It’s Not Okay to Cheat

Every now and then you’ll hear these fad dieters talk about “cheat days” when they can sneak away from their hardcore diet of salads and beats to indulge in something that tastes good, like a cheese pizza or milkshake.  While there is some dietary to allowing periodic fluctuations in your diet, the general idea is that you have to reward yourself now and then in order to maintain motivation to keep going with the diet.

This kind of terminology can be very destructive to your overall mindset, however.

One of the reasons most of these weight loss diets fail for those that attempt them is that they’re not intended to be permanent.  Someone decides to go on a strict diet for 6 weeks to lose weight and has to muscle through to the finish line, when in fact, it’s more of a long term marathon.  Proper nutrition is not just a wind sprint of good choices before you can safely return to the bad.  It’s a long term, permanent lifestyle adjustment.

You have to think about food and eating differently in order to avoid making the same mistakes that got you to an unhealthy and overweight place.  Instead, it’s important to think of the new “diet” as your new food selection.  Forever.

When you decide to get rid of a drug addiction or a dependency on alcohol, the same sort of thinking applies.  You’re not just getting sober “for a while.”  There’s no going back, unless you want to end up on the floor in a full blown relapse.

There are no cheat days on the path of sobriety and clean living.  There is only the commitment to this new life path you’ve chosen. That one little hit or fix that you convince yourself is an acceptable “cheat day” is only the door to a downward pull to a road you’ve already been down.

Stay committed to your health and wellbeing and don’t allow that voice in your head to convince you that one little taste is alright. You don’t deserve a taste for your efforts, you deserve a stable and healthy life full of energy and pride.  That’s the reward.