How to Stop the Unhealthy Diet Mentality of “All-or-Nothing”
Picture this: You’ve been extremely strict with your diet and eating ‘healthy’ all week by cycling the same types of food from Monday to Friday - Steamed chicken breast, brown rice, boiled eggs, and broccoli. You go all out tracking your food, chasing every grain of rice that falls off the food scale. You stay away from all kinds of snacks and desserts across the weekdays, just to follow the guidelines you have set for yourself.
And then comes the weekend. By then, you’ve been so sick of eating the same foods over and over again, and enough of being overly stressed about your food restrictions. Your willpower snaps, and you give yourself the license in indulge in whatever you want. You stuff yourself with desserts and drinks, eating way beyond what you usually do. The worst thing is that you feel terribly guilty after, hating yourself for the lack of control, and promise yourself you would restrict yourself for the whole week as a form of punishment.
Does that sound like you? If it is, it can be very tiring, right? Well, the good news is, this vicious cycle of restrict, indulge and guilt should not be the way you diet! In fact, the biggest reason why people fail their diet plans is because they are too restrictive, as seen in this study.
In this article, we will look at some of the common unhealthy “All-or-Nothing” mentalities and how to curb them. Let’s dive in.
Being too restrictive is the biggest reason why people fail their diet plans.
Signs of an “All-or-Nothing” Mentality
1. “All-in” followed by “All-out”
To fully reap the benefits of a ‘diet’, many think that you have to go all-in. You have to be perfect, be in control and make no mistakes. And if you can do that, then hats off to you, because that isn’t an easy feat. But the problem is that most of us can’t.
And what happens after? You beat themselves up for failing, and then go all-out because you “might as well”. That can be extremely detrimental. Going all-out means eating much more than you usually do by stuffing your face. You no longer eat because you’re hungry, but because you have that window of opportunity to '‘cheat’.
And what is the result of that? Consuming much more calories than the calories you have deprived themselves so painfully throughout the week. This defeats the purpose of dieting anyway.
Why did this happen? It is a result of restricting yourself from eating the food you love so much that it affects your mental health and you feel deprived. You focus so much on perfection that when there is a day that you eat more than planned, massive guilt and regret kick in.
The restart of “All-in” then only comes after a new day or new week. You try to be perfect once more but it is only a matter of time before you fail again. And the viscous cycle continues.
The cycle of binge and restrict can be very dangerous.
This not only applies to dieting, but to working out as well. For example, some may skip the whole workout session if they are unable to commit a full hour to it. In worse cases, others might miss the whole week of training altogether just because they have missed one session of the week, giving the excuse that their plans have been ‘ruined’.
2. “Good” Food vs. “Bad” Food
To some, meat is bad. To some, alcohol is bad. To some, carbs is bad. And to others, eggs are bad. And the list goes on. Many times, we like to simplify our food choices by classifying them as "good" vs. “bad”, or “clean” vs. “dirty, without knowing its true nutritional worth.
While restricting yourself to only “good” or “clean” foods has shown success for many in the short-term, it is unlikely a long-term solution for the majority as studies have shown that it will lead to developing an unhealthy relationship with food.
Tips to Stop this Unhealthy Diet Mentality
If the above signs have resonated with you, it is important that you break free from this mentality as your fitness goals will be seriously derailed by it. Here are some tips that might help you with that.
1. Allow for Flexibility
The most obvious solution to restrictive diets is to allow for flexibility. Instead of having strict days followed by cheat days, you should find a sustainable and satisfying way, or middle ground, of eating for seven days a week.
One way is to add more flavor into your meals, like a little cheese into your salad, or creamer in your coffee. These small additions can help increase meal satisfaction and eliminate the feeling of restriction, reducing the probability of binge eating. In fact, there are studies showing how restricting yourself from fat can cause adverse effects on mood.
Everyone’s middle ground will look different, thus it is important to find your own. As long as you find the way you eat throughout the week sustainable and hopefully enjoyable, you have achieved consistency.
Adding more flavor into your meals will encourage sustainability.
Another point to note is that when you restrict yourself from consuming certain food, you tend to focus on wanting it more. This may actually backfire your nutrition plans and affect your mental health, mood, energy and sleep. Whole and nutritious food are great, but having a 100% “clean” diet can hide many eating disorders as shown in this study. Also, studies have shown that eating the same food all the time will also prevent nutritional variety which is a key component to a healthy lifestyle.
Therefore, my recommendation is to include 80-90% of nutritious food in your meals first, and then add the final 10-20% of your "fun" foods after. This will allow more flexibility and less restriction, leading to more consistency and long-term success.
2. Changing your Mindset on Food
Our mindset on eating food is extremely important to our well-being. Looking at food as “good” and “bad” is overly simplistic and can lead to poor decision making and confusion.
Furthermore, there are no foods that if eaten once or twice, will measurably harm your body or cause you to gain significant amount of weight. Yes, some foods offer little nutritional value, like trans fat and artificial food. But these foods will only cause issues if they start to dominate your diet.
Remember - food is meant to be enjoyed and meant to help you live your best life and not meant to be feared nor meant to make your life miserable.
3. Expecting Obstacles and Knowing You’re Good Enough
There are times that your progress seems to be going linear. You eat well, train on planned days of the week, feel hyped up and see your weight drop daily. However, there are surely days where things do not go according to your plan. You might have a bad day of eating. Your scale might have gone back up. You might have felt unmotivated, especially after a bad day. You might have felt weak at the gym and felt like quitting.
However, it is important to know that nothing about this journey is linear - these are part of the journey, and it’s totally normal. Don't freak out! Instead, embrace them. Most importantly, pick yourself up and try again.
For example, if you had a bad day of eating, just get back on track the next day, or make it up by eating less on another. If you missed a workout that week due to a busy schedule, just make up for it on another day of the week.
Expect days that you’ll eat more than usual. Just get back on track after!
Remember, doing something is always better than doing nothing. Just because your dinner is grilled pork chop instead of steamed chicken breast and broccoli does not mean you have failed. Just because you have only 30 minutes to workout does not mean you won’t benefit from it. Every little bit of success counts. Over time, it will all add up to significant progress!
Try this: whenever you’re faced with a negative statement, add the word “but” to it. For example, “I missed my workout today BUT I will go for a jog tomorrow”, or “I ate 2 slices of cake today BUT I really enjoyed it”. This can not only help you get back on track, it will make you feel less guilty from deviating from your plans.
Conclusion
How do you know if you have overcome this “All-or-Nothing” mentality?
Here’s a scenario: You had a stressful day at work and see three slices of leftover cake in the fridge mid-afternoon. Your sugar cravings start to kick in and you give in to the temptation subconsciously. You finish one slice of cake and feel satisfied, and the voice inside you tells you that you have ruined the whole day of eating, and so you might as well devour the other 2 slices left.
But you pause and think again - have you really ruined the day with just a slice of cake? Are you truly still craving for more or has the cake satisfied your hunger and sweet tooth? You stop and head back to your desk and continue with your work, breaking out of the viscous cycle you are well aware of.
I hope with these tips, you can move away from this unhealthy mentality, and find your middle ground!
P.S - still need help with your unhealthy diet mentality? Drop me a message!
