I'm into a new podcast: Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu
I'd put it down as a wellness, self-improvement kind of deal and i'm totally hooked. Today it was:
'Why Being Perfect Will Ruin You | Rangan Chatterjee on Health Theory'
Not so much about being perfect (bad title choice), but more about living a balanced life with all things considered. There are a couple of things in here which really stuck with me that I want to open the conversation about in my next few posts.
The first thing is treats, meaning the kind of foods we reward ourselves with for being good, healthy, active etc.
Personally, I try to live by the mantra:
do not reward yourself with food, you are not a dog
Have a walk and then you can have a Snickers bar. To me, it's the mindset we need to tackle, ahead of the cravings and because of that i'm going to call 'treat mentality', instead of treats.
So when we talk about 'treats' what are we talking about? In recent times it's come to mean raw cacao coconut balls, but for the most part we are talking about shit, aren't we? Processed shit. We reward ourselves with carby, sugary, colourful crap that our bodies probably won't be thankful for, but our minds are somehow satisfied by.
By labelling certain foods as 'treats' it makes them more alluring and tempting. There are lots of theories on this which stem way back to childhood and the way we teach our children to approach certain foods.
'Eat your vegetables and then you can have a treat'.
Vegetables are bad. Cake becomes good. And so the mental framing continues way into adulthood - and that's a conversation all of it's own.
The mental restriction is broken and we are momentarily free to gorge on refined and processed foods, often filled with chemicals.
Chatterjee speaks about how keeping these kinds of foods out of your house is key to avoiding them. I couldn't agree more. It's very easy to get a craving for something, but fend it off for long enough and it will pass. Or in my opinion, fuel it with something else.
One of my worst cravings is chocolate. I crave it after I eat absolutely anything savory and have spent the past month really trying to crack down on this chocolate obsession. If you're craving chocolate, try eating some very sweet fruits instead. It's harder to break a habit than it is to swap it.
For me, my away around incorporating treats into my lifestyle is to flip my thinking on it. I try and see wholesome, nutritious food as a treat for my body and convenient crap as something I would rather not consume unless I need to.
Also I try not to limit anything out of my diet (besides meat) and be more in tune with what my body needs and when. Fueling yourself properly is key to not giving into 'treat mentality' and the two really do go hand in hand.
What is your relationship like with 'treats'? What kind of food do you see as 'treats'?
If you're a parent, do you give your children 'treats'?
Would love to hear your views on this.
Yasmine