Hello Monday! While I certainly enjoy the weekend, I also never hate when Monday hits. The worst thing about it is that Nate goes back to work, but I so enjoy a fresh start too. We’ve got a fun week this week, and I’m going to be B U S Y planning out my sessions for my favorite conference! Luckily we’ve started to sort of get A on a more predictable sleep schedule, so my hope is that I can get more done in the coming weeks. So many fun things in the works!
Let’s talk about cheating, shall we? Cheating in the sense of eating what you’re not supposed to that is. I hate the idea of a cheat day or cheat meal more than just about anything. It brings this sense of dread that I may not be able to stop, and a that a cheat day will turn into a cheat week which will then segway into a cheat year. I blame it on past disordered eating practices – binging and then self-shaming and then repeat. Not a great place as you can imagine.
Through the process of Whole30 a few things have come up:
- The program itself is super strict. Like almost too much so in my opinion, although Nate made a good point that you almost HAVE TO be super strict or else you’ll be set up for failure. Looking back I don’t know if doing Whole30 was a great option for me to do while nursing because my supply has gone down a LOT until…
- I gave myself the OK to cheat a little. And by cheat a little I mean eat a bowl of oatmeal, unsweetened, with raisins, blueberries and fresh peaches once a day. I try to have it earlier in the day – a kind of mid-morning snack – and my supply has gone back up. That plus lots of water has helped immensely!
- We were supposed to have a date night Saturday that went south after the babysitter called and cancelled. Luckily I have a rockstar husband who made a killer steak dinner, and we enjoyed a glass of wine together afterwards. I felt so satisfied and indulgent and good about it all!
- We’re going to finish out the month strong, and have been talking about what principles we’ll be applying in the future. We are both enjoying feeling less bloated, and I even noticed I’m craving sugar much less. Sounds like a win!
So I’ve cheated with oatmeal and a glass of wine so far…big deal, right? I’m so thankful that I’ve been released from the bonds of disordered eating, but I can’t help but look back and feel like I should feel guilty. I don’t, but I feel like I should feel that way – does that make sense? And this is exactly why living a strict paleo lifestyle just isn’t a good fit for us. We truly enjoy food, in all its forms, and while we definitely needed to tighten the reigns on sugary junk food we also can’t wait to enjoy it all again.
It’s a hard balance I feel to find a good mix between eating well for health and enjoying food for pleasure. There’s an elusive middle ground where we aim to be – enjoying the good stuff in reasonable quantities, and enjoying the good-for-you stuff in much higher quantities. My favorite thing has been eating so many fruits and veggies, so I hope to continue along with that in our food future. And adding bread and wine back in won’t be so bad either…just a little here and there though 😉
What do you think of cheat days/meals? How to do you find balance in your food choices so that you don’t feel deprived, but also put the most nutritious food you can into your body? I’m all ears – I love hearing y’alls perspectives!
Julie says
Why can’t I read other people’s comments?
Heather says
Hey Julie! There’s some sort of weird discrepancy between my current site theme and the WordPress updates that’s making it so that comments aren’t showing up. I can see them all and respond, but they’re not visible to the reader (yet). Something I’m working on figuring out how to fix…but if you would like to see a comment thread on anything specific just let me know!
Hannah says
I understand that this is obviously hard er for a food blogger, but I only buy foods that I’m happy to let myself eat in abundance. Of course too much oatmeal or bread can I suppose put me into a carb coma, but really, I’m not going to sit and eat slice after slice of whole wheat bread.
However, I don’t follow any rules when eating outside of the home. At parties with friends, I eat what I like. At restaurants or catered events, I eat what I want. The only rule is to not eat myself sick.
I think it’s smart to eat some carbs while breastfeeding. I struggled with milk supply when I was pumping, so I had to eat bread with brewers yeast and butter to keep up my supply.
Heather says
Honestly it really is hard for a food blogger! Well, for THIS food blogger anyway 🙂 But I definitely need the carbs to increase my milk, and I’ll happily eat some so that I can make sure I keep feeding my dude!
liz | carpé season says
Oooh, I’d love to see other comments on this (still am unable to see comments here), but I struggle so much with this too. For a while, Eric and I tried to only do extra sugar (wine, or a dessert / day) on the weekends. But then, Monday would come, and I’d still have 2/3 of a cake left, just sitting on the counter, inviting me to sit down for second breakfast with it. So this is definitely a struggle for me too!
I find that a super strict approach has been the most successful for me; though, I have also tried making deals with myself. If I exercise 3x this week, I can have 1 dessert on the weekend. These “deals” help keep me in moderation, I think!
Heather says
That’s a good idea – the making deals thing! I may have to adopt that for when we end Whole30 in September.
Debby says
First of all–looking good and strong:) Second, I don’t like the term “cheat” because it implies you are doing something wrong so maybe call it “treat” day and give yourself a treat not necessarily all day long (cheat day). I cannot say I am always successful either but I understand the worry that it opens the door to more and more “cheating.” Since I have to watch my sugar intake, too, I understand.
Heather says
Exactly, I don’t like the word cheat either – I like treat MUCH better!!! 🙂