On my forum forays this week I've noticed a lot of self-berating with regard to holiday cheating on diets. (Meat and Eggers For Life Forum, Active Low Carber Forum) I think people talk about cheating and going “off” low carb eating because it's way easier to rationalize some extra calories as a treat or a hungry day, but eating foods that are specifically not allowed – like cakes, bread, chips or candy – is a categorical cheat.
I enjoyed my first cheat-free Christmas this year. I definitely ate more low carb treats than normal (like the delicious three-minute chocolate cake...recipe coming soon!) However, this kept me from feeling deprived without setting me up for carb cravings and a blood sugar rollercoaster.
After reading some of the more
miserable posts about feeling ashamed and saddened by going off plan
and gaining weight, I had to post my thoughts on cheating.
I think the most damaging part of
"cheating" is the psychological guilt and torment of
feeling like you're eating all these "wrong" foods. Food
cannot be inherently evil or good. It's just food. Sure, some of it
is nutritionally deficient (sugar, flour, many grains) and ultimately
harmful to health but that doesn't make it morally bad - just not
optimum fuel.
I read in Marc David's Nutritional
Wisdom that if you eat while stressed the food you consume will
sit in your stomach like a rock and be undigested for hours. Your
body goes into fight-or-flight mode, and sends blood flowing into
your limbs and away from your core in order to prepare you for an
escape or a battle.
So, whatever you decide to eat, whatever
plan you decide to follow, eat with joy. If you're going to eat sweet
stuff, at least enjoy it! Eating it with a sense of shame and guilt
will only make the effects on your body worse.
In the end, for me, the taste wasn't
worth it this Christmas. Maybe on another occasion or another
holiday, I'll weigh my options and decide that enjoying the taste of
a higher carb food will be worth the aftereffects. I've found it much
easier to take this less harsh approach to cheating. Maybe it's
something of the forbidden fruit effect: if I am at peace with the
possibility of going off-plan, I'm less tempted to do so.
Finally, one of my resolutions for this
new year is to update more regularly, posting menus to keep myself
accountable and also to give a clearer picture of my diet. Happy New
Year!
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