Cheat day makes me "sick" page

[ghudspeth]

I came to the PB one month ago after reading 4HB which allows for a cheat day every week, which I still do. I try not to be too fanatical about anything and like to practice moderation in everything. Besides, I really enjoy a glass (or two) of wine most nights and a coupla beers and slices of pizza on my cheat days (Saturdays). The rest of the days of the week I eat exclusively meats, eggs, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and a little dairy. I'm really enjoying the lifestyle change and astonishingly feel better than I have in a long, long time. The improvement in my physical condition after changing my diet was instantaneous. I have found, however, that I'm becoming very sensitive to my insulin response when I eat crap.

A couple of weeks ago I enjoyed two sausage biscuits and felt horrible afterward--dizzy, jittery and somewhat physically incapacitated as my body dealt with the glucose. Not to mention the things have 7g trans fat each in them. Every Saturday morning I also take my kids to get donuts, abstaining myself from them (I have extraordinary will power). This morning however one of them left half a chocolate-filled donut and said I could eat it, which I did since it was my cheat day. Again, same feeling. I like the idea of relaxing one day but I feel so bad after eating refined flour and sugar that I'm starting to think a cheat day isn't worth it. Luckily beer doesn't make me feel that way.

[Dragonfly]

I can't eat gluten grains anymore. My body rejects them.

Ice cream, on the other hand!

[Grumpycakes]

Me, too. Wheat stuffs up my sinuses and gives me a sore throat, and dairy makes me bloated. It's getting worse with smaller amounts, which I guess is a good thing; I hardly crave those things anymore. I did have some jellybeans and gummi worms, and while delicious and non-aggravating, they didn't leave me craving more.

[kennelmom]

In the early days, a cheat would make me sick as a dog...the I went w/o grains for a long time and now I can tolerate them in small, infrequent doses. It has to be REALLY worth it for me to eat though.

[TornadoGirl]

Just think, we felt like crap all along when we ate that stuff and just didn't realize how bad it made us feel.

[Saoirse]

then don't have a cheat day! "cheating" because it's on the schedule seems a little silly and unnecessary.

[Gathwh]

I have found that there are some good cheats and some bad ones. They seem to vary between people. You should probably use cheat days to try foods individually to find out what you react best to. I'm trying a "cheat" carb refeed each weekend with rice and I notice it's helping my physique. I find that sugar and trans fats are never good cheats.

[Herbwifemama]

then don't have a cheat day! "cheating" because it's on the schedule seems a little silly and unnecessary.

+1! Maybe cheating isn't really worth it. Maybe you won't feel restricted by not cheating. Maybe save the cheats for when it's REALLY worth it. I save mine for birthdays and holidays, of which there seems to be at least one a month.

[lizch]

The whole cheating thing bewilders me a bit. Cheating implies that the rest of the time is some sort of misery, with cheating being the light at the end of a long boring week of forcing yourself to eat nasty, monotonous food. Primal hasn't been like that for me, right from the very start. The food is WAY tastier and more varied than anything I've eliminated. Sure, I sometimes find myself in a rut and need to branch out from a small set of recipes I rotate through to prevent boredom, but that was true before primal too.

I understand a 20% day because of a celebration you're attending or whatever, but the idea of a cheat day every week....sounds to me like the other days need some work!

[aktres]

My cheats are Primal cheats, like red wine or chocolate or cheese. After the Whole30 (Whole21 in my case), those things really feel like a cheat and a treat. I would not blow my carefully restored gut health on wheat or anything with gluten (beer!). Never again.