So tomorrow is National Eat What You Like Day.

Have you heard about this celebration before?

Its a day when we are encouraged to turn our backs on diets and the restrictions they place on us and just “eat what you like”.

You want ice cream for breakfast..no problem, have a foot long subway sandwich for lunch…go for it,  and how about the all you can eat chinese buffet for supper..hell yes!!

Sound good to you?

Eat What You Like Alarm Bells!!

Well it will come as no surprise that this Eat What You Like Day is ringing alarm bells for us here at The Body Retreat.

First things first.. what we do agree with is that dieting is bad.  Restrictive diets leave you feeling physically, mentally and emotionally drained in the long term, and by long term I mean anything longer than a couple of weeks.

Many women spend a lot of time and energy worrying about what they can and cannot eat, bombarded as we are by the media messages of what women should look like.  Recently we have seen a worrying trend for people to take simple and healthy eating principles like Clean Eating and turn them on their head, excluding major food groups all in an attempt to drop pounds. Worrying over eating carbs, gluten, wheat, dairy, meat, fruit…the list goes on and on.  It is easy to see how Eat What You Like Day has grabbed hold of the nation’s interest.

The real trouble with Eat What You Like Day is that it could actually be setting you up for binge eating and reinforcing negative thoughts about food, body image and health. Over indulging in any food is not conducive to your health, but to deliberately over indulge in foods that you are scared of, might be intolerant of, may have negative emotional baggage with… its not such a great idea.

Here at The Body Retreat we encourage all our retreaters to ditch the diets and to embrace Conscious Clean Eating instead.

Conscious Clean Eating

With Conscious Clean Eating no whole food group is off the menu, but you make daily conscious choices every day that respect and protect your body and your health.  80% of the time you make choices to eat clean whole foods, enjoying them consciously, savouring every bite and when you are satisfied…before you are full up, you stop eating.  You don’t need to polish off every portion of food that is presented to you.  Eat what you like and stop when you are satisfied.

A splurge now and again.. not a problem, you plan for a splurge. We encourage our retreaters to splurge every week…its the 20% that makes the long term journey to achieving and maintaining healthy body and mind.  If 80% of the time you consciously choose to eat whole foods, taking time to savour every bite and you stop eating when you are satisfied then  20% of the time you can relax and indulge in a little splurge.

It’s all about balance not depravation, not dieting and not removing whole food groups.  Choose Conscious Clean Eating and you really can eat what you like every day.

Top Tips for A Healthy Splurge on Eat What You Like Day

But if you like the sound of Eat What You Like Day and you’d like to celebrate then here are my top 3 tips to Splurge healthily and sensibly.

Why not celebrate by splurging on a meal at a five star restaurant. Do you love lobster, but rarely order it because of its price tag? Understandable, but Eat What You Like Day is the day to take a break. So call the restaurant that you always wanted to eat at and spend an evening enjoying your favourite delicacies and perhaps washing them down with a nice big glass of your favourite wine.

Or, alternatively, you can recreate a favourite childhood meal in your home. What was your family signature dish?  Nothing beats a good plate of comfort food to make us feel happy, satisfied and nostalgic all at the same time.

Or if there is a food that you would really love to eat wether that be ice cream, chocolate, cheese, cake etc etc. then buy yourself the most expensive version that you can afford.  Even if it is just a morsel, to taste the very best of your chosen indulgence, that is a gorgeous thing.

The key is to eat something that you truly enjoy, so whatever food that is for you, enjoy Eat What You Like Day…just enjoy it consciously 😉

Will you be indulging on Eat What You Like Day?  We would love to hear from you, leave us a comment in the box below and let us know how you would celebrate this day.