Health & Fitness: Eat The Chocolate, Drink The Wine

Have you ever noticed that in our extreme efforts to limit or deprive ourselves from something that is supposedly not good for us, we end up create more negative effects on our body than if we would have just had a small amount of that thing? For all you chronic dieters, you know exactly what […]

June 10, 2010; 11:32 AM • by Rebekah Fedrowitz

Have you ever noticed that in our extreme efforts to limit or deprive ourselves from something that is supposedly not good for us, we end up create more negative effects on our body than if we would have just had a small amount of that thing? For all you chronic dieters, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

It’s that piece of chocolate calling your name that you either a) stick to your guns and don’t eat it, only wishing for hours that you could have, or b) don’t have it at that moment but end up eating 10 pieces at another point in time. My challenge to you is to get over the rules and stereotypes and eat the chocolate.

Okay – this probably sounds a little weird. It’s my job to teach people how to eat healthy, why would I be encouraging you to eat the chocolate and drink the wine? There is always the reason of the six flavors and the need to satisfy all of them, but in reality, you can achieve all six flavors without ever having to eat chocolate or drink wine. This time, my recommendations are all about “mind-games.” You’ve heard of the mind-body connection but it may be stronger than you ever could have imagined.

As humans, our minds/bodies are wired to avoid pain and seek pleasure. Of course there is a balance between excessive indulging with no self-control and allowing yourself to be satisfied, so I’m not recommending that you give in to your ever desire to the point of no end. What I am suggesting is that having a little of something may help you relax, if you do it the right way. Let’s say, for example, you are really craving ice cream, but because of your beliefs, you think it’s bad for you to have. At this moment, you are somewhat in a lose-lose situation. If you eat the ice cream, you’re so stressed out about your belief that it will make you gain weight that the ice cream wasn’t satisfying at all. In fact, it probably caused just enough stress to make your digestion shut down and you may have stored a little extra fat from it. If you decide to “be good” and not eat the ice cream, you find yourself craving it later and wanting more of it than you normally would have. You then cause stress because you’re thinking about the fact that you should have just eaten the smaller amount earlier and then you wouldn’t be in the situation you’re in now.

So what do you do when no answer seems to be a good answer? My recommendation is, as you may have figured, to eat the ice cream. Get over your preconceived idea that an occasional small portion will ruin your diet and make you fat. Plus, by relaxing and enjoying it, you don’t create unwanted stress and you get the benefits from “indulging” for a moment.

Here’s my challenge to you this month – its summer and you should enjoy it. Be smart and live a healthy life but don’t be afraid to enjoy everything you do (both the things that seem healthy and the things that seem unhealthy). The satisfaction you’ll get from enjoying life will be the better than the best diet or miracle pill!

June 10, 2010 11:32 AM 0