Healthy Ways to Cheat on Your Diet

I shuddered a bit when I wrote diet in the title, because of the many negative connotations that brings up. But the reality is that many of you out there are on a "diet." Many of you are likely feeling deprived and if you do slip then you really let it all go. So here are some tips for "cheating" in a healthy way.

Keep your cheating to occasional. I like to say give yourself permission to eat whatever you want one day a week. You could do this as often as once a day depending upon your overall health, weight, activity level and overall diet.

First, eat real things. If you are a big ice cream fan, then eat ice cream where the ingredient list is basically cream, sugar and milk. Avoid those ice creams with lots of additives. Also keep in mind that low fat may mean very high sugar. You are better off to do real ice cream made with cream as you will get less sugar. Be reasonable about how much you eat. I know you could eat half the carton, bu this is a treat, so spoon out 1/2 cup and celebrate that 1/2 cup and enjoy every bite instead of just shoving down.