We're not robots we can't eat out of tupperware week in week out without a break or some variety. Sometimes we need a cheat meal to re focus us and energise us for the next week or coming events.
So maybe we should accept a cheat meal can be part of any health & fitness lifestyle.
Here are 4 tips to help you maximise your cheats and to make the meals work better for you.
1 - Always eat protein with your cheat meal. It will help to satiate you - help you to stop you overeating on less nutritional foods. Most people eat carbs with their cheat meal which means you'll absorb the protein much better because of an insulin spike. Insulin helps to push food where it's needed. If you assimilate protein better, your body will build muscle and recover better.
2 - Drink a glass of water with squeezed lemon 15-20 mins before your cheat meal. The lemon will stimulate the digestive juices in your stomach to help breakdown the food, get the good bits absorbed and help to get rid of the bad bits.
3 - Sit down and eat slowly! A cheat meal is as much emotional as physiological. You should enjoy your cheat meal, don't rush it, make it an occasion. This will send the right signals to the brain when you are full so again you don't over eat.
4 - Most important! - Do a high intensity workout before your meal.
This will make your muscles demand carbs for fuel. This in turn will increase your insulin sensitivity making it easier for your body to store the carbs as glycogen in the muscle rather than converting it to fat storage.
Second to this an enzyme called AMPK is release by the body after a workout involving muscle contraction. This special enzyme increases the metabolism of foods which means it feeds both your muscles and brain with the glucose it needs and stimulates fat breakdown.
These simple steps will help you to recover and recharge your body and mind to then get focused again with whatever your goals are.
Trying to get you in the best possible shape with simple practical steps -
This blog is for guidance only and should be part of a balance diet