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You ate a ‘bad’ meal. Now what?

So it finally happened. You were making brilliant eating choices until one day the need for pizza or ice cream overwhelmed you and you caved. You feel so guilty and ashamed – what do you do now? Obviously, you skip the rest of your meals for the day and do about three hours of cardio, right? Wrong! Before you pound the pavement as punishment, try these solutions instead. 

Go easy on yourself 

You didn’t break the law, you didn’t hurt or endanger anyone, all you did was eat some food. It’s not a crime, and there’s no reason to feel negatively about it. Move past the feelings of failure as quickly as possible – they’ll only cause you to eat more to cheer yourself up.

Be realistic 

One relatively unhealthy meal isn’t going to make you gain weight, just as one healthy meal won’t cause you to lose weight. If most of your choices are good ones, the occasional suboptimal one won’t make any difference to your long-term plan. So stop stressing. 

Don’t skip a meal 

And don’t rush to the gym instead (unless you were planning on going anyway). Carry on just as you would have if your food detour hadn’t happened, and forget about the incident completely. Food and exercise should only ever be seen positively – never as punishment

Stop using the words ‘good’ and ‘bad’ 

Food isn’t one or the other, it’s just food. The sooner you can look at it this way, the sooner you’ll start developing a healthy, balanced relationship with it. 

Change the way you eat 

If you’ve been on an eating plan that’s so strict you can’t have any of the foods you like ever again, find another way of eating, and fast. No matter how much weight you need to lose, eliminating your favourites completely is a one-way trip to binge city. Find a plan that allows for a little of what you love every now and then, and you’ll feel better inside and out. 

For more health advice find out how super superfoods really are!

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