How do you view/deal-with *cheats* page 3

[Ribbons]

I used to find it really hard to stick to primal because I thought I couldn't have carbs, so I wanted to cheat all the time but I now allow myself to eat carbs if they're from healthy sources and I actually have no desire to eat anything non-primal anymore. Also I tell myself that it's ok to eat unhealthily occasionally in social situations but I end up only cheating with alcohol (but that's also due to the fact that I don't like to eat around other people, so different story).

[Gadsie]

Seriously don't eat anything with a label on it. That fixes 99% of all problems. Since I have been eating mostly food that has no labels, I actually really do look forward to my food. I think that not only has my palette changed and my feelings of what is rewarding, but also there's a lack of anxiety when I'm in total control of the ingredients.

Last night for dinner I made a mango salsa. Invented the ingredients for it myself: mango, cilantro, onion, red bell pepper, avocado and a little salt. Served it over pork chops. Side of sliced cold beets that I boiled up the other day and a small portion of sweet potato. A meal like this truly satisfies me. I eat like this for all my meals. I never feel deprived. I never feel anxious because nothing is out of my control. If I do eat something with a label or a few ingredients that I shouldn't have, it's not a big deal because 99% of the time everything I eat is perfectly healthy. I don't feel like I'm cheating if I have ice cream. I'm just having some ice cream. I do it so rarely that it's not even really a treat because damn, mango salsa is a bigger treat than ice cream ever could hope to be.

Yeah, for me a homemade ground beef burger filled with cheese or mashed sweet potatoes with shallot is my favorite food. Better than ice cream. It's feels too good to be true that something so good is actually 100% healthy and is not a moderation food at all. But I still eat ice cream sometimes for variety and the idea that it's not as healthy makes it better somehow

[Dirlot]

My opinion is if you plan to cheat you plan to fail.

I will not plan a cheat day, or anything like that but if I am out and someone has brought homemade this or that, or at a b-day party I am not going to be rude and avoid the cake, I will take a small please/thank you portion. No fuss, no pressure.

I have also found many foods that I used to like taste like the stodge they are, so rather than a store bought dessert I will have something rich like dark chocolate or berries with heavy cream....yum.

The key is to make sure you don't start a cycle of cheats. Eat, live move on.

[magnolia1973]

If I do eat something with a label or a few ingredients that I shouldn't have, it's not a big deal because 99% of the time everything I eat is perfectly healthy.

That's how I feel. Like I feel eating a bag of oreos is my old idea of a cheat, and now I just wouldn't eat oreos unless I was going to die and they were my only prevention from starving. I feel like ice cream is my main non- primal food- and all it is:cream, milk, sugar, maybe fruit. I'm not that worried about a small amount of sugar stopping me.

Other stuff- pizza, cookies, bread etc. has no appeal anymore but I feel like if I hadn't eaten those items after a few months of primal eating, I might have not realized how much I really don't want them, not because they make me sick but because they don't taste as good as I remember. I've tried a bite or two of processed foods and just been...GROSS. This tastes bad. And I have had some cheats that were amazing- I had a coke last week. It was good. I never was a big soda drinker, but a few times a year a coke hits the spot. Totally junk, non-primal, bad for me... but really- this morning I had a fruit smoothie with greek yogurt, almond butter, and fruit. Lunch was tuna salad, home made. Dinner will be pork meat balls and veggies.

I do get bored with what I eat and am finding that cravings are a good key to what I am lacking. When i want sweets, a few days of smoothies or a little more fruit crushes them. If I want salty snacks- chips etc. , extra fat helps.

I think once I got used to primal eating, the biggest hurdle was social eating (having a cookie to be nice, having a drink to "fit in"). I've gotten past that finally.

[Gadsie]

My opinion is if you plan to cheat you plan to fail.

I will not plan a cheat day, or anything like that but if I am out and someone has brought homemade this or that, or at a b-day party I am not going to be rude and avoid the cake, I will take a small please/thank you portion. No fuss, no pressure.

I have also found many foods that I used to like taste like the stodge they are, so rather than a store bought dessert I will have something rich like dark chocolate or berries with heavy cream....yum.

The key is to make sure you don't start a cycle of cheats. Eat, live move on.

Planning a cheat could also be beneficial for some people. Because for some people when they cheat unplanned their thinking will go like "Oh I ate this so now I can eat that". However if you plan to eat for example a bowl of ice cream and also plan to not eat anything else it might be easier to move on healthy immediately afterwards.

[Dirlot]

Planning a cheat could also be beneficial for some people. Because for some people when they cheat unplanned their thinking will go like "Oh I ate this so now I can eat that". However if you plan to eat for example a bowl of ice cream and also plan to not eat anything else it might be easier to move on healthy immediately afterwards.

Ice cream is a grey area and tbh if I was going down to the beach in today's weather I might plan to get some ice-cream lol but I would make it a natural as possible with the fewest additives.

I see what you are saying and my comments were more for cheat days or regular cheats...plan to eat well for 6 days and on the 7th crash. The aim is 100% and if life gets in the way then don't stress it.

[Gadsie]

Ice cream is a grey area and tbh if I was going down to the beach in today's weather I might plan to get some ice-cream lol but I would make it a natural as possible with the fewest additives.

I see what you are saying and my comments were more for cheat days or regular cheats...plan to eat well for 6 days and on the 7th crash. The aim is 100% and if life gets in the way then don't stress it.

Yeah a standard weekly cheat day where you're looking forward to all week is not a good idea. However I think it's actually worse for the mind than for the body. You'll be dieting for the rest of your life and hate 6 days out of 7

[Sandra in BC]

Eating healthy paleo food is the default and once in a while there are other things eaten but that doesn't stop paleo from being my way of eating. Eating healthy is a deal I made for myself and with myself. I do not have to answer to anyone about my way of eating so there is no cheating. There can only be eating that supports my health and eating that doesn't.

Yes to this. And thank you for putting it so eloquently.

[Blackcatbone]

Seriously don't eat anything with a label on it. That fixes 99% of all problems.

True, and this is mostly what I do as well, but some things will surprise you. Cream, for instance, sometimes has thickeners in it. You would think CREAM would mean cream, but alas . . . Same goes for sour cream. Vinegar, unless it's ACV, you need to know what it's made of.

[Sandra in BC]

We are on a family vacation right now. "Glamping" by the lake. I planned and packed our food for the week, and we're really not eating that much differently than at home. All our usual meal foods are here, and if anything we are eating more elaborate primal (with a side of rice/potatoes) than at home. More steaks, bigger salads, fancier breakfasts.

And yes, along with that are the usual s'mores, hot dogs, booze, diet coke, koolaid, cookies and chips for those that want them. And yes, I've had a little of each when I felt like it. And I've had a little bloating and puffy ankles on the days I ate crap. (just confirmed that diet coke is one cause of edema) Worth it? Sure, why not. We're on vacation!!