for a medical reason instead of to lose weight. If I lose weight in the process, awesome, but that isn't the goal. A while back you might have seen some posts about me having knee pain. Well, found out I might have a gluten sensitivity, cut gluten out about 75%, and my knee pain magically went away. No joke. I was doing everything, from working out, to rehab, to ice, to rest, but my symptoms were not normal musculoskeletal symptoms. Turns out, my increase in gluten, which a nutritionist advised, ended up being horrible for me. Who knew? Well, I will be trying a gluten free thing in January for about 13 weeks, to see if other symptoms I have go away and see how I feel. While during that time I will be cutting out things, I also will make sure to make cookies one day that are gluten free. Give into those cravings when I need them. You might see me post about paleo, that is my choice because recipes are easy to find for paleo and that is gluten and dairy free so I won't have to adjust the recipes. You might also wonder why I am waiting till January. Simple...while I am telling all of you and the world about this, I do not like to cause trouble for others. Since I will be doing lots of traveling and being with family, I don't want to be a burden, and will keep it the best I can while I am there, so when I can control my food again, I will start it up. Feel free to ask questions, always happy to answer them.