2722: Damage Control - What To Do When You Over Indulge by Nia Shanks on Creating Healthy Habits

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[00:00:39] This is Optimal Health Daily, Damage Control. What To Do When You Over Indulge by Nia Shanks

[00:00:44] of Nia Shanks.com and I'm Dr. Neal Malik, your host and narrator.

[00:00:49] Hey there, Happy Middle of the Week Wednesday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily

[00:00:54] where I simply read here from the best health and fitness blogs for free. And on Fridays,

[00:00:59] I answer your questions. You can send in a question by going to oildpodcast.com-ask

[00:01:06] or just send an email to help at oildpodcast.com. Now today is Wednesday and like I do every

[00:01:14] I like to share a little bit of inspiration with you. That's because for many of us, Wednesday

[00:01:19] signifies the middle of the week and we might need that little extra push to get through the next couple

[00:01:25] of days. So, with that here we go. Quote. In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.

[00:01:35] Niko's cousin'sakis. All right, now that we're in the right frame of mind, let's get right

[00:01:40] to today's post and start optimizing your life. Damage control, what to do when you overindulge

[00:01:50] by Nia Shanks of Nia Shanks.com. We've all been there that time when we ate too much and ended

[00:01:57] up uncomfortably full or we consumed more sweets than we intended at a party. A reader emailed

[00:02:04] me a few weeks ago about a similar scenario. Quote. I overindulged over the weekend and ate

[00:02:10] way too much junk food. I had some ice cream and then found myself constantly popping my kids

[00:02:16] left over Easter candy in my mouth all weekend. Can you give me a tough workout to burn all of this off?

[00:02:22] I want to undo the damage. And Quote. It happens sometimes we eat too much or go bonkers on

[00:02:29] a tub of ice cream or Easter candy and immediately after we start thinking about how we can

[00:02:35] undo the damage from our chowfest. Sure, I could give the individual who sent me that email a

[00:02:40] tough workout that will have them sweating, huffing and puffing and burning a ton of calories.

[00:02:46] But that's not what I did. Taking on a damage control approach after overindulging is not

[00:02:52] the way to go and before we get into what you should do, here are four problems from the typical

[00:02:57] damage control mentality. One makes exercise a form of punishment. If you do an extra workout

[00:03:05] because you ate sweets or just too much in general, you're essentially doing this as a form

[00:03:10] of punishment. You're making yourself work out more because you were bad and ate too much.

[00:03:17] Activity and working out should never be done as a form of punishment. This false and ridiculous

[00:03:23] belief that is seemingly constantly being thrown at women, you've seen the magazine articles

[00:03:28] that tell you how to burn off a slice of pizza or a piece of cake that we need permission

[00:03:33] to eat certain foods or earn our right to eat them is getting incredibly old and is also

[00:03:38] very degrading. You don't need permission to eat anything and you sure as heck shouldn't feel

[00:03:44] guilty when you eat your favorite foods. We should be active and strength-trained, exclusively

[00:03:49] for the positive and powering benefits it provides. This is all part of the choosing to be more

[00:03:56] not less philosophy. Two, increases the perception that some foods are bad. I try not to label

[00:04:04] any food as good or bad because of the emotional response it can create. Because for example,

[00:04:11] if you view pasta or your favorite ice cream as bad foods then you'll automatically label

[00:04:16] yourself as being bad or doing something wrong when you enjoy those foods. Those thoughts lead

[00:04:22] feelings of guilt and even shame and that's not a good thing. There are no good and bad foods.

[00:04:29] Yes, we should strive to eat mostly real, minimally processed foods the majority of the time.

[00:04:34] Basically, the diet that has no name but there's nothing wrong with enjoying guilt free

[00:04:39] are favorite not so healthy foods on occasion. Three, leads to a negative self-image.

[00:04:47] This relates to points 1 and 2. There was a time when I labeled certain foods and even food

[00:04:52] groups as good and bad or clean and dirty. Without fail, if I ate a bad or dirty food,

[00:05:00] I'd feel immense guilt and call myself a failure for giving into temptation and eating something

[00:05:05] I shouldn't have. All this did was negatively affect my self-image and make me feel like I wasn't

[00:05:11] good enough. And 4. Can lead to obsessive and binge eating habits?

[00:05:18] Again, I know this from personal experience and from working with clients,

[00:05:21] taking on a damaged control mentality when I would overeat, only increased my binge eating

[00:05:27] episodes in frequency and volume. Then I'd respond by vowing to eat clean exclusively

[00:05:33] and then I'd inevitably binge on the forbidden foods I was trying to avoid. This led to further

[00:05:39] guilt, shame, extra workouts and this cycle only intensified with every episode.

[00:05:46] The bottom line is that nothing good can come from embracing a damaged control mindset

[00:05:50] when you overeat or eat less than ideal foods. It's a negative mindset that leads to negative

[00:05:56] actions and thoughts. What should you do the next time you're over indulge? This may sound

[00:06:02] crazy but forget about it and