5 Ways to Enjoy Cheat Meals & Get Away with It

Can you enjoy diet cheat meals or diet cheat days and get away with it? As a general rule, the answer is “yes.” Our bodies have an amazing ability to adapt to different foods. It’s what allowed our ancestors to survive and perpetuate the human race. Many people have success with what is known as the 80/20 or 90/10 diet where you follow your diet 80-90% of the time and eat what you want the other 10-20%.

Of course, there are exceptions. If you have a food allergy or sensitivity, you obviously should avoid those foods all the time. Likewise, if you are a diabetic or suffer from other autoimmune or metabolic diseases, you should hold as strictly to your diet as possible.

Cheat Days or Cheat Meals?

We’re all different. For some, the anticipation of a cheat day may trigger a weekly binge. For others, keeping all cheat meals and snacks in one day, reinforces discipline during the week. You may want to experiment to see which works better for you.

You may be able to start with a flexible diet such as the Mediterranean Diet or just make some basic changes to your eating habits that will give you the desired results. In these cases, it can be a matter of just increasing or decreasing the amounts of certain types of foods without totally avoiding them in the first place. Even in those circumstances you may still need to restrict some “forbidden foods” to occasional consumption.

Create a Cheat Meal or Cheat Meal Strategy

Once you decide whether to have a cheat day or cheat meal(s), you should refine your strategy. For example, I allow myself 3 cheat meals and up to 2 cheat snacks a week. Once every week or two, I like to order a baked ziti from our local pizza place. Now, that is WAY off my diet, where I keep carbs relatively low. How I deal with it is to make it into 3 cheat meals. I have half the baked ziti for supper, the other half for lunch the next day, and the garlic bread with melted cheese for breakfast or a snack one day. On those days, I hold strictly to my diet for the rest of the day.

Likewise, if you prefer a cheat day, plan out what you will eat in advance. If your recipe calls for a bigger batch than you should eat, consider preparing it in advance and freezing the rest for later. The idea is to enjoy those “forbidden foods” without overdoing it.

Another strategy is to find cheat day recipes that satisfy your cravings without undermining your progress.

Master the Art of Savoring

Here is the biggest cheat day or cheat meal mistake that people make. You’ve been thinking about that special “forbidden food” treat all week long. Finally your cheat day arrives and you gorge on your special treat, leaving you with that too-full, bloated sensation that is also known as “crapulence” [Yes, that’s a real word].

Mike Lowe was a contestant on the History Channel show “Alone” where people were dropped off in the wilderness with 10 items they could choose to help them survive. Although he took emergency rations as one of his 10 items, he never used them except for eating one, blue M&M per week. He became an expert at savoring his weekly treat. Here are his words (used with permission).

“Saturday morning broke with festive glee as I carefully collected the coveted candy. To make the joyful experience last as long as possible I expertly “pulled” the chocolate in my mouth. Saliva and chocolate melted and blended forming a savory syrup that flooded my senses with richest pleasure. 20 minutes was the longest I was ever able to do it before swallowing was needful to avoid drowning.”

Master the art of savoring. Slow down and truly enjoy your treat. You’ll eat less and the experience can become almost magical.

Avoid “Binge” Triggers

If you can’t savor a small-normal sized serving of your cheat foods without binging on them, either find a way to limit the quantity available to you or avoid them altogether. For example, you might eat that piece of cake or pie only when you dine out and keep none of it in the house.

Listen to Your Body and Adjust

As I have gotten older, I found that some foods and drinks that I enjoy started causing pretty bad nasal congestion (I know, weird, right?) indigestion, or just make me feel bad. In those cases I may experiment with restricting how much I eat to see if I can still enjoy the food without the bad side effects. Most of the time, that’s the case, but sometimes I have to give it up completely. If something makes you feel miserable, why eat it, no matter how good it tastes.