~ Eat more hole foods ~

Your food shouldn’t have rules. I don’t do cheat days. What do cheat days represent? It means breaking the rules around which you’re consuming foods in the first place. These rigid rules can lead you down a disastrous path. You’re always better off setting healthy, flexible guidelines that allow for some spontaneity, rather than trying to achieve an unsustainable level of perfection around eating.

Guidelines offer flexibility. Rules do not.

For most people, trying to setup very strict food rules can lead to either disordered eating OR cracking under pressure, leading to binging. Neither is good. Orthorexia nervosa is a type of disordered eating that involves an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating leading to anxiety and mental health issues.

After we ‘cheat’ we might feel crappy after with the need to overcompensate by working out harder or eating lesser. It’s simpler to follow an 80-20 guideline where you eat for your health 80% of the time, and 20% of the time for your soul.

Balancing this with a healthy lifestyle (consistent exercise, good sleeping habits) will keep you on track. Better than cheat meals are spontaneous indulgences, within reason.

Eat whole foods. Avoid processed ones. Be consistent. Form sustainable habits.