If you’ve ever been on a diet, or tried to make any sort of health transformation, you’re probably all too familiar with the idea of a “Cheat Day.” In this post, I’m going to discuss my philosophy on Cheat Days (spoiler alert: why a Cheat Day SHOULDN’T be a part of your “diet”), and what you should do instead that allows you to eat treats you enjoy without feeling like a cheater (;
Cheat Days are a scheduled day in your weekly routine where you take a “break” from your typical, restrictive diet. When I say “Cheat Day,” I mean a day where you go “all out” when it comes to eating. The rules that you typically have surrounding your dietary patterns go out the window, and you spend all day eating anything and everything you want (or anything and everything in sight). These days typically follow a period of restriction, either counting calories or not allowing yourself certain foods or groups of foods. During these days, you tend to go overboard consuming foods that are likely pretty low on our Nutrient Density Scale that you aren’t normally “allowed to have” (think: highly processed foods like candy, ice cream, bagels, french fries, margaritas…you get the point).
I used to have Cheat Days myself. In fact, every Sunday would be my scheduled Cheat Day (later termed “Indulgence Day”). I remember one Sunday I went to lunch with friends and, whereas I would have normally ordered a grilled chicken salad, or a steak with veggies (two options which sounded really good at the time!) I decided that I didn’t want to waste a Cheat Meal on foods that I could otherwise fit into my “diet.” So, I had a cheeseburger with french fries and a milkshake. And when I got home, I sat on the couch and mindlessly ate candy “because I could.” This is the exact picture I am painting when I say the words “Cheat Day.” And, there are a few problems with this approach.
The Problem with Cheat Days
If you’ve ever used the Cheat Day approach to your diet, I don’t have to tell you that this type of thinking puts you into an All-or-Nothing mindset when it comes to your nutrition. You’re either “on” during the week, following your program to a T, or “off” on Cheat Days. This type of thinking can cause us to fall into the perfectionist trap: if you can’t be “perfect” with your program, there’s simply no point in trying. This is a problem because for many of us, perfect is…unrealistic. At least some of the time (or for many of us, a lot of the time!). When we have an all-or-nothing mindset with nutrition, and life forces us to be imperfect with our program, we’ll simply just be “off,” eating anything and everything we normally “aren’t allowed to,” instead of thinking of Health as a Dial and making the Best Possible Option (BPO) with our dietary choices. Obviously, leading to unwanted stalling and loss of progress when it comes to health transformation.
In addition to the All-or-Nothing mindset, Cheat Days force us into a scarcity mindset. Feeling the “need” to eat/drink everything that you normally aren’t “allowed” to. On your cheat day have you ever thought, “I’m not really hungry after dinner, but because tomorrow I’ll be back to being strict I better have some dessert and a glass of wine (or the whole bottle)”? This type of thinking pattern can lead to binging behaviors. Which can lead one to feeling guilty and shameful, and trying to restrict even more during the week until their next cheat day comes around.
Needless to say, not a good mindset to have when it comes to your health, but it also forces us to become detached from our Interoceptive Awareness, or our ability to appropriately recognize and “listen to” our internal hunger and fullness cues. A skill that is absolutely necessary when it comes to creating sustainable health transformation. And, this binge-restrict cycle can cause one to not get enough of the right nutrients their bodies need in order to help their 5 Core Systems run smoothly, and ensure their overall health.
And finally, these Cheat Days, as I’m sure many of you have experienced (I sure have!) can wreak havoc on our bodies for at least a few days afterwards (if not much, much longer)! After a Cheat Day, you try to fall asleep, but because of the food baby and uncomfortable bloating (and your digestion being revved up, and an insulin & cortisol spike from the candy binge..) you spend the evening staring at the ceiling, not getting your needed 7-8hrs of high quality sleep. You wake up in the morning feeling fuzzy, foggy minded, bloated, nauseous, w/ super low energy and even some joint pain because of the inflammation that this all-day binge caused. That’s because even one day of a high processed foods diet (read: Cheat Days) can cause gut disturbances, blood sugar dysregulation, inflammation, increased levels of stress and sleep disturbances! Not only a problem in the “now” the day after a binge, but when done repeatedly (like…week after week after week on Cheat Days..), can do some serious damage to your 5 Core Systems and your overall health.
