Health: To treat and not cheat

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It's not easy choosing between healthy and treating, but if you continue eating fresh, treats like donuts will not be as appetizing in the future.

Treat as a noun means anything that affords particular pleasure or enjoyment.

To cheat means to defraud, deceive, violate rules or regulations.

These words are commonly used among my new clientele and those who have yet to make a significant change toward their health and well-being. It usually takes me a while to break someone from using these words when talking about their diet. Some are not successful, but they were not willing to change in the first place.

A new acquaintance and behavioural specialist agreed with me that rewarding yourself with a good treat or a special cheat is not changing your bad behaviour. It is telling you that all the hard work you are putting in sucks, and that at some point, you’ll get to treat or cheat with what you really love.

Eventually, this is what leads to failure. Sure, maybe you can stick it out for a while and could be better off than someone who makes no effort to eat healthy, but you’ll still have all the negative side effects from your unhealthy habits.

What to do instead:

Eat healthy all the time

It’s hard at first but you get used to saying no and people get used to offering healthy options. Of course, there are situations where you can’t avoid it like when you are invited for dinner and birthday cake and there are none to little healthy options. Choose the healthiest and fill up on that and take just a nibble worth of the other stuff. It’s not rude: you could make an argument that you host is rude for not knowing or understanding your lifestyle. However, don’t get defensive if someone makes fun of your choices and don’t point out the unhealthy things to your host. Just politely say you really love the salad they made and can’t get enough of it.

Treat wisely

If you reread the definition of treat you’ll see that even the act of doing healthy things are the treat. This is where your thinking has to change: once you see things like your workouts, healthy cooking and eating and regular sleep as pleasurable and enjoy your lifestyle, then those old unhealthy treats will actually start to seem icky.

Don’t cheat – ever

You can modify exercises, make a conscious choice to eat healthy or not, ask for help, but don’t cheat. It always ends badly at some point.

Don’t set yourself up to fail. You are the only one responsible for your choices and have the power to fix them. You may need help sometimes and you can’t be afraid or ashamed to ask someone you trust. You have to be willing to do everything it takes to be successful.

Karen Nixon-Carroll is the Program Manager at Fitness 101, Fanshawe College Professor, YMCA fitness course trainer and examiner, Fanshawe FHP grad and holds many fitness certifications for personal training, group fitness and wellness. Email her at karen.carroll@fanshawec.ca.