This past weekend my friend Heather celebrated her birthday. We got together to celebrate by stuffing our faces with sushi and fried ice cream. Good times!
Although this is not my every day diet, from time to time I allow myself to indulge in tasty treats that may not be perfectly healthy.
While there is a way to healthfully prepare sushi rolls, I have not found a way to do the same with fried ice cream…
The thing is, trying to maintain a perfectly healthy diet 100% of the time doesn’t work. Some people may last a few days, some a few months. However, at a certain point, no matter how strong our will power, certain foods that we’re avoiding become more and more appealing.
I’m not really into food rules but one I do follow is the “90-10 diet” rule. Basically 90% of the time I eat what is healthy for me and 10% of the time I eat whatever I feel like eating.
I have seen first hand that when people try to stay on their chosen diet program 100% of the time, it often causes stress and can result in feelings of failure. Having guilt and fear around food isn’t healthy and can actually sabotage dieting efforts. Studies have shown that reducing stress can directly impact weight loss. So let go of the guilt and the stress as best you can.
Here’s an example from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition:
Instead of going guiltily to the fridge at 2 AM for a pint of ice cream, get an ice cream cone and enjoy it outside on a beautiful day with friends.
When you allow yourself a 10% range of flexibility you can indulge yourself without guilt and maintain a basically healthful way of life.
For more healthy body tips, check out my previous blog post Peaceful Weight Loss
