Why I HATE "Cheat Meals"!

Hey Beauties!

You may be reading the title, and be thinking "girl, what are you talking about CHEAT meals are the best!". The truth is, I agree, they are great, who doesn't enjoy indulging in their coveted cheat meal?! Now, what I don't like is putting words like "cheat" in front of it, and I will tell you why.

The word "cheat" by definition means: act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage, especially in a game or examination. Cheating, naturally, often leads to feelings of guilt. Guilt is defined as the fact of having committed a specified or implied offence or crime, or as a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation.

Now, knowing what the word cheat and guilt mean, and knowing that those words generally make us feel a negative way, and play a HUGE psychological role in our lives, and will dramatically effect the our relationship with food, why would we want to attach a word like that, to something like food!

Food is one of those things that is inescapable. It is literally necessary to sustain life. It is EVERYWHERE you go, and your body literally sends signals from the brain telling you when you need it. Knowing that, why would you want to make any part of a life sustaining action be associated with guilt?

I feel like we, especially women, attach so much emotion to our food. Have a bad day at school? Not to worry, there is something yummy in the oven waiting to cheer you up! Going through a tough break up? Have to fear, Ice Cream is HERE...by the carton! Got a promotion at work? Let's go out for dinner to celebrate! Get a good grade on your exam? Time to break out some celebratory goodies for a job well done!

I'm not sure about you, but that is 100% how I relate to food, and it is not until recently I realized how much my emotional attachment to food. It wasn't until I looked at my history with certain foods I realized that this was how I held food in my mind. I have been working really hard the last few weeks to change my mindset on certain foods, especially things like chocolates and sweets, chips, pizza, and my absolute favourite thing, BURGERS!

I started changing the way I ate a few weeks ago, and I was still finding myself hung up on my "cheat meals" each week. I would work super hard in the weeks and then have these "cheat meals" and feel such immense guilt. I would feel like I had failed, like I had ruined all my progress, like I wasn't having any progress because of this one "cheat meal", beyond disappointed in myself that I caved for this "cheat meal" and then indulged and just felt horrible.

Now, some of you will read this and say "Sarah, relax it's one Cheat Meal you're not going to ruin your progress with one meal!" and for the most part you would be right! However, when you have SUCH an emotional relationship with food, and then you put guilt into the mix, it snowballs! FAST!

The next thing you know, your are feeling guilt for having your "cheat meal" and guilt pulls you to indulge because of a wild variety of negative emotions floating around your head all because you cheated! You did a bad thing! Just like cheating on a test is forbidden, and you feel that same guilty feeling when you "cheat" in your nutrition! You feel like you're not strong enough, or dedicated enough to your goals when you "cheat" regardless if it is part of the plan or not.

This is the feelings I was having. This was the process and the winding road I would go down each and every weekend when it was time for my cheat meal, and instead of enjoying it, I felt guilty and defeated.

So this week, I had a mental shift. What IF I could find alternatives to these meals, and just make healthier options. This way, I could still enjoy my favourite foods, and not have an overload of saturated fats and refined sugars.

This weekend I tackled my sweet tooth and made healthy Reeses Pieces! I used dark chocolate, and natural peanut butter, honey and sea salt and let me tell you, they are AMAZING!

I had one last night (and the night before that), and I didn't feel bad about it! I knew the ingredients in the treat, I knew it was a better option than prepackaged stuff, and I actually enjoyed it and had no guilt. That's how food SHOULD be!

So over the course of the next few weeks I am going to try my vert best to create healthier versions of my favourite "cheat" meals so I don't have to spend so much money each week eating out, and so I can ENJOY the food I am having without feeling guilt.

Food is fuel- nothing more, nothing less. Food fuels our body to do GREAT things! It gives us energy to go through life and do the things we ask our body to do. So, this is me, embarking on a journey to create a better relationship with food. I am learning to appreciate it, and remove the negative emotions from the equation.

This is not to say it will be an easy journey, but it is one to finding balance, and building healthy lifestyle that is sustainable long term, and above all, enjoyable!

Until next time,

Be Kind to yourself!

- Sarah