Nutrition Challenge Week 8: Can You Have Your Cake and Eat it Too?
Just Desserts:
Often when we try to lose weight, the first thing we do is take out all sweets and desserts in our diet. However, thinking certain foods are off-limits is a big reason why you might have a difficult relationship with food. It’s time to break that unhealthy mindset.
As we’ve discussed in past weeks, your focus should be on the realization that your body is different from the bodies of your friends, family, and famous people who promote certain diets. Ignoring this reality and doing what they do might work, but if it isn’t a good fit for you, it’s inevitably going to fail.
One major issue with diets is their proposal of the magic-bullet theory. This theory states that you can eat as much as you want of certain foods because they’re ‘healthy’. While the foods might be nutritious, if you eat too much of anything, you will gain weight. And remember: A healthy diet is not the same as a diet that helps you lose weight. What?? It’s true; healthy foods, while good for you, still have their limits and can still make you gain weight.
No one food will make you fat, and no one food will make you thin. So stop asking, “Is this a good food?” You create a terrible relationship with food when you think you have to completely avoid what you love. This instills a mindset of restriction, which leads to frustration, which leads to a lack of consistency, which leads to giving up on a diet, which leads to unhealthy eating patterns, and then finally feeling worse than you did when you started.
With any nutrition approach, you want to make sure you’re eating vegetables, fruits, whole grains, proteins, and healthy fats. But that doesn’t mean you only have to eat these foods. While they should make up the majority of your diet, the rest is free for you to choose. In fact, if you are constantly craving something because you’re told you can’t have it, you want more. But when you have the option to eat something you enjoy every day, the desire to eat all of a dessert tends to be diminished.
Remember: Through all of this challenge and in your lifestyle afterwards, your job is to prioritize your health, not to be perfect.
Week 8 Recipe
2 Ingredient Fluff Cake: Easy, delicious, and low calorie!
Weekly Challenge:
Can You Have Your Cake and Eat it Too?: Dessert Challenge
Why It’s Important: When we make food off limits, we set ourselves up for diet disaster. Instead of getting rid of desserts, learn to eat them in moderation.
Your Challenge: Take a look at how often and how much dessert you eat in a typical week. Talk with your health coach about what is an appropriate amount for you and work on implementing that this week.
