Have a hankering for something chocolatey? This is my way of both having a plan and getting back on track. If lunch is particularly heavy, I may not need a snack that day. For me, that means if I have more French fries than normal, I balance that out by eating heaps of in-season produce in the form of a satisfying salad , layered with whole grains and quality proteins.
Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD. I take this to heart by enjoying a small bit of dark chocolate or a favorite frozen treat each day. Andrews offers her Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches as another example of a small but super-satisfying goodie. And who can resist The Best Banana Pudding served in small, individualized mason jars?
Chemicals, Refined sugar and flour, Artificial stuff, Preservatives. All our favorites have a superfood version! Her Superswap Strawberry Shortcake recipe is a great example of how to enjoy a family favorite. And try these smoothies and ice creams with real food ingredients. Want more tips like these? Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram.
Samantha Cassetty is a registered dietitian in New York City. In other words, a little junk food might go a long way to help your mental game. There's a difference between a re-feed and a cheat meal, though the two are often confused.
A cheat meal is eating something that is not part of your diet plan and is typically junk food like pizza, hamburgers or french fries.
A re-feed is a planned increase in caloric intake that lasts about 8-to hours and usually consists of a large amount of carbohydrates. Let's say you are on a strict calorie diet 5 days per week, and then you re-feed for one day on a calorie diet. The re-feed is still healthy, but you're ingesting more carbs and calories for a specific purpose.
Re-feeds are particularly important to low-calorie and low-carb dieters who need to replenish muscle glycogen and spike the metabolism by kicking up leptin levels. As long as you are following 90 percent of your diet plan, you can include cheat meals per week to stay sane.
Instead, think of it as consciously indulging, offers Tori Holthaus, R. Nutrition in Ohio. Find what matters to you — if brunch is your go-to meal , then enjoy that. If you love pizza, have a slice and really relish it. Ironically, the more guilt we feel about eating decadent food, the more likely we are to overeat," adds Caspero.
A big part of this is removing the "good" and "bad" labels from food. That new pizza place up the block may certainly seem like trouble, but hitting it up a couple of times really isn't cause for alarm.
And while, yes, the number of calories as well as the amount of salt and fat consumed during the average restaurant meal might be more than that from a DIY dinner, it's still not thousands and thousands, says Caspero. But it's not going to be after one or two nights out. Aim to stick to your healthy diet 90 percent of the time. If you eat three meals and a snack each day plus a workout shake four days a week when you exercise, which may not be true for everyone , that means you eat 32 times per week.
Twenty-nine of those 32 meals and snacks should stick to your healthy diet plan, leaving three to do whatever you want. It sounds simple, but once you start tracking your adherence to your diet plan, you'll be surprised how easy it is to skip a meal or grab a quick, refined sugar-rich snack when you're short on time and, next thing you know, you're calling it a cheat day.
Too rigorous a diet and you'll be missing out on the local flavor — whether in a new city or the one you live in — so don't beat yourself up about it. Or, in the wise words of Donna and Tom from Parks and Rec , "treat yo-self! But if you plan ahead and reward yourself for a week of sticking to your diet and exercise plan with a bowl not a pint of creamy, cookie dough-laden ice cream, that feels different. Plan your treats so that you can truly enjoy them and not binge one after the other on a so-called cheat day.
BTW, you might also want to try some of the best healthy ice cream brands next time you're cheers-ing to a week of balanced bites. Surprisingly, knowing that you can "cheat" anytime usually lessens any desire food has over you, so tossing those constraints will actually help you need restrictions less.
And remember that cravings can go either way: "I often find that choosing healthy food once makes it easier to choose healthy food again, just like with indulging," adds Holthaus. It's not just about weight gain or the psychological spiral of indulging in unhealthy fare.
Junk food can mess with your gut health, which can affect how well you process food and how your body gains weight not to mention, how it's able to absorb nutrients , as well. Research shows consistency in your diet helps support a healthy gut microbiome , so having a go-to cheat day-inspired meal can actually help ease the turmoil it causes your GI tract, says Holthaus.
And instead of intentionally restricting and then eating something straight-up unhealthy just once or twice a week, you're actually better off incorporating healthy-ish treats on the regular, so you never feel desperate for the flavors you crave.
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