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Okay, so you fell off the wagon with a resounding thud. Maybe it was a one-time indiscretion and you just cheated a little, or maybe you\u2019ve been off the wagon for days or weeks. Or even months. But you\u2019ve picked yourself up and you want to clamber back on as soon as possible. You\u2019re covered in dust from your fall, you ache all over, but that wagon is sitting there waiting for you, ready to welcome you back with open arms. All you have to do is put one foot in front of the other.
\nSounds easy but sometimes it can seem absolutely monumental. I get it. I am writing this because I had a little fall of my own recently. It was only a meal\u2019s worth of cheating but it made me feel absolutely awful the next day. Shaky, bloated, exhausted, tummy issues, the works. In spite of that, or perhaps because of it, I knew I had to get back on track right away. My health is too important to me to let things go any further. But I know I will fall again and so I thought it might be helpful to talk about those little tips and tricks that help you get back to your healthy diet a little more easily.<\/p>\n
If you read nothing else but this one tip, that\u2019s fine. But please take this advice to heart, because it is far and away the most important tip I am going to share. I am part of a lot of forums for low carb and Keto diets and there is always someone flagellating themselves for cheating, for failing, for not having the willpower to stick it out. Well guess what? We ALL fail at this sometimes. Let\u2019s face it, we live in a sugar and gluten-filled world. Unless we are hermits that don\u2019t ever leave the house, we are faced with temptation daily \u2013 at work, at social functions, on television, on the internet. It\u2019s all around us and the wonder of it is that we don\u2019t give in more often!<\/p>\n
I find it heartbreaking sometimes, the way people who slip beat themselves up. Just think about it for a second. You wouldn\u2019t talk to a friend or a loved one that way when they\u2019d slipped, would you? Then why on earth do you talk to yourself that way? And let\u2019s be honest, some of that self-loathing might be part of what brought you here in the first place. So take a deep breath and repeat after me. \u201cI am human. I had a moment of failure. And I will probably fail again. That\u2019s okay. What\u2019s important is that I keep on trying\u201d. In the immortal words of Taylor Swift, shake it off!<\/p>\n
Own it. So I said we all fail sometimes, and we do. But that doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t hold yourself accountable. It isn\u2019t someone else\u2019s fault that you scarfed down that pizza or dove head first into a plate of Oreos. Be an adult and recognize that you did this to yourself and the consequences suck. And then ask yourself why. Did you forget to eat before you went to the party and arrived so hungry you monopolized the buffet? Were you running errands all day, taking kids to soccer and not stashing a low carb high fat snack for yourself? Or was emotional eating? Or boredom eating (which I am very prone to!)? Or did you do the old \u201coh one bite won\u2019t hurt. Okay maybe three or four bites won\u2019t hurt. Oh hey\u2026somehow I ate the whole thing!\u201d Then make note of the situations in which you are more likely to succumb to temptation and do your damnedest to avoid them. Preparation is key!<\/p>\n
You feel pretty bad, don\u2019t you? Beyond the guilt and anger at yourself, you probably don\u2019t feel very well physically either. Going off the rails and eating carbs and sugar with abandon might seem pretty fun at the time, but most of us experience some serious discomfort the next day. Tummy aches, head aches, inflammation if we have dietary sensitivities. It isn\u2019t pretty, but it can also be good motivation for getting back on track. Sadly, however, it\u2019s quite easy to forget how awful certain foods make us feel once we are feeling better. Writing it down can help a great deal. Remember how you used to re-copy your notes in high school, in order to better remember them for a test? Same thing here. The simple act of putting it in writing makes it all the more real and vivid. But be sure to write down how much better you feel when you stick to the plan too. A great comparison for future reference!<\/p>\n
