You must have heard about rewarding yourself with an occasional (usually weekly) cheat meal. However, it’s easy to get carried away and, if you're like me, you might be tempted to take a cheat day instead of a cheat meal. This is counterproductive and can even negate your gains.
To counter this potential threat to your lifestyle, you should contemplate what a cheat meal really is: It acts as a reward for all your hard work and satiates your junk food cravings. But what's the point of a reward if it cancels out all your hard work? Also--and this is important to realize--what are you rewarding, your mind or your body? After a grueling workout, your body is screaming for nutrients, not processed plastic fast 'food'. Your body has just earned, and deserves some good real food now.
You must stop thinking of fresh vegetables, fruits, good fats, and lean protein as punishment. Junk food is the real punishment. Stick to your occasional cheat meal, but do not think of it as the reward, because it really isn’t.
Good food is the real reward. Stay fit, stay healthy.
“Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food”
- Hippocrates
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