Restriction Vs Nutrition
Breakfast today was a Pain Au Chocolat accompanied by a coffee in a beautiful French cafe, sat in the courtyard overlooking the food market. Heaven.
However afterwards I found the familiar guilty thoughts rising to the surface, you may know the ones;
'You're meant to be training'
'You better diet harder when you get home'
'Maybe you should make a low carb plan to compensate'.
This is after one pain au chocolat! Amongst hard training, lots of fish and vegetables, it's crazy right? So why do we do it?!
Unless you've done something to deliberately upset someone, guilt is a wasted emotion, and it definitely is here, it is never, ever going to help you lead a healthier, happier life.
The Solution
The first step is to recognise these thoughts, and to realise they're not helping you. After that I think the best way to combat it is to change tactic. Often when we have these guilty thoughts, we start to restrict ourselves, which is fundamentally a form of punishment.
So stuff your restriction!
The way forward is the opposite. Buy lots of fresh vegetables, good quality meat and fish, some freshly baked bread, yoghurt and so on.
And tuck in!
Fill your body with amazing, nourishing food, and give your body more nutrients. Natural foods provide a wide range of vitamins and minerals, plus plenty of fibre and protein. Your energy levels and performance will go through the roof, and you'll enjoy and savour your food, rather than resenting another portion of plain chicken and vegetables.
Food should benefit your mental and physical health, and drive performance. When you punish yourself you can easily jump on the starve / binge merry go round and find your energy levels are pretty awful.
If you want to be the fittest you, take control of these thoughts, and if you feel like restricting, go to a farmers market or a great food store and stock up. Cook from scratch, have friends over and enjoy your food, training and life.
