Cheating Too Often -> Cheating Too Often

Before my hernia surgery this summer, I was extremely good about cheating only one day a week.  I went 'off the wagon' during my recovery, and had things like fruit and bread for a couple of weeks.  Since then, I've kept fruit in my diet (not much, but at least a little), and have found myself having 'cheat day' items here and there throughout the week.  It was ok for a while because I was doing three-a-day workouts with about two hours of interval cardio (elliptical, running, biking), plus body weight exercises (push ups, sit ups, pull ups, etc).  I was burning so much that it really didn't matter (typically hitting 7-10k NikeFuel vs what Nike says the average American who goes to the gym does - 3k).

I warn people about cutting themselves slack because they will just burn it off later as they are changing their discipline around what they eat regularly.  Well, I'm no different.  What I've come to realize is that I'm craving 'cheat foods' in a way I didn't when I was strict.

That's when it hit me that the piece Dr. Sanjay Gupta did for "60 Minutes" on sugar being toxic was right - it's not only toxic, but it's addictive.  If you haven't seen it yet, you absolutely must.  You can view it here (Is Sugar Toxic?).

Having a donut, a piece of candy, etc doesn't satiate me the way it would have done on an old cheat day.  Instead, after I finish, it's like the old days - I want more or another.  Even if I am uncomfortably full, the craving is still there.  I strongly believe this is from the slow trickle of the stuff into my system - it's always just enough to tease me and keep raising the threshold of what amount would drive satisfaction.

See, on a cheat day, you go nuts and have so much and feel no guilt for it, so you get really uncomfortable.  And your body is so not used to it that you probably wind up sick and swear it off (for at least a week until the next cheat day).

When you have a little each day, you remove the 'special' nature of having it, and desensitize yourself to the idea.  Then add in the addictive nature of the sugar, and you're in real trouble.

So, I need to recommit and get back to the concept of a cheat day.  Otherwise, the slope will get more and more slippery until it's an oily, vertical plane.  Plus, with a (doubly) torn meniscus in my left knee, I can't adjust the angle of that slope very easily at the moment, so diet is my main tool in my health quest.

What about you?

enlighten.your.body