When you’re on a diet, there’s no cheating!
No snickers bars no French fries no ice cream, no good stuff! Right? NO!
The “diets” that don’t let you have that stuff are not long-term solutions to weight loss and weight maintenance.
But I Love Junk Food!!!!!
If you love foods like chocolate, beer, or ice cream, you should eat them (in moderation) but still not deprive yourself completely.
If you don’t, you’re going to binge the first chance you get, throwing off your progress, then experiencing guilt, and then frustration for all the time and energy spent avoiding these foods for so long, and on and on and on and on. STOP the madness!!!!
The solution is simple.
- Learn the difference between a Health Food and a Cheat Food
- Eat 90% heath foods 10% cheat foods. In other words, Cut The Crap most of the time.
(Note: if you’re used to eating cheat foods every day all day, an 80/20 switch will produce amazing results)
Healthy foods are Whole Foods:
- fruits
- Veggies
- Raw meat
- Eggs
- Beans
- Nuts
- Rice, quinoa
Fruits and veggies can be fresh or frozen.
Whole Foods are jam packed with nutrients. You’ll notice these foods have distinct natural colors, flavors, and aromas. Whole Foods contain micronutrients which is just a fancy word for vitamins. These are things the vitamins in the bottle are made to mimic. The stuff that grows in nature is easier for your body to absorb and use.
Cheat foods are the 3 “P”s +/or high in sugar
- processed
- Packaged
- Preserved
- High in sugar
Some examples of cheat foods would be
- Candy
- Coke
- Chips, crackers, Cheez-Its
- Cookies/cake
- Cereal
- Ice Cream
- Alcohol
Cheat foods are called “junk food” for a reason. They are high in calories usually because of sugar or fat and do not provide very much nutritional value (compared to the micronutrients in whole foods).
Because these foods don’t have a lot of nutrients, they are not filling. For example, you could eat a whole bag of potato chips and still be hungry after.
Examples
Some examples of cheat foods that appear to be health foods or fall somewhere in between the cheat food/health food continuum.
- bread – processed
- Juice – High in added sugar (or artificial sugar)
- Cheese – highly processed
- Milk – processed
- Soy products, (i.e., tofu) – processed
Eating a healthy diet, most of the time not only will help you lose weight and keep it off, but will allow you to enjoy your cheat foods, give into cravings, or eat what you want, so long as you keep it in check.
So, stop the crazy notion that you have the willpower to give up chocolate, beer, and ice cream for the rest of your life. Let’s face it, they’re way to delicious and prevalent to avoid.
You don’t have to, so don’t! Start your healthy eating and start cheating your way to weight loss today.
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