Do you consider yourself a cheater?
Very often when I talk to people that try really hard to eat healthy, they’re very likely to reference their “cheat” days/meals. I have a friend who says French fries are on her list of “cheat” foods. Are you one of those people?
I have to tell you I don’t like that term - “cheat”. If you are living a healthy lifestyle around food there is no such thing as cheating. We make choices in life and in the food we eat. If you choose to eat something that you know will not make you feel good, that is NOT cheating. That IS a choice.
The point of having a healthy relationship with food is the opportunity to choose food and enjoy what you are eating. If you choose food that does not serve you, then the goal is that you be aware of why you make that decision at that time. Was there no better choice available? Is that a food that you think you can’t live without? Whatever the reason, if the “cheat” days/foods don’t serve you, you may want to address the circumstances in the future.
In my book, “Freedom From A Toxic Relationship With Food: A Journey That Will Give You Your Life Back”, I talk about one of the greatest tools to being committed to a consistently healthy relationship with food is to arm yourself with healthy options wherever you are. To talk about “cheating,” you are referencing a “dieting” behavior and not something that happens when you have allowed your body to adapt to craving, only healthy foods. In the book I also address why “dieting” does not work to manage our weight OR our health. Finally, I created our Read The Ingredients Superloafs, so that I would have packaged (mobile) food that I knew was good for me at all times.
I want to explain why this was top of mind for me now. I went out to dinner recently to celebrate my daughter-in-law’s birthday. She chose a Chinese restaurant. I know that the oils they use in Chinese restaurants are not good for me. But I made a choice to eat it and asked that it be minimized. I feel a bit off this morning, but I have to say, I enjoyed being out with family and I actually enjoyed eating the food I ordered. That’s when it dawned on me that calling it a “cheat” meal/day/food is out of my vocabulary, and I encourage others to remove it. It implies a bit of shaming which should never be included once you develop a healthy relationship with food. “Cheating” is a word we use when we are dieting … and you know what I think about that.