The MINDPEAK Approach to Cheat Days
So, I know what you’re probably thinking, “so what? I can never have a break from my typical Lifestyle Diet?” And I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to hear me say, that’s not at all the case. Instead of Cheat Days, I help my clients to adopt a Mindful Treats approach to their Lifestyle Diet.
Let’s face it, candy, ice cream, French fries, and other “treats” shouldn’t be a regular part of your Lifestyle Diet. I don’t believe you should be having cookies every night, or a Pumpkin Spiced Latte every morning. That being said, I do believe that it is important to fit in treats that you enjoy and are aligned with your values into your Lifestyle Diet when it’s appropriate & you can do so mindfully.
Like I said, this shouldn’t be an everyday thing, but understanding how to fit treats into your Lifestyle Diet in a way that doesn’t derail your health goals is necessary for physical & mental wellbeing, happiness, sustainability with your health program long-term, and transforming overall health.
Why is a Mindful Treats approach better than a Cheat Day approach? For one, it helps you to see food on a Spectrum of Nutrient Density rather than just black-and-white, good-or-bad, on-or-off limits. This can help you to see Health as a Dial rather than have an all-or-nothing mindset with your nutrition program, allowing you to put your health first and make good decisions even when you can’t be perfect.
It allows you to have the treats that you want to enjoy, while still ensuring that you’re nourishing your body with high nutrient dense foods 98% of the time, without putting you into the restrict-binge cycle that derails your health goals.
It gives you atonomy into choosing what types of treats you want to enjoy and when, rather than feeling like you need to cram everything you’re not “typically allowed” to eat into one day.
It helps to build interoceptive awareness of how certain foods make your body,mind,emotions feel, and what drives your eating behavior. Being more in tune with your body’s wants and needs will allow you to recognize what your body and mind are really needing, and eat and live in a way that meets your needs most often.
Finally, it allows you to be aligned with your values more often and not just on certain days of the week. For example, your values of spending time with friends, trying local foods on vacation, and building family memories can be accommodated on any day of the week, not just cheat day.
Adopting a Mindful Treats approach to your Lifestyle Diet could look like being able to go to happy hour with your friends on a Tuesday night and enjoying some tacos and a margarita after having your normal nutrient-dense breakfast and lunch that day. Or enjoying a piece of cake for a coworker’s birthday after lunch, but still going home to cook a delicious high quality dinner rather than hitting the drive through on your way home. Or, enjoying a pizza and ice cream party with your kids on Friday night but still waking up Saturday morning and fueling your body with your normal balanced breakfast rather than scrapping the whole weekend and starting again Monday. I don’t know about you, but for me, this approach sounds much easier (and not to mention more fun!) than a Cheat Day.
Although it is a shift from a Cheat Day mindset, a Mindful Treats approach might be the exact thing that you need in order to break free from your all-or-nothing, restrict-binge, perfectionist mindset with your diet, live a more enjoyable life that’s aligned with your values, and create a Lifestyle Diet that’s sustainable for you so that you can transform your health for good. Hiring a coach can help you to figure out how you can start to adopt this approach in your lifestyle. If you want support breaking away from the Cheat Days and instead transitioning to a Mindful Treats approach, I’d love to help. Sign up for a free 30 minute coaching session here.
Stop living your life for the weekends and Cheat Days. Stop waking up Monday morning feeling bloated, groggy and guilty. Learn how to mindfully incorporate the treats you love into your Lifestyle Diet in a way that is enjoyable, but also ensures your health transformation is sustainable. For support on how to incorporate a Mindful Treats approach to your Lifestyle Diet, sign up for your free 30 minute coaching session here.