Hot on the heels of the American Heart Association’s recommendation that all Americans drastically reduce their sugar intake – women are now recommended to limit added sugars to 6 teaspoons a day (for comparison, one serving of soda has 8 teaspoons) – comes more bad news about junk food. Scientists have discovered that not only can bad eating derail you in the moment but it also sets up a chemical chain reaction in your brain that blocks the hormones that signal satiety for up to three days, giving new meaning to a “weekend bender.”
Dr. Clegg, the lead researcher says, “What we’ve shown in this study is that someone’s entire brain chemistry can change in a very short period of time. Our findings suggest that when you eat something high in fat, your brain gets ‘hit’ with the fatty acids, and you become resistant to insulin and leptin.” She adds, “Since you’re not being told by the brain to stop eating, you overeat.”
While I find this news depressing, I am actually relieved that someone scientific (and by scientific I mean not just wearing a lab coat in a Hydroxy ad) found this connection because this is the number one reason why I have always had an uneasy relationship with the “cheat day” concept. A core principle in many diets, you are advised to eat perfectly clean 6 days a week and then go hog wild on the 7th. It has never worked for me. The problem is getting back on the wagon after a day of deli-fueled debauchery. I’d always end up the next day huddled over the tub of ice cream swearing I was only going to “finish up this last tub.” Either that or I’d go back to clean eating but jones for sweets for days afterward.
According to this research, I’m not the willpower-less freak I’d always assumed I was! After spending six days clearing the crap out of my system I was basically undoing all my hard work by throwing my hormone levels out of whack for three days. I had a sugar hangover. By the time I finally felt good again, it was time to start the cycle all over!
So what’s a healthy living girl to do? I am not one of those people that can just say, “I will never eat sugar, flour or processed foods ever again for the rest of my life.” Therein lies the way to bingeville and angry self-recriminations. And yet the cheat day doesn’t work. So what does?
I’m still trying to figure that out for myself – I’m really good at finding what doesn’t work for me, not so good at the reverse – but I have noticed a few things about myself:
1. I need something sweet every day.
2. I can usually limit myself to one sweet.
3. If I eat it earlier in the day, it doesn’t seem to affect me as much.
Knowing that about myself, I eat dessert after lunch. Every day. Most often it’s some dark chocolate. Sometimes dunked in peanut butter. Or it will be ice cream. Or Extreme Sour Patch Kids (thanks Anna!). But whatever it is I enjoy it and don’t feel bad about it. But I also know my limits and eating anything sugary at night is likely to send me on the 3-day round trip to the Isle of Insulin Hell. Which isn’t to say I never go there, I’m just not buying lakefront property is all. It’s a fragile peace but so far it’s working.
Have you made your peace with sugar? Does the “cheat day” method work for you? Here’s how some (seriously funny) kids deal with the temptation (click through to see the video):
Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.
I love this post! I was a cheat day person for a while and I had serious disordered eating. I ate chicken and lettuce 6 days a week while running 40 miles/week and lifting. On Saturdays I ate everything. Usually Ben and Jerry's for breakfast after my long run. It was terrible! I was so mean and cranky that I didn't even like myself! While I was really, really thin (and miserable), I lost a lot of friends during that time. I am much healthier now and just now learning to eat sweets in moderation (really carbs too!). I enjoy myself MUCH more now!! I also love not having a food hangover every Sunday morning. Those were terrible. One more thing…when you did cheat day, did you dream of what you were going to eat all week? I totally did!
Meg – I TOTALLY did! I would spend hours planning my cheat day! What restaurants I would hit, what I needed to get from the store… And I would even dream about it. Not healthy. So glad you are in a better place!
Loved the video!!
I am not a cheat day person & never have been. I do tend to save my "real big treat" for the weekend like a big ole cookie or two but the rest of the day is my normal healthy food. I don't do full days of cheat because it just does not make me feel good.. I feel gross after a full day of junk.
I also do find things to eat every day that I like.. I have my Costco organic animal crackers (cookies) at night & I work my bread in to every day. Yes, it is healthy bread but I love it!
I think the key like always is to find what works for you. You have Charlotte, and I have too. People have to find that happy medium that does not take them off track.
Great post, but just wanted to say I LOVE THE VIDEO! HAHAH!!!
Cheat days used to work for me but that was (way) back in the day when I was a young body builder. Now cheat days just morph into cheat weeks then months. What I'm trying now is to eat mostly unprocessed low-carb food and monitoring my blood sugar (ouch) multiple times a day. The low-carb thing is essential for me because I am pre-diabetic. This has stabilized my blood sugar and keeps me off the festival of carbs roller coaster. I still fantasize about cheat meals from time to time but it passes quickly. To my relief, a couple pieces of dark chocolate in the mid morning or afternoon does not seem to derail my progress either. Whew!
I was a cheat day person when I was working to lose weight and it never really worked for me.
All the books I read said "when you have the cheat-day hangover you will learn not to ever have a cheat day again" (hello 1990s :))
that didnt work for me (Im a slow learner) and I just felt CRAPPY both physically and about myself.
yada yada yada RANT 🙂 about how eating intuitively has changed my life, my energy levels and my moods.
have a great weekend.
Wow, this is totally me. While I haven't figured out a balance yet, I do know that a cheat day will easily expand into the rest of the week. However, one sweet (I'm a baked good junkie) will land me on the sugar high/crash roller coaster for the entire day, leaving me with the depressing option of abstaining from sugar all the time (sob).
Let's just call this a work in progress.
Oh man, that video was HILARIOUS.
I can't do the cheat-day method. Not only does it set me up for multi-day cravings, but the amount of sugar/simple carbs I ingest on a "cheat day" also messes with my moods. So for the next 3 days or so, not only do I feel like crap because of cravings, but I ALSO feel like crap because "What's the use, I'm a fat cow, why even bother, OH LOOK MORE ICE CREAM." So my cheat "days" tend to become cheat multi-days/weeks/months. (I finally got to a point where I would sit in my house and recite like a mantra, "you're not disgusting, your brain chemistry is just whacked. You're not disgusting, your brain chemistry is just whacked." Not fun.
I'm definitely not a cheat day person, but I'm not an "eat a little treat every day" person either. I find what works best for me is to limit treats to social occasions (which come up from once to a few times a week). I find that I feel most deprived when I'm watching everyone else eat something tasty and not having it myself, and I definitely moderate what I eat MUCH more when I'm around other people.
I don't really have a rule. I tend to eat as little processed food as I can…when I'm at home or eating home-cooked meals at work. I make my own ice cream (which is high in sugar, but at least doesn't have all that other gunk), and limit the "bad" foods (though I'm still working through Girl Scout cookies in my freezer.
And because I generally eat a really healthy diet, I don't feel qualms about ordering something less good for me when I go out for dinner (which isn't often), or having a couple handfuls of M&Ms at a party or that kind of thing. If I deny myself the M&Ms, I just start thinking about them more. So I've always been of the philosophy of non-denial. I just have to pay attention to it so I don't go overboard…there was a while that I was eating ice cream/cookies every day and ended up gaining a bunch of weight. So as long as I don't make my treats every day things (or at least, as long as my intake isn't too high), then it's all good.
I don't think I've ever had a food hangover…though I've noticed that if I have a really big meal the night before, I'm sometimes even hungrier in the morning…what's that all about?
I have tried the cheat day concept before but like you I can never seem to stop with a single day. Once I became pregnant, my sweets cravings increased greatly, so I now have a dessert everyday about 3 p.m. and have found that it is a solution that works for me.
I've never quite gotten the cheat day thing…it seemed like you'd undo the whole week in one day. I just think I can go out and have something extra once a week, but not inhale the whole store at a sitting 🙂
For me it's carbs and salt tho…sweet stuff has never tempted me. ANd it's true…the more you cheat with fatty salty stuff, the less you can stop.
They've done studies where if you think about something (smoker thinking of a cigarette for example), but know you can't have it you're not so tempted and anticipating (and less likely to have it) than when you daydream about a treat and know it is coming. You set yourself up for overeating…
I just don't beat myself up if I have something cheaty every once in a while…
Maybe I have done "cheat days" but I hate calling them that. Cheat day implies to me that I am doing something wrong. When I am doing well, I'm restricting my calories during the weekdays and allowing myself more on Fri/Sat/Sun (1500-2000). It's usually because I have some social/going out function and I try not to go overboard, but I feel very deprived if I can't at least enjoy myself a *little* out. However, I find that when I have a whole day of eating crap, I feel crappy the next day, so I try not to do that.
Oddly enough, I was a huge sweets person as a child/teen, and as I grew heavier, I grew out of it to salty/fatty cravings. Now that I'm approaching my teenage weight, I'm back on the sweets, especially when I'm running a lot. Though yesterday I did have a few bites of ice cream, half a slice of cake, AND half a whoopie pie. Oops. Normally, I'll have ONE small sweet a day (a hershey kiss or a few meringues) and be fine though.
Am I the only person who just eats whatever I crave? I get cravings for cake, I eat it. I get cravings for spinach bread, I eat it… I eat as much as I want of what I want and then I'm good, sometimes for days, sometimes weeks (never months)! When I used to go on diets, I would worry about cheating and cheat days. But once I started listening to my body, it all went away…
That video is so cute!
And I'm with you, the notion of a cheat day is not appealing. That kind of thing just makes me feel overstuffed, bloated, ill, miserable, and for the next week I'm wanting to binge again. That's great that you've managed to figure out what kind of sweet you need and WHEN you need it so that you feel good.
I don't do a cheat day. And I am not one to never, ever eat sugar again. I tried both – both failed.
But I also don't feel the need for a treat everyday. I am working on just having something when I really want it. It's not forbidden anymore – it's okay to indulge. Of course, I am still working on this. 🙂 I have gotten way better though.
I love me some sugar. Almost as much as I love zombie movies. ;^)
I've cut out Red Bull (again) going on three weeks today! And have already saved over $90. Yes, that means I drank over $30 in Red Bull per week.
I'm trying to be better about sugar, but I just love it so much. It doesn't help that people are passing out Halloween candy at work already.
Oh, what a funny video! Those poor kids were fighting it so hard. (Well, most of them were!)
I am slowly beating my cheat day habit, but I, too, used to spend hours planning it. Now, there are certain days I will eat a little more than I should or have something I usually wouldn't, but I don't get free passes anymore.
I work too hard–MUCH too hard–during the week to wreck my weight loss for food. I WILL have pizza or tacos or nachos or ice cream or…something else I really want…But not an entire day of all those things…and only in moderation. 🙂
I must say that I HATE the concept of Cheat day! Everyone calls their diet a "lifestyle change," but if this were truly the case, why the need to cheat? If these "lifestyle changes" truly worked the way their creators claim, we wouldn't crave sugar or junk food. We'd be perfectly happy, energetic, happier, more polite, and all-around better people, right?
Like you, Charlotte, I REALLY feel the need for something sweet every day, and I also find that having it after lunch (as opposed to later or in the evening) helps keep me on a more even keel.
I completely agree with reducing/moderating sugar intake, but no, I don't ever see myself cutting it out completely. I don't thing sugar is evil, as long as it's in moderation. I realize that some people can't handle it at all, which is an understandable reason to cut it out. I find if I completely deny myself for a period of time, I will eventually end up going overboard.
As for the cheat day thing – it never made sense to me. However, I suppose I do something similar in that I try to keep things really healthy during the week (most of the time) and give myself a little more freedom on the weekends. Or as someone else mentioned, special occasions.
I'll never be one of those people who just prefers vegetables over anything else. It's just not the way I'm built. I make a conscious effort to eat things that are good for me. And then I allow myself some treats. Works for me.
I'm not really a dieter, but I have problems with the "cheat" day on almost everything else, especially working out. If take Monday off because it's my "rest" day, there's a really good chance I'm not going to work out on Tuesday… or Wednesday… or Thursday either. If I don't the day off then I usually have a really productive week. Same thing goes for my study habits. It's like one day off resets my body clock and suddenly I have to build up all my willpower back from scratch.
Maybe the moral of the story is that "cheaters" never prosper.
The cheat day concept never worked for me. If you tell me I can eat anything I want for 24 hours, trust me, I will. Not good for my mind, and I know it would wreck complete havoc on my body.
I can't do much sugar – goes straight to my belly, but I have found "healthy" treats that taste sweet enough to fulfill my desire for a dessert – dark chocolate, plain baked sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and occasionally some coconut milk ice-cream. Sweet tooth satisfied. 🙂
I don't have cheat days, I have Sundays, holidays, days of celebration, etc. And like 99% of people I know, I don't feel different on Monday because I had a 4 hour long rich family meal and a birthday cake 18 hours before. It's all digested and forgotten. I need a memory effort to tell you what I've had as a meal the day before. At worse, if I have over-eaten, I feel sick and not hungry at all. I don't think my case is uncommon. Most people eat more and not so healthy on week-ends, but at work we don't see them rushing on the snack machines on Mondays. Office cravings are more obvious in the middle of the week.
I am sure that study is not dishonnest but not really objective. I mean that the matter is totally different when you are on a crazy strict and restrictive diet. I did that in my teens and early 20's, and not even a cheat day, just ONE BITE of forbidden food, or even a sip of coffee/tea that someone "accidentally" sweetened, and that messed my plan for days or forever. And that was a good thing as me and my friends had really stupid diets and no weight to lose in the first place.
Like you Charlotte, I know I need my little dessert everyday, even twice most days. And I am not a pure decadent sweet tooth as I also need my raw veggie salads.
One dessert can be "healthy" fruits, yogurt or nuts. One has to be dessert in appearance, served on a cute small dessert dish. So even on 1200 cal a day, as I had to do for a while, I count at least 100 to 150 cal for a mini sweet i'd buy (I often reduce the serving size and keep the rest in freezer), or some home-made healthier versions.
"Cheating" works well for me, principally because a "cheat day" for me means that I have ice cream after dinner, NOT that I binge on whatever I want all day long.
I've actually noticed that effect, after a heavy greasy meal I do crave similar the next day or so. Fortunately, I also feel like I ate a rock and need vegetables, so I eat them instead. Sugary food isn't so appealing, but I eat it sometimes, and small amounts on a full tummy don't bother me in the least. I eat a lot of fruit, that can get high sugar, but it's too good to care.
I'm not organized enough to either have a "cheat day" or a daily sweet routine–my splurges tend to be a bit more haphazard. I find I do need to watch for treat escalation… it's amazing how quickly a special occasion indulgence can start feeling like an entitlement.
Interesting to find out there's science behind all this!
Have I made peace with sugar? To a certain degree, yes. After reading Jillian Michaels' latest book, I've decided that a spoonful of Sugar In The Raw in a bowl of oats is not likely to kill me. And it's certainly better for you than high fructose corn syrup or some of the other lab-created sweeteners that are on the market.
But ridding yourself of the cheat day concept is something to think about. Thanks!
I hate the idea of a cheat day because it becomes an all or nothing approach for me. If I start justifying bingeing like that, there's nothing that can hold me back. I'd rather accept that life happens and sometimes I need more sweets and other times less. As someone else wrote, cheat days would morph into cheat weeks or months and that doesn't help me at all!
I totally agree that after a cheat day it's much harder to get back on track! I'm still working on eliminating them entirely. As for sweets, I usually have 4 or 5 dark chocolate covered almonds each day and it does the trick for me. They are sweet and yummy and also deliver some healthy benefits to your body 🙂
i dont' have cheat days either. If I want it then I will eat it. When I am craving more sweets I will stop and see if it is an emotional craving or if I have not been eating a balanced diet. After a hard workout(when I feel I can have a nice treat) I usually do not crave it at all…not at all. Interesting how our bodies process everything we do to it!
That video is brilliant!