It’s Not Cheating, It’s Living!

February 11, 2019

Many of us may follow a certain type of diet (Paleo, Keto, Vegan, whatever) MOST of the time, but have certain foods or meals designated as "cheat meals." While there are certainly nutritious foods and junky foods to eat, I don't think that eating things from the junky group should be called "cheating."

The word cheating has a negative connotation -- and when we attach it to our food choices, it comes with a lot of baggage. It makes us feel a sense of failure, like we've let ourselves down when, really, it shouldn't even matter at all. To quote Robb Wolf, author the books "The Paleo Solution" and "Wired to Eat", "If you are generally eating pretty well and let’s say we eat three meals a day, seven days a week, that’s 21 meals, let’s say, 18 or 19 of those meals are generally pretty on point, two or three of those meals a week [it's fine to] kick your heels up." He goes on to say that as long as that “kick your heels up time” doesn’t make you sick or lead into three or four days of binge eating, it just doesn’t matter.

You can't be perfect all the time, nor should you try to be. Sometimes the stress of keeping your diet pristine does more damage than a diet that isn't 100% ideal. A healthy body should be resilient -- it should be able to handle a not-so-perfect food on occasion and bounce right back. Reframe your thinking around "cheat meals" -- it's not cheating, it's living!