Saturday, November 9, 2013

The Science of Cheat Meals: Why you NEED them.

First of all: I would like to formally announce that I have joined a competition team and will be competing in the spring! I will be competing in the bikini division, and prepping for it NATURALLY. I know many people are skeptical of this sport because they assume everyone is following horrible diets and using illegal substances...but there are a huge number of people who aren't, and I will be one of them!
Go check it all out HERE!

Now, cheat meals are a topic of mass confusion among many people learning how to eat clean. Many can't understand why you would work so hard to make progress with your diet, only to "ruin" it with a big pizza or plate of cheese fries.
Well there is a legitimate scientific reason behind these indulgences, and why most people do them once per week.

First of all, cheat meals will only benefit those who are in a calorie deficit (ex: burning more than they are consuming). This doesn't mean they're necessarily restricting their calories to a super low amount, but rather that their diet plan allows them to have enough carb, fat, and protein to keep a certain deficit after working out everyday. For example, my current prescribed deficit is 500 calories per day, and I do this through carb cycling for my upcoming bikini competition.
Second, cheat meals are working to effect Leptin: a hormone circulating in the blood that helps regulate (suppress) appetite. Leptin levels decrease when you are in a calorie deficit, so cheat meals will increase your leptin levels for a short period of time, and your metabolism will respond positively to expend these additional calories. However, this metabolism spike doesn't immediately disappear after you are done eating your cheat meal...it continues at an elevated level afterwards leading to an even greater energy expenditure and often, fat loss.
Food in general also has a thermogenic effect (the thermogenic effect of food, or TEF), which simply means that your body increases energy expended in addition to metabolism after you eat food in order to aid in digesting that food. This is related to, but independent from leptin levels.

These physiological upsides to cheat meals do not mean everyone who is practicing clean eating should take one day out of the week and eat whatever they want to the point of being sick. Instead, they should be a planned, "responsible cheat" MEAL. Not day.

(The Rock knows how to cheat^)

There is one thing that people should beware of when using cheat meals in their diet plan: the psychological aspects of food. As we know, food is addictive. So if cheat meals aren't controlled enough, they can become mentally degrading, as people will either start to feel like they can't continue their diet without one, or the opposite effect; they may dread them and choose to skip.
Remember that they should be fun and enjoyable. Pick something that you love, that doesn't totally fit your macro nutrient goals, but that won't make you sick. For example, a stack of cinnamon roll pancakes and a side of bacon for a cheat "brunch" (the best meal of any day) will leave me feeling full and satisfied. But if I follow that up with a huge creamy pasta dish with garlic bread and dessert for lunch...I would most likely feel very sick and the whole essence of the cheat meal would be lost. Everyone should follow their own intuition when it comes to choosing a cheat, as not everyone will respond the same way to the same foods. John can eat an entire large pizza to himself when he's hungry for a cheat meal...and I would probably be rolling in pain after half of one.

I hope this helps!
♥MK

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