Let’s be honest here. We’ve all had a cheat meal, a cheat day (even a cheat few weeks) at some point. Yep, even us!
Question is: is the odd cheat day actually okay?
Are these kinds of “preapproved” lapses an easy way to keep us on the healthy eating path? Or do they just leave us sliding down the Allen’s Snakes after all that hard work climbing the low-sugar Ladders?
For some people, the occasional treat makes it easier to live a low-sugar life.
Cheat days have found popularity in the wellness world as a way for the nutritionally conscious among us to indulge a junky tooth without the perceived guilt. This, some say, makes it much easier to stick to healthy eating most of the time.
There’s even some research to suggest that the odd preplanned splurge might have physiological benefits as well as mental ones. But scientists agree more investigation is needed.
For others, breaking sugar addiction really is all or, well, nothing.
At the end of the day, sugar is addictive. And for some of us it can be really hard to get back on the sugar-free wagon once we’ve reboarded the blood sugar rollercoaster. It’s just a slippery sugary slope back to junk food town.
Plus, positioning some foods as naughty “cheat” foods might establish some unhealthy emotions around food, making that perceived guilt 100 times worse when we indulge outside of our “cheat day” parameters.
Finding YOUR food freedom.
So, is a cheat day a-okay? Well, while we probably wouldn’t recommend a whole day, the odd cheat meal shouldn’t send you astray.
The idea here is that we’re able to have something sweet if the situation (or the taste buds) decree, without spinning off into sugar land. Then we get straight back to JERF.
It comes down to listening to your body, figuring out what works for you, and not beating yourself up if you do allow yourself that slice of cake. This is what living a low-sugar life is really all about.
We originally published this post in August 2016. We updated it in April 2017.
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