Don’t Restrict: Reset!
Have you ever gone on vacation, or had a few days where your eating patterns were not consistent? Where you had less control over what you could eat and when? Where you felt sluggish from heavier food and wanted to feel better and more energized?
We’ve all had those times where we’ve eaten more than we planned, or we didn’t eat our “healthiest.” The fact of the matter is that’s life! It’s impossible to follow a “clean” pattern of eating 100% of the time when there’s experiences to be had, time to be spent with friends and family, dates to attend, and flavors to enjoy. Unfortunately diet culture drills into our brains the idea that eating as little as possible or eating as “clean” as possible makes you healthy. This leads to a lot of post-weekend or post-vacation restriction, which ultimately results in overeating the next weekend.
By now we should realize that restrictive eating behaviors are not sustainable. When we restrict, we play into the black and white thinking about food—that certain foods are good and others bad. When we eat the bad foods, we feel guilty and then feel obliged to restrict. Yet when we restrict we eventually come to a starving point where our bodies crave the “bad” foods, and we end up falling into this cycle of overeating and restricting. When we restrict we not only deprive our bodies of vital energy, but we also restrict enjoyment of flavors and foods that we love.
Restrictive eating patterns prevent us from having a healthy relationship with food and our bodies. Combine that with the fact that they often lead to weight maintenance or gain instead of weight loss, it can be extra stressful to be left wondering why a “cleaner” diet that is promised to help lose weight doesn’t do its job.
When we restrict, our bodies release the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone ramps up inflammation, makes us feel tired and brings down our mood, and causes the body to hold onto or build more fat stores at the next eating opportunity. Elevated cortisol levels combined with likelihood & frequency of overeating make it difficult to lose weight on a restrictive diet.
But what if we let go of the moral value on food, and the idea that eating less is best? It’s time we take a step back from diet culture and realize that we can be perfectly healthy—in fact improve our health and weight loss—when we eat more. The saying “everything in moderation” doesn’t exist just because it’s nice to hear. It’s actually a big truth statement that more of us really need to abide by. We can be perfectly healthy eating fun foods, flavorful foods, foods we consider “clean,” and everything in between. It’s all about learning how to eat for balance and finding foods that satisfy us.
Here at Abigail Nutrition we prioritize whole, high fiber foods. Adding more fiber foods to the diet helps keep us energized, hydrated, and full. Mood improves, digestion improves, and our bodies are more nourished when we focus on including more nutrient-dense foods in the diet. This doesn’t mean cutting out fun foods completely. As we’ve discussed, you can still eat foods you enjoy in a balanced way.
But what about those times when we’re feeling not so great about a few days’ worth of eating? How can we rebound from feeling a little out of control with food without restricting and fueling the cycle?
Instead of restricting food during these times, let’s reset our food patterns. Rather than removing foods from the diet, focus on getting back to consuming whole, nutrient dense foods with lots of fiber. Focus on feeling nourished and knowing that that helps the body and the mind in the long term. When we learn to reset instead of restrict we become more equipped to handle situations in which food might not make us feel our best, and we also know how to stay in control during those times and maintain physical and mental health progress.
Here’s what a few days of resetting might look like:
Day 1
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs + ½ avocado + everything bagel seasoning
Lunch: Chickpea “Tuna” Salad
1 can chickpeas
¼ cup avocado mayo
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
¼ chopped red onion
Mash ingredients together & serve on high fiber bread with veggies, top on a salad, or eat in a Siete wrap! You can also make your own tuna salad using this recipe—just add canned tuna in water.
Snack: Apple & natural peanut butter
Dinner: Turkey meatballs over green salad, zucchini noodles, or lentil noodles + broccoli
Day 2
Breakfast: Yogurt bowl with plain Greek yogurt + fresh berries + nuts/nut butter
Lunch: Veggie Farro Bowl (½ cup cooked farro + roasted broccoli & cauliflower + handful pistachios + crumbled feta; dress with balsamic vinegar & olive oil)
Snack: Veggie sticks + Mary’s Gone Crackers + guacamole
Dinner: Fish cooked in olive oil, lemon juice, white wine & capers with roasted sweet potatoes & asparagus
Day 3
Breakfast: Nature’s Path Organic Smart Bran cereal + Whole Foods chia & flax mix and/or berries + unsweetened almond milk
Lunch: Salad (greens base + 1-2 nonstarchy veggies + 1 starchy item like chickpeas or corn + nuts/seeds + protein)
Snack: 2 hard-boiled eggs + everything bagel seasoning & veggie + fruit slices
Dinner: Baked chicken fajitas over quinoa with black beans & guac
This meal plan is just suggestive and shows how to incorporate nutrient dense foods into your diet so you’re feeling great and nourishing your body. Everyone is different, so while a plan like this might work for some, others will need something different. Another thing we have to keep in mind is that a plan like this does not mean that you only need to eat these foods—if you are still hungry, eat!
When we follow a more balanced diet, we’re more satisfied physically and emotionally. We don’t crave foods because we allow ourselves to eat what we enjoy. We eat nutritious foods that fill us up and if we have need for other foods we assess how they make us feel. Having a more balanced pattern of eating helps us stay in control after a few days of irregular eating. We improve our health and lose weight in a healthy and sustainable way.
It’s time we started listening to our bodies and resetting instead of restricting.
By Jessica Kaplan