“Oh, sorry, I forgot you can’t eat that”

No, I’M sorry . . . WHAT????

I call BS!  That’s the difference between being on a diet and choosing what you include in your diet.

For most of us, DIET has always been a four letter word (pun intended).  But in case you’ve never really looked into it, here’s the first definition listed . . .

di·et1

noun

noun: diet; plural noun: diets

• 1.

• the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

And notice what it does NOT say!  It does NOT say anything about restriction.  And I think that’s become the problem.  We’ve adopted a definition that means restricting what we can eat.  

If you’re like me, when someone tells you that you CAN’T do something, it becomes all you can think about.  And that’s one reason we have cravings and/or end up “falling off the wagon” and binge eating.  But what if we changed up the narrative.  PLOT TWIST!

What if, instead of thinking of all the things we can’t eat because we’re “on a diet”, we focus on the things that we CHOOSE to eat (include vs. exclude) because of how we feel and what our goals are?  Isn’t that much more empowering???

It’s really not as difficult as it sounds.  Say you’re at a gathering (backyard bbq, dinner party, game night) and dessert time rolls around.  You made healthy choices during dinner (i.e. more veggies and a small portion of pasta instead of the other way around) and now you get to CHOOSE to have either the chocolate cake or some fresh fruit.  

You could be telling yourself (and probably everyone around you) that you’re trying to lose weight so you can’t have the chocolate cake.  And that’s depressing, right???  But what if you told yourself that you could absolutely have the chocolate cake but you don’t want to feel bloated and over-full for the rest of the evening?  The fruit is lighter and many fruits are full of water so that also helps with your hydration.  End result?  You’ll FEEL better!

Now, if you REALLY want the chocolate cake, by all means . . . have it!  And the key there is not to feel guilty because you’ve made an informed decision and you’re doing what is really going to make you happy at that time.  The freedom to choose is what is empowering!

And trust me when I tell you that you’ll start making healthier choices more often because the CHOICE will be YOURS and you won’t feel like you can’t have the darn cookie if you really want it!

Choc-a-holics stay tuned!  Sweet tooths stay tuned!  I’ll be bringing you delicious recipes that taste like you’re having the “naughty” dessert but that are a healthy alternative!  Bonus . . . they’re EASY!