Should I Allow Myself a Cheat Meal

If youve been sticking to a strict diet for a long period of time, you might be toying with the idea of taking a

day off. In the health and wellness world, this is commonly referred to as having a cheat meal or a free meal. There are benefits to having cheat meals. Mentally, cheat meals are a good break. Cheat meals can also help you develop healthier attitudes towards food by showing you that one bad meal wont completely destroy your progress. Before you jump off your routine and into a day of indulgence, you should know that cheat meals arent for everyone. Heres what you need to know about cheat meals.

What is a Cheat Meal

When we think of cheat meals, we typically thinking of indulging in foods that we normally wouldnt eat. But theres more to a cheat meal than eating whatever you want. A cheat meal needs to be three things: planned, portioned, and practical.

Planned - Cheat meals dont happen because you accidentally messed up. Cheat meals are meals you planned for and have looked forward to. Planning you cheat meals ahead of time gives you something to look forward to.

Portioned - While cheat meals are an opportunity to eat foods that you normally wouldnt, they arent an excuse to binge. Dont eat a whole bag of chips, eat a small bowl full. Dont eat multiple full-size entrees, pick a sampler and have a little bit of everything. You can still enjoy yourself without over eating.

Practical - You should go into a cheat meal knowing your restrictions and knowing that it might be tough getting back on track the next day. Allowing yourself a cheat meal isnt permission to eat everything youve been craving all at once. Cheat meals are only successful if you understand that it is a temporary break from thinking about your diet regimen. That break ends as soon as your cheat meal does.

Should You Allow Yourself a Cheat Meal?

So how do you know if a cheat day is for you? Well that depends on how you answer the next question: Are you a binge eater? If you answered no, then you definitely should give the cheat meal a try if you are trying to vary your eating program. Many people follow the 80/20 rule. Which means that they stick to their program 80 percent of the time and then the other 20 percent they allow themselves to eat more liberally. So to put this in perspective, if you eat 3 meals per day, 21 meals per week, you should be eating 17 of those meals following your program, and allow yourself 4 meals of food you dont normally eat. 

 Now, if you answered yes to my earlier question about binge eating, then I recommend being extremely careful before you let yourself have a cheat day. If you have a hard time controlling your portions when you have a free day, or if having more options is a trigger for binge eating, cheat meals will not be in the best interest of your or your program. One cheat meal wont set you back, but if having a cheat meal triggers a 3 day binge, it will set you back and its not worth it. Recovering from a binge takes a lot out of you mentally and emotionally. If your past experiences with food have left you feeling out of control or a little bit crazy for food, youll want to stick to your routine as much as possible. 

Ultimately the decisions of having a cheat meal is up to you. From personal experience I know that one cheat meal usually turns into a binge, Thats the type of eater I am. I have a hard time eating indulgent foods in limited quantities. Being able to recognize that helps me realize that I will be successful doing the things that help me feel focused and in control.

Do you allow yourself cheat meals? 

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What is Oil Pulling

Ive been seeing a lot of people on Facebook talking about oil pulling. I am a little late to the oil pulling party,

but when I saw that it could help whiten teeth and prevent bad breath, I decided I should probably look into it.

When I first started researching, I had no idea what oil pulling was and I had no idea how to do it. So thats where I started.

How to Oil Pull:

Oil pulling is done to promote oral healthy & detox the body. It is done by swishing organic oil such as coconut oil, sesame oil or another vegetable based oil in your mouth for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes is up, you spit the oil in the trash and rinse your mouth out with warm water.

So what exactly does this swishing do exactly? Well, the lipids in the oil are said to pull bacteria out of your mouth and saliva. It also prevents bacteria from attaching to your teeth. This means that there is less bad breath and yellowing causing gunk in your mouth and more vitamin E. Say hello to stronger, whiter teeth.

Not only does it make teeth stronger and whiter, but a lot of the blogs I read from veteran oil pullers report that it helps headaches go away, it helps improve skin, and it helps people with insomnia and TMJ.

My Experience Oil Pulling:

Ive  tried some pretty odd things for the sake of trying them. Ive done the super glue black head removing mask (terrible freaking idea), Ive done It Works! Wraps, Ive tried dozens of creams, oils and balms, and Ive tried Cali Kickers, but trust me when I say that this is the weirdest thing I have ever done.

I picked up some Organic Coconut Oil (Im not fancy, I just got it from Wal-Mart for like seven bucks). I ran the bottle under hot water for a few minutes to soften the oil, then I scooped about tablespoon out. It was still pretty solid, but easy enough to scoop out with a measuring spoon.

I was super nervous. I held it in my hand for a second and and just kinda stared at it. Then I woman-ed up and went ahead got started. Since mine was kind of solid, it took a couple minutes before it melted completely in my mouth. Having some clumps in there made for a really weird experience texture wise. Then once everything was melted it took me a good 7 minutes before I was used to how t he oil felt and tasted. 

Swishing something for 20 minutes is a REALLY long time. One tablespoon isnt a lot, but as the 20 minutes

goes on the oil soaks up saliva and bacteria and before you know it your mouth is VERY full. I tried staying busy to keep my mind off of the fact that I was basically tasting all the germs in my mouth all at once but those 20 minutes went buy so slowly. 

Finally it was time to spit it out. The articles I have read say to spit it in the trash because the oil can cause problems in your sink. Then I rinsed with the warm water as instructed. I brushed and used mouth wash. My teeth instantly felt awesome. They felt smooth and looked wonderful. I cant really say if they were instantly white, but I know that my mouth felt great. I also didnt feel like I needed gum 10 minutes after brushing.

Despite how weird it was to try, I would definitely do oil pulling again. The benefits are there and I think the texture is something that you can get used to.

What crazy things have you done to whiten your teeth?

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