While it’s possible to achieve rapid weight loss with extreme (i.e., unsustainable) diets, a permanent change in dietary habits is generally required for long-term success. In other words, the best way to lose weight and keep it off is to settle into dietary habits that you can sustain for the rest of your life. Since the desire to enjoy food is part of being human, some level of periodic indulgence or “cheating” is practically a necessity for any diet to be sustainable. This leads to the big question: to what extent can we indulge in a cheat meal while still supporting good health and a desirable body composition?
I don’t like the cheat meal concept because cheating implies a deviation from the plan. If well-managed consumption of not-so-healthy food is part of the plan, then it’s not really cheating. The key here is “well-managed,” which will be the focus of this article.
Know Your Tendencies
Capacity to tolerate and properly manage cheat meals and unhealthy food choices depends on addictive tendencies, metabolic health, outlook on food, discipline, and a variety of other factors. Therefore, this capacity is highly individual. One person’s ability to stay lean and healthy despite eating a large bowl of ice cream every day certainly doesn’t mean the next person will have the same luck. Likewise, one person’s satisfaction with just a single spoonful of ice cream says nothing about the same spoonful provoking other people to binge and consume the entire container.
Many processed foods are easy to overeat because of varying combinations of sugar, fat, salt, and flour intentionally used to enhance taste. As such, these foods are referred to as hyperpalatable. Research on these foods has demonstrated that they can induce addictive behavior and brain activity resembling the response to addictive drugs. We all vary in our susceptibility to addictive behavior, so the “anything in moderation” approach is clearly not for everyone.
If you’re the type of person who has trouble stopping when eating hyperpalatable foods, then you’ll need to be more strategic about how you “cheat.” As disappointing as this may be, understanding it can be empowering and make the difference between being lean or obese. For some people, eating hyperpalatable foods in moderation is like a recovering alcoholic trying to drink in moderation – it doesn’t work and can have disastrous consequences. Fortunately, there’s plenty of opportunity to enjoy your diet without eating hyperpalatable foods.
Know Your Health
Most people who change their diet do so because they want to lose weight, and most of these people originally became overweight through years of poor eating habits that led to insulin resistance, which is basically the beginning of pre-diabetes. In fact, more than two-thirds of the American population being overweight, and consistent with this, more than half of the population is pre-diabetic or diabetic.
Insulin resistance basically means a decreased tolerance for dietary carbohydrate, which is often caused by years of excessive carbohydrate consumption. Someone who is insulin resistant has a much smaller margin for “cheating” with foods containing sugar or refined carbohydrates. It will take far less of these foods to stall or even reverse weight loss and accelerate the progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes, or even worse, promote diabetic complications. You may know someone who is blind or has had part of a limb amputated due to diabetes. This is a shame because these consequences are easily avoidable in most cases. How much are you willing to sacrifice for a sugar high?
If you have a chronic health condition that is in any way influenced by nutrition (most are, and particularly by sugar and refined carbohydrates), your margin for cheating is not only likely to be much smaller, but the consequences also much greater. Don’t feel defeated by this, but rather accept it for what it is and take advantage of the opportunity you still have to live a better life!
If you’re unsure of your metabolic health, consider using a glucose monitor. Test your blood sugar each hour for 3 to 4 hours after eating various foods and meals. If your blood glucose exceeds 120 mg/dL at any point or never returns to below 100 mg/dL, then you probably have some level of insulin resistance and will more than likely benefit from paying closer attention to your carbohydrate intake and being extra cautious with your “cheating.” (This is not intended to be medical advice – find a well-informed physician if you think you need further assessment and treatment for insulin resistance.)
Beware of “Cheating” Accumulation
There are two ways that incomplete awareness of your tendencies can lead to an accumulation of poor dietary habits that promote weight gain and poor health. The first is not recognizing signs of addictive behavior. One small serving of ice cream tastes so good that you want it again the next day and again the day after. Before you know it, you’re eating ice cream every day and also having larger portions of it, similar to a drug addict needing a higher dosage to get the same high. You might even be telling yourself that you’re eating the ice cream in moderation and everything is fine – until you notice weight gain, health problems, or both.
