As we are coming back from the long weekend, I know some of us may have over-indulged in either food or drinks. Whichever vice we may have given in to, sometimes there is a jerk reaction to undo the damage by restricting food and beverage intake to a bare minimum. I have to confess, I used to do that A LOT. Even being a nutrition expert I sometimes had the resedue of that urge to do a cleanse or reduce my calories if I ate too much of something I shouldn't have.
Imagine you go your favorite store and you overspend. Whatever budget you have for your monthly shopping, imagine you blow through it in one trip. So, what would you do for the next few weeks? Would you cut your electric bill, stop buying food, quit your daily starbucks and disconnect your phone? Most likely not. I know that if I over-shopped, I would just avoid going to the mall and stop buying unnecessary things for a while. The key being "unnecessary".
Now, let's look at food. After eating too many desserts or drinking too many glasses of champagne, I used to feel so guilty that thet next day I would swear off ALL carbs and fats and eat salads with sprouts. I would look at my favorite brown rice, ezekiel toast, butter and fruit as they were enemies with too many calories in their arcenal. But because those foods give me vital energy, I wouldn't last more than a day or two without them. The truth is, we need good quality complex carbs. Carbs give us energy. And we do need good, essential fats. Afterall, our brain is mostly fat. How can we not eat foods that support it?
It was no suprise that my starving body would go in a frenzy and eat everything in site when I snapped out of the restrictive food mode. It was as if I cut off my electric and cell phone bill and now I had to make up for the lost time and catch up. After I did catch up, I would feel so guilty that I didn't last on the new plan that I would go back to try again. And again. And again. Sound familiar?
I hope you look at your normal, balanced eating habits that sustain you and give you energy. Notice what foods make you feel your best and then when you over-indulge, come back to that place. Not the one you think will "un-do" the splurge. Come back to eating foods that give you long-lasting energy without a crash afterwards. Allow yourself to have a loving eating lifestyle -- the one that makes you feel good without any guilt, fear or shame. Afterall, if you tried calorie and food restrictive diets in the past and you are still not happy with your weight, then perhaps it is time to try something new? If you are unsure how to do that, contact me and I will be happy to support you.