As a #honolulupersonaltrainer, I am often asked my opinion on “cheat meals” and if I allow my clients to have them.
I don’t allow or deny my clients anything. I work alongside them to create the best #musclesandmoderation plan for them.
I do not believe in “cheat meals” because they perpetuate the “forbidden” food thinking which results in preoccupation and increased cravings of the foods labeled “bad.”
You tell yourself you will be PERFECT all week for that one cheat meal. That day comes and you know what happens? You end up eating WAY MORE of those foods you deemed “bad.”
Think about it this way: cheat meals are another way we’ve continued to contort our relationship to food to try to trick our bodies and ourselves into staying on diets.
So Lee-Ann, what’s the middle ground? Does that mean I can never eat any “cheat meal worthy” foods again?
Of course not! It’s about navigating the middle; finding a balance between #starving and #stuffed between #restriction and #overindulgence. It’s the very concept I teach as a #Moderation365 Nutrition Coach.
How do you start this? Give #intermittentsampling a try! It is the practice of tasting everything, and binging on nothing. Use it to teach yourself the art of moderation.
Instead of depriving yourself completely Monday thru Thursday, start giving yourself a little wiggle room.
What is that ONE forbidden food you’ve put on your bad list? Let me know what it is below.
One of my forbidden foods was this delicious, buttery, cinnamon sweet bread. I never kept it in the house because I didn’t trust myself around that food.
I want you to buy that forbidden food and have 1 portion of that food every day for a week. Yes, I know it’s SCARY but trust me, after allowing yourself 1 portion of that food every night, but the end of the week, that same food will not hold the same power over you anymore!
Let’s do it together. Tell me your off your limit food and let’s change that narrative for good!
