Food cheat days – good or bad?
It’s been an excellent week of counting calories, drinking your spinach smoothies, and faithfully turning your nose up at the chocolate cake that tried to tempt you away from your diet.
But… Now it’s the weekend and you can finally enjoy your “cheat” day – but should you?
Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of this very popular practice.
Pros:
- Allowing yourself a designated day to indulge in foods you enjoy but typically avoid can provide psychological relief from your usual strict dietary restrictions. You may feel less “deprived” and less likely to binge-eat.
- Occasionally eating higher calorie or higher carbohydrate foods can potentially boost your metabolism.
Cons:
- Having cheat days can mess up your efforts to eat healthier and might make you feel bad about enjoying food.
- It's common for cheat days to spiral into eating way too much or bingeing, which totally undoes the hard work you've put into getting fit.
- Even if you plan cheat days, chowing down on lots of junk food regularly can seriously mess with your health, leading to things like gaining weight, having trouble with insulin, and being more at risk for long-term health problems.
Your metabolism matters
When you have a cheat day and eat more calories than usual, your body might temporarily speed up its metabolism. This happens because your body gets a sudden burst of energy from the extra food, so it revs up to burn through those calories.
Normally, when you eat less or stick to a strict diet, your body tries to conserve energy because it thinks there's not enough food around. But on a cheat day, when you eat more, your body feels like it has plenty of fuel to burn, so it amps up your metabolism to handle it.
Also, eating more food can temporarily boost levels of a hormone called leptin, which helps regulate your metabolism. So, in a way, cheat days can help prevent your metabolism from slowing down too much if you've been dieting for a while.
However, it's important not to go overboard on cheat days. Eating too much can still lead to weight gain and other health issues over time. Plus, relying too much on cheat days might make it harder to stick to healthy eating habits in the long run.
So, while cheat days can give your metabolism a little boost and make sticking to your diet easier psychologically, it's best to use them in moderation and not as an excuse to binge on unhealthy foods. Balance is key!
Good to know
Whether cheat days are helpful or harmful depends on your personal situation, like your diet goals, health, and how you feel about food. Some people find that having a treat now and then helps them stay balanced, while others do better sticking to a healthy diet all the time. It's important to be careful with cheat days and not overdo it, since they can affect both your body and your mind. If you're not sure how to handle cheat days, it's a good idea to talk to a dietitian or nutritionist for advice that fits your needs.
Disclaimer
This article is for informational purposes only. Always check with your doctor or medical practitioner about any health concerns, before embarking on any fitness or nutrition programme, or using any medication.