You know that the cornerstone of the JillFit nutrition philosophy is #moderation365. Extremes, black-and-white approaches, rigid rules and deprivation are lazy strategies that keep us dependent and struggling.
Because the more deprived you feel, the greater the eventual overindulgence—whether you binge this weekend, next month or after you finish
this 12-week fat loss program you’re doing. I ballooned back to my pre-competition weight every single time I “leaned out” and each time, it was because I employed drastic measures and unsustainable approaches. I did what I felt I had to in order to get as lean as possible so as to not embarrass myself on stage but paid the price in the weeks after the show, and beyond.
The up-and-down, yo-yo dieting sucked.
And after 5 years of being on the
all-or-nothing train, I finally quit the deprivation and slowly started taking the edge off feelings of restriction sooner—using preemptive cheats—so that I never reached the point of wanting to binge again.
I can’t remember the last time I overate or felt stuffed into my clothes. It’s literally been years.
But the key with preemptive cheats is that they are unique to each person.
Preemptive cheats are foods we
incorporate into our day or week that help us feel satisfied. Satisfaction is the opposite of feeling deprived. Satisfaction should be the goal each time you sit down to eat. And contrary to what you might think, “satisfaction” is not eating to your heart’s desire. The feeling of being stuffed and remorseful and sick is not satisfying either.
So think about preemptive cheats being foods that are not typically considered super “clean” but they’re also not eating
super crap junk food in large amounts daily either. These are things that I’d consider neutral. They might not help you lose fat directly, but they certainly help you get results indirectly through preventing bigger and worse binges later.
Some of my favorite preemptive cheats are a glass of wine, a little dark chocolate, bacon, cheese, charcuterie, avocado in salads, nuts and protein bars and shakes.
Now, it’s all relative, right? Some people
will look at that list and argue why all those foods are healthy and fine. Great, I agree with you. But we still can’t deny the fact that it’s super easy to overeat cheese and bacon, so really, these foods should be included but not overdone. I do think they are healthy and warranted for a very specific reason: their #SatisfactionFactor. When we eat them, we tend to want to eat less later, or we don’t feel the same compulsion to binge later.
Preemptive cheats are an
important part of your sustainable nutrition approach.
What are yours? Pick and choose your 3 non-negotiables. I love cream in my coffee and I will never give it up. I want a glass of wine most nights, I won’t give it up. I refuse to eat a salad without cheese. #marytdom ;)
I aim for satisfaction daily—not deprivation and not overdone.
But what about people with food intolerances, to things like gluten and
dairy?
My good friend, nutrition consultant and JillFit Ambassador Sabrina Sarabella put out a really awesome product this week called,
The Food Elimination Fix, for those who suspect (or know) that they have food sensitivities. It’s a holistic approach to food intolerances, like that of gluten,
dairy, soy, etc., and I love that Sabrina’s program takes into account the all of this. It’s not merciless and it’s not miserable (it can’t be if we want to be able to eat forever, instead of simply “doing a plan” for 30 days!).
Sabrina’s
program got me to thinking about how we can adjust our eating,
within the confines of this new, somewhat restricted approach to still feel good and enjoy how we eat.
One of the questions I get all the time is, “I’m allergic to gluten and/or dairy—so there are a lot of things I’d like to have, but can’t. And as a result, I feel deprived.”
I totally get that. And I just said that deprivation is the beginning of the deprive-then-binge cycle so ideally we don’t want to feel
restricted.
So how can we not feel restricted when we are, ahem, restricted?
I think there’s a huge mindset piece here. We can see food sensitivities and intolerances as way to justify being a victim: “Ugh! WHY ME? Everyone else can eat cheese! OF COURSE, it’s me who can’t.”
Isn’t feeling this way a choice?
Isn’t focused on the fact that we feel “denied” a choice? This is a scarcity mindset, and
it keeps us small and struggling. It makes us feel like all the good food in the world is gone, and we have nothing left. Which, of course is not true, but when we first find out we have food sensitivities, it’s easy to see it as the end of the world. And I get that because hey, cheese is awesome.
But instead, could we adopt an #AbundanceMindset and actively seek out the foods that we can still eat, finding (and cherishing!) the ones that will satisfy us like gluten and
dairy used to?
A great example of this is what Cory shared on the JillFit Facebook page this morning:
