Someone sent me a copy/paste from an article without an author. This part was quite good: The “Cheat Day” Fiasco Much more common than falling off the clean eating wagon once a month or so is those who preach clean eating, yet indulge in their weekly cheat meal or cheat day. This “cheat meal” has several massive issues. First up, the notion of “cheating” is absurd. When has cheating ever been a good thing? You wouldn’t cheat in an exam, and cheating certainly isn’t the sign of a healthy relationship. (And no, it’s still cheating if you got away with it!) By categorizing foods as “clean” or “cheats” you keep on developing that poor relationship with your diet. Secondly come the physical implications associated with a cheat meal. Proponents of cheat days argue the positive effects of boosting leptin, raising metabolic rate and giving yourself an energy boost. This they may do (though structured re-feeds are far more effective,) but they can also result in a lot of fat gain. Putting away up to 10,000 calories in a day is not uncommon for many clean eaters. That 10,000 calories equates to enough to gain almost 3 pounds of fat. Even if your maintenance calorie intake is 2,500 and you’re eating in a 500 calorie per day deficit the rest of the week, you’ll still put on fat from this one day of bingeing – A 500 calorie deficit x 6 days = 3,000 calorie deficit One 10,000 calorie day = 7,500 calorie surplus Total weekly calorie balance = + 4,500 calories. (Enough for 1.3 pounds of fat gain per week.) Why Moderation Rules the Day “Moderation? That’s for the weak” is the typical attitude of your clean eating zealot. To them, anyone who includes “junk” foods they enjoy on a regular basis hasn’t got the cojones to follow through with a diet, or the dedication to stick to a plan. I’d say it actually takes greater self-resolve to exercise the moderation needed to include non-clean foods in your diet on a regular basis. Clean eaters have an all-or-nothing approach. They can have no ice cream whatsoever, or they can gorge on it until they feel sick. Abstain from pizza for a month, but when they have a slice, they end up eating two whole pies. The flexible dieter, who exercises moderation however, can have a bowl of ice cream and feel satisfied. They can enjoy a few slices of pizza with friends and not break their diet, and they can go out to a bar and have a beer or two, rather than feeling the need to get completely hammered. What the Studies Say This might come as a surprise, as going by “common knowledge” you’d expect clean eating diets to come out on top in terms of results, but the opposite seems to be true. A study published in a 1999 edition of the “Appetite” Journal found that flexible dieting was strongly associated with lower rates of over-eating, depression and anxiety and lower BMIs. (1) A second study from a 2002 edition of the same journal showed that subjects involved in rigid, restricted dieting reported much higher rates of disordered eating, body dysmorphia issues and mood disturbances, while flexible dieters once again suffered these conditions much less and had lower BMIs. (2)
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 21:58:08 +0000
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