There's
no such thing as Cheating
By Chad
Tackett (Sincere thanks to Chad for letting me reprint this
article here!)
There's no right or wrong way to eat. Healthy eating is all
about motivation, balance, and flexibility. There will be
times when you eat a high-fat meal or eat beyond fullness,
or when your schedule gets so busy that you miss a workout.
This happens. It's normal. But it's very important that you
don't get down on yourself and abandon your new healthy
lifestyle when this happens.
If you're like most people, your reaction to these
diet/fitness obstacles is guilt. You feel as if all your
hard work has been for nothing. "I blew it; I was doing
so well. Oh well, I might as well enjoy this weekend and
start over on Monday." Or even worse: "I just
don't have the motivation or will power to start over and be
successful. I quit."
Feeling
defeated, many people discontinue the healthy living and
return to their old routine until some mythical time in the
future: "Maybe this spring will be a better time to
start over again." This kind of scenario is a perfect
example of the diet mentality at work.
An all-or-nothing attitude is why so many people have so
little success; we choose structured programs because they
relieve us from making choices for ourselves. A properly
designed program makes sense, but expecting to stick to a
structured eating and exercise plan for an extended period
of time without ever deviating makes no sense at all.
In fact, this
is so unrealistic as to be a set-up for failure. If you
begin to change your habits with the assumption that any
deviation from your plan will ruin it, you might as well not
even begin. Life is full of unplanned obstacles,
distractions, and temptations. Your best approach is to
prepare for them, keeping an open mind and maintaining a
positive attitude.
It's very important that you begin your healthier lifestyle
with an understanding that there will be days when you will
stray from healthy eating and exercising. Before you begin,
tell yourself that no matter what happens, rather than
abandoning your new lifestyle, you'll resume your healthy
habits as soon as you can; it is equally important that you
feel confident, not guilty, about doing so.
Whatever the
temptation or obstacle is, keep in mind that it's not wrong
or bad to eat fattening foods once in a while or to miss a
workout. Just remember to resume your healthy lifestyle. If
you keep moving forward and you don't let guilt and
discouragement stop your program all together, you'll
eventually have improved eating and exercise habits.
With this approach, there is no such thing as cheating. When
we feel we are cheating, we often punish ourselves; we make
ourselves feel guilty, frustrated and defeated. Replacing
the negative concept of "cheating" with the idea
of "straying from healthy habits" takes away the
all-or-nothing emphasis on right and wrong. If you treat
every deviation from your plan as a failure, you won't get
very far.
Substituting the idea of a brief straying away from your
plan instead of feeling guilty, and learning to return more
and more quickly to healthier habits, is more realistic.
It's also easier and more enjoyable.
In the non-diet approach, all foods are legal. There are no
"good" foods or "bad" foods. You must
believe this. Sudden changes and/or drastic restrictions of
high-fat foods when you have a preference or craving for fat
will result in feelings of deprivation.
No one can or
should go through life depriving themselves of foods they
really enjoy. You must learn how to make gradual healthy
changes to the foods you love while experimenting with and
learning to appreciate new flavors and textures.
A recent survey showed that more than 75 percent of people
feel guilty about eating so-called "bad" foods.
The greatest obstacle to adopting healthy eating habits is
guilt.
Attaching a
value to foods only makes you feel bad for eating them. When
you do decide to eat a high-fat food, enjoy it. Don't beat
yourself up over it. Just make a special effort to eat
low-fat the rest of the day.
Remember,
there is nothing wrong with splurging now and then. It can
even be good for you if the satisfaction of a higher-fat
meal that you've been craving helps you stick with a low-fat
lifestyle the rest of the time.
If you're having a special diet meal that's different from
what the rest of your family or friends are eating, you'll
feel as though you're being punished.
In order to be
successful in changing your eating habits, you must look
forward to and enjoy each meal you eat. This doesn't mean
that you have to learn to like rice cakes and celery. It
means you must learn how to make simple changes in the foods
you love.
Perhaps one of your favorite meals is fried chicken, a baked
potato, and salad. Small changes in how the food is prepared
can turn this traditionally high-fat meal into a low-fat
well- balanced one. Simply marinating a skinless chicken
breast in sweet and sour sauce, rolling it in bread crumbs,
and baking it makes the chicken a lot less fattening than if
it's fried.
Instead of
butter or regular sour cream on your potato, try low-fat or
nonfat sour cream or a reduced fat ranch dressing. Try using
a non-fat or low-fat salad dressing rather than a regular
dressing and adding as many vegetables to your salad as
possible for their additional flavor, texture and nutrients.
Any or all of these changes drastically reduce the amount of
fat in the meal without sacrificing flavor or feelings of
satisfaction.
Healthy eating patterns can only occur when you're enjoying
all the foods you eat. If you're eating low-fat foods just
to be healthy but without enjoying the flavors and textures
or how they make you feel, this most likely won't be a
permanent change. However, if you begin enjoying healthy
foods, you're far more likely to stick with healthy eating
for life.
Many people also enjoy eating out but associate this with
being "bad" or eating "illegal" foods.
Fortunately, it is very possible to eat a healthy, low-fat
meal in a restaurant. You don't need to forego your favorite
foods or eat before you go out with friends or family.
The same
decision-making process occurs whether you eat at home or go
out to a restaurant. Many people think that they have two
options when eating: eating for taste and pleasure or eating
for health.
As you learn
and practice healthy eating techniques, these two options
will become one and the same. Good luck and enjoy all the
wonderful benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle.
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to eat, when you want and as much as you want and most
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