Many people make the mistake of rewarding themselves, after they have been so good, with a big and bad food reward. They went to the gym and worked out hard; they are very proud of themselves and now feel entitled to a big, bad food reward. So they order a cheeseburger with fries and wash it down with a milkshake, or they have the big steak or the all-you-can-eat spare ribs, and add sweet potato fries and apply a creamy salad dressing to the salad, then have apple pie with ice cream for dessert. The truth is, those kinds of calories will not only reload your fat cells with fat, but they also turn on cholesterol production in your liver and raise blood cholesterol, regardless of how hard you work out. Your body doesn’t burn cholesterol as calories, so much of it lodges in the blood vessel wall and leads to heart disease even in really well-trained athletes, and in many thin people who eat this way, by the way. These types of calories also promote cancer development in a big way.

The idea is to complement your fitness success by looking forward to eating a delicious but healthy meal once your workout is over. The truth is, exercising actually will actually increase your craving for healthy foods. Take advantage of it. That’s the one-two punch that gets results. Workout and then reward yourself with a healthy, but tasty and delicious meal. When you do that, your body really starts to change quickly.

It’s really a mind set. Because you did one thing right don’t tell yourself you earned the right to do a bad thing to even it out. That mindset leads to failure in most cases. The key is to use your exercise success to reinforce, in your mind, that you are on the right track, and it should make it easier, not harder, to keep the process going by consuming foods that are healthy and delicious, and ultimately make you feel better and look better. The key is to identify and find healthy foods you look forward to using as a reward, so when your workout is over, you go searching for the right reward, not the wrong one.

Your workout program and your dietary habits have to reinforce and complement each other. That’s the ultimate goal, and the sooner you put that into place, the better. So, find the food indulgence choices to reward yourself with that taste good; something you look forward to and will make you proud of yourself, and keep your wellness journey moving forward.

Eat smart, live well, and I know you’re going to look and feel great.

Dr. James Meschino
DC,MS, ROHP