Or don\u2019t eat any breakfast at all. For me, eating a whole plate of low carb vegetables is like hitting the reset button. It feels clean, it tastes clean, and I swear it cleans out my head a little too. A large part of that may be mental, like feeling as if I am eating the antidote to a poison I consumed the day before, but it hardly matters. If it helps reset my palate, it\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s okay to skip breakfast too, as long as you don\u2019t see it as a punishment for the prior day\u2019s indiscretions. Intermittent fasting is widely recognized as a healthy practice, and it\u2019s also a great way to hit the reset button. And just giving your body a chance to work through all the junk you ate before you eat anything else is helpful. Wait until you truly feel hunger again before sitting down to another meal is crucial. Then be sure to your next meal is solidly low carb or keto. Be sure to savour it and enjoy it, to remind yourself of why this way of eating is worth sticking to.<\/p>\n
My husband taught me that the best cure for a hangover is a 5k run. No, I am not kidding, it works. And it works for food hangovers too. You aren\u2019t going to feel great when you get out there. In fact, you will probably feel a little like dog poo. Or a lot like dog poo. It won\u2019t be your best athletic performance ever. It may even hurt a little at the beginning and you will wonder why the heck you are doing it. But afterwards, you will feel so much better and you will be that much further along to ridding your body of the junk you ate. It doesn\u2019t have to be a run or anything super high intensity. But you do want to raise your heart rate a little and it helps to break a sweat. It helps your body digest a little better, it clears your head, and it helps your cells uptake the extra insulin and glucose that might be floating around in your blood stream. And, if I can be frank, it helps get your bowels moving too. Which we all know makes us feel better after a binge!<\/p>\n
A bit cliche, perhaps, but I find this to be crucial in flushing out my system. Don\u2019t go overboard and drink gallons upon gallons or you will dilute the critical salts your body requires. But simply sipping at a cool, clear liquid can make you feel a little more on track. If you\u2019re sick of the taste of water, herbal teas (hot or cold, with or without sweetener) can help. And if you\u2019re prone to boredom eating, as I am, sipping something with a little flavour can help ease the urge to stuff your mouth.<\/p>\n
Need something a little more satisfying and comforting? Try sipping warm bone broth to fill you up without carbs. Also try adding a little turmeric to your bone broth for both flavour and the anti-inflammatory properties. All the carbs and sugars and such you\u2019ve been eating can aggravate inflammation so anything you can do to mitigate it will make you feel a lot better.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a girl who likes her nightly glass of wine and I am not afraid to admit it. But after succumbing to temptation, I find I am better to skip the wine for a day or two. I am working on flushing the toxins out of my system and there\u2019s no question that alcohol is a toxin. And given its propensity to lower our inhibitions, wine makes me less likely to stick to the plan of getting back on track. So a few days of tee-totalling make me feel more clear-headed and healthy.<\/p>\n
The benefits here are twofold: support and accountability. Sometimes we really suck at making promises to ourselves. They\u2019re only in our head after all, so it\u2019s pretty easy to pretend we never made them in the first place. But when you say it out loud to a friend or a support group, you feel it\u2019s that much harder to break. And in this day and age, there\u2019s simply no excuse for not having someone to make promises to. Even if you don\u2019t have any in-person friends that support this low carb lifestyle, there are numerous groups and forums. And most of the time, people are incredibly supportive and helpful, with amazing ideas to help you stay the course.<\/p>\n
Whatever you do, don\u2019t go nuts and exercise like a fiend while subsisting on salad for days on end. That\u2019s never the way to do it. If you feel deprived, you will almost inevitably succumb to the next round of temptation. I\u2019m the rebellious type myself. When I feel restricted or limited, I tend to lash out in frustration and thumb my nose at the limitations, going overboard in the opposite direction. And a proper low carb diet should be the antithesis of deprivation anyway. So fill up on those good healthy fats to keep your appetite and cravings under control.<\/p>\n
Get excited about cooking and eating this way again! Look here, friends. I\u2019ve got a whole blog filled with hundreds of low carb recipes for your eating pleasure. And there are a number of other wonderful blogs creating amazing recipes to satisfy your hunger. Getting into the kitchen and cooking up some of your favourites, or a few new ones that catch your eye, is the best way to get back on plan. The food is beyond delicious and if you remind yourself of that, you may wonder why you ever fell off the wagon in the first place!<\/p>\n