Even if you have the discipline and will power to overcome the cravings that will likely arise during the days following consumption of hyperpalatable food, fighting these cravings is certainly not fun and arguably makes the short-lived pleasure not worth it. Furthermore, will power is finite and if you frequently find yourself fighting cravings, it’s likely just a matter of time before you have a stressful day and succumb.
The second way accumulation becomes a problem, which is yet another reason why “anything in moderation” fails, is that even if you can stop eating hyperpalatable food after a small serving, you may find yourself eating a wide variety of these foods. You may have no problem limiting yourself to a small bowl of ice cream once per week, but add to that the moderate amount of fried food, pastries, candy, desserts, and other hyperpalatable foods that you’re also eating and the overall sum is a poor-quality diet likely to promote weight gain and poor health.
To avoid these problems, be clear on what you consider a cheat meal or a cheat food and be well aware of how many times per week you’re willing to let yourself consume them. And remember, the more lax you are in what you consider “cheating,” the less favorable your results will be.
Find Better “Cheat” Foods
My wife LOVES ice cream, but can literally stop after a few small spoonfuls. On the rare occasion I get ice cream with her, I order the smallest size possible and have no shame in ordering kid size (which is sadly still pretty big). I do this because I know I’ll eat every last drop regardless of how small or large the portion size is. Similarly, I’ll eat pizza until my stomach feels like it’s going to explode. But I know my tendencies, which is part of the reason why I almost never eat these foods or eat more reasonable alternatives.
If you’re lucky enough to have the superpower my wife has and are in good health, then go for it! Eat what you want for a cheat meal, but with awareness of the potential for the accumulation described earlier. If you’re more like me, a better choice is to find safer alternatives. For example, buy low-carb ice cream, or better yet, make your own with coconut milk and a modest amount of sweetener. But be aware that even these alternatives can be easy to overeat. A safe approach is to make your own “cheat” foods from the healthiest ingredients and to make them taste good, but not addictingly good. Another example of this is cauliflower-crust pizza, which we’ll be posting a recipe for soon. Dark chocolate (~75% or higher) is yet another example.
Embrace Enjoyment More than Pleasure
The first time I ever made a considerable change to my diet, I cut out all sources of sugar. Three months later, I had a sip of orange juice and immediately spit it out because the sweetness was so intense and repulsive (I previously drank orange juice frequently). The point here is that taste changes with dietary changes.
The best way to nutritionally support your health, appearance, and overall wellbeing is through a diet comprised nearly entirely of whole foods. And just to be clear, we do not consider bread, pasta, or any other grain-based foods to be whole foods, even if made with “whole” grains.
After several months, or maybe even just a few weeks of eating mostly whole foods, your taste will likely change and you’ll likely notice yourself appreciating and enjoying these foods more. This is the ideal situation because you’ll be much more satisfied with your diet and will have less desire for “cheating.” When something like fresh cooked salmon and steamed greens glazed with butter and cinnamon and served with a side of avocado sounds like an exciting dinner, you’re in a good place. At this point, you’ll also likely notice yourself losing weight and feeling better, which you’ll hopefully appreciate as being far more valuable than the few minutes of pleasure gained from hyperpalatable food.
Learn from Your Mistakes
After making a poor dietary decision, some people perceive it as total failure and consequently return to terrible eating habits, often with a case of depression. I don’t know anyone, including myself, who eats perfectly according to plan all of the time. Make good of the frustration you feel after a poor choice by using it as motivation to make better choices. And remind yourself that you’re only ever one good meal away from being back on track.
Final Thoughts
There’s a difference between enjoying your food and gaining pleasure from it. There’s no reason why a healthy diet (with or without weight loss) can’t be enjoyable. For most of us, however, consistently looking to gain pleasure from food often comes at the cost of health and appearance. The way I see it is that feeling good (and looking good) feels better than tasting good tastes. Which is more important to you, short-term pleasure or long-term health and fulfillment?
You don’t have to be perfect, but having the right perspective (and the right priorities) will lead you to better decisions most of the time and, in turn, greater success with your health and weight loss goals.
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