One of the main questions people ask me with regards to diet and nutrition is to give a list of the top foods they should never eat. So I’m guessing you’re reading this now wondering what I’m going to say are the dreaded foods that are so bad they made it onto the list.
Sorry, but I’m not going to tell you any foods to completely remove from your diet…unless you have an intolerance, in which case get that food group out of your diet and enjoy life free from digestive issues!
Anyway, there are two reasons I won’t tell you what foods to stop eating. One reason is because it would make me a huge hypocrite. Chocolate and ice cream make regular appearances in my life and I wouldn’t try to hide that because you all know I believe in everything in moderation.
Another reason is because of the psychological effect of being told you can’t have a certain thing…
Ok, think about if I said you can’t eat chocolate while you’re on a certain diet. There’s a big chance that your first thought would be to find out the end date of said diet, and then a countdown would begin in your mind as to how long it would be until you can have chocolate again. Well either that, or you’d run for the hills with a wheelbarrow full of chocolate and eat it all while screaming at me that I can’t stop you…simply because I’d made you think of chocolate.
Kind of like when someone says don’t think about purple cows. It’s highly unlikely you were thinking about purple cows before, but now they are probably featuring very strongly in your thoughts simply because I’ve put them there.
So you see what I mean…as soon as I were to give a list of restricted foods, your mind would play on it and whether you had wanted those foods before or not, there’s a chance you’d end up craving them.
I believe in everything in moderation, the 80/20 rule. This means having nutrient dense foods 80% of the time (making clean and healthy choices), and then having things like chocolate and ice cream the other 20% of the time. It’s all about balance.
I know that giving you the advice to make generally healthier choices isn’t anywhere near as exciting as saying that if you removed a certain five foods from your diet then you would drop a stone in one week. But making generally healthier choices with an 80/20 approach will not only help you to see results as far as fat loss, it will actually be sustainable, helping you to adopt a healthier lifestyle overall. And that’s what it’s all about.
I recently wrote a post about how making it enjoyable means it becomes sustainable. Click here to read that post. It’s a good’un.
Related posts:
If you make it enjoyable it becomes sustainable
Just make generally healthier choices
What should/shouldn’t I eat? Do I really need to eat superfoods?
There really is no magic fat loss formula
You are making a good point and I totally agree. I mostly eat healthily but I also have treats and I would say to other people the same – be good most of the time but do have a treat and enjoy yourself from time to time.
Thank you Petra! I absolutely agree, everything in moderation is the best way in my opinion too. It’s an easier way to make healthy eating sustainable.x