The Danger of Cheat Meals

Diet culture has a sneaky way of getting itself into almost every area of food & wellness. Certain behaviors that are seemingly “normal” can actually be destructive towards your own path towards food freedom.

Let’s say you’re following a new diet that allows you to totally throw ALL your food rules out the window once a week and gives you permission to dive spoon-first into an entire tub of ice cream (or pizza, or chocolate, or pancakes, whatever your vice is). Sounds pretty tempting doesn’t it?

But is this once a week cheat meal really helpful? Or is it hurting your relationship with food even more?

Cheat meals can easily morph into binges in disguise for someone who struggles with emotional eating. And it can cause obsessive restriction in preparation for the big meal to come. These epic meals reinforce diet culture and the binge-restrict mentality that causes food issues to begin with!

Often times, these diets that glorify cheat meals are also glorifying restriction to some degree. You feel like you have to tiptoe around food all week long until the day comes that you can finally enjoy food. Any set of rules or guidelines around food that cause you overthink every meal should be avoided. You want to eat to live not live to eat.  

If you’re someone who indulges in cheat meals, take a look at your feelings before, during, and after to see if cheat meals are really right for you. Ask yourself:

Did I skip breakfast to save up calories?

Did I eat only raw veggies for lunch because I knew dinner was going to be a 4 course meal plus dessert?

How did I feel after the cheat meal? Satisfied? Guilty? Stuffed?!

And remember to take inventory of how you feel while eating. Are you present with each bite or do you black out and keep eating until your stomach is in pain?

If your relationship with cheat meals is a little rocky, try to incorporate these “cheat foods” into your daily life so you can learn to LIVE with the foods you love and truly begin to change the way you look at food. Have a slice of pizza with your family on a Friday night, go out for ice cream and enjoy the summer sunsets, have a glass of sangria on the porch on a Wednesday evening. You’ll find real freedom here!