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"I blew my diet in the morning, so I gave up," words I've heard uttered by many of my clients. Maybe they had pizza at lunch-time with their work-mates, and so they felt they'd ruined their diet for the day so they gave up and had a chocolate bar for afternoon tea, double-sized portions at dinner along with an extra glass of wine, and went to bed feeling miserable.
You could almost be forgiven for thinking there's some truth or logic to the statement - that making a dietary mistake is a fair enough reason to stop trying for the day (or week). But it's not. This is a mistaken belief that drags us down and sabotages our healthy eating goals. And when you analyse this belief it's clear there is no logic to it.
All or Nothing - Is One Dietary Mistake A Deal Breaker?
It's a simple question - does making one dietary mistake ruin your entire diet? Of course it doesn't, in reality it has very little impact on the bigger picture. What ruins your diet is giving up on it altogether. Making a mistake is normal, to be expected even, what separates those who succeed from those who don't, is how you react AFTER the mistake - do you dust yourself off and get back into your diet again immediately? Or do you feel guilty and binge eat to assuage the guilt? Or do you just give up on the diet to avoid the whole discussion?
We might think that the journey to a healthier lifestyle is like travelling down State Highway One, you just get on in your fancy car and fly down the highway at 100km/h, without deviating once or slowing down, and quickly arrive at your dietary-success destination. But, the reality is that weight loss, and improving your diet, is more like a cross-country journey devoid of highways, instead full of windy, slow, unsealed back roads that often aren't sign-posted. In other words, it's not straight-forward, it's full of challenges, in fact sometimes it's downright hard and dirty.
Improving Your Diet Is Like A Cross-Country Journey!
You don't give up on your journey to a destination because you made a wrong turn. "Hi Jane, it's Sally calling, sorry we won't be coming to dinner tonight, we took a wrong turn on the way to your house so we just decided to turn around and come home. Maybe we can do dinner another time." Have you ever heard of anything more ridiculous? If you make a wrong turn on a journey you simply do your utmost to correct the mistake and get back on track as soon as possible. And so it should be with healthy eating.
When you make a dietary mistake - you overeat at lunch, or give in and eat a chocolate bar in the afternoon, or overeat at a party - don't give up, instead:
- Acknowledge that while you've made a mistake it hasn't ruined your entire diet - it was one small mistake.
- Think about what you've learnt from that mistake - could you change your preparation for that situation to prevent it happening again?
- Get right back on track with your healthy eating immediately, not tomorrow, not later today, but right now, right after you've made the mistake get focussed on healthy eating and just start trying again.
An 'all or nothing' attitude is a recipe for failure in any area of our life, throw this mistaken belief out with the garbage and remember that you're on a journey, a lifelong journey that requires a bit of commitment but provides great rewards. Everyone makes dietary mistakes, myself included, but those who achieve their healthy eating goals are the people that dust themselves off after a mistake and get going again straight away. So safe driving everyone, and remember to enjoy the scenery on your travels!
Improve Your Eating Habits Now
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About The Author
Jennifer Bowden Nutritionist, MSc (Dist), BSc (Hons) - Human Nutrition
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