"Treat" Yourself to a Healthy Life
“Planned indulgences or treats are important in a diet because they give people something to look forward to and help avoid bingeing on favorite foods that are off-limits, dietitians said. Registered dietitian Mascha Davis recommends dieters have a portion-controlled treat every day, because if people love what they eat, they do not need to cheat.”- CNN (11/30/18)
If I had a dollar for every time someone saw me eating a treat and said “YOU eat THAT?!”, man, I would be rich! Yes, I have a sweet tooth. Yes, my handsome hubba hubba has turned me onto savory treats, too. The beauty of following a balanced diet is that it allows for flexibility to include such foods on a fairly regular basis. As with anything, this inclusion should be in moderation.
I don’t totally love the verbiage “planned” as used above, and here’s why: when we “plan” for our indulgences to be on a particular day or at a particular meal, we often build that indulgence up to be SO big in our minds that we completely over-do it when the time comes. It creates a mindset that this “cheat meal” is the only meal of the week allowed to be enjoyable, resulting in a feeling of restriction all other times. While I believe saving more calorically-dense meals for days on which you perform intense physical activity (for example, leg day) is a wise tactic, this is based on simple logic of calories consumed vs. calories burned – not the premise of waiting ALLLL week to have your huge cheat meal on leg day.
Are we following the logic here? Let me explain further.
For many of my clients, I do recommend consuming a “portion-controlled treat” on most days. Examples of this include a small savory splurge with lunch, a Yasso bar following dinner, or perhaps a piece of dark chocolate after breakfast. As I always preach, we are all very psychological creatures. This is particularly true regarding dietary habits. If we know we can’t have something, we want it WAY more than normal. Allowing yourself a small indulgence on most days prevents the mental restriction of “I can’t have that”. It also helps with avoiding overindulging at times when you do allow yourself to enjoy your favorite treats. The “portion-controlled” descriptor used here is important to note, though. Anything consumed daily should be properly portioned. Pre-packaged items are often very helpful for ensuring we respect portion size and stay within our energy needs.
While everyone’s nutrient needs are different, some allowing more flexibility than others, most of us can afford a small “extra” at the aforementioned frequency. To those of you who are resistant to this idea, let’s define the primary goal: to maintain nourishing dietary habits LONG-TERM. Including small treats daily may contribute to success with the majority of your intake consisting of healthy, nourishing foods. Think of it this way, which sounds like the better bet: 50 extra calories daily for the rest of your life (may support maintaining a healthy weight) OR 0 extra calories while “dieting” followed by 500+ extra calories on most other days. I’ll let you infer my suggested answer. 😊
If you are curious about how to apply the described tactic of dietary flexibility to your eating pattern, please reach out and we can map it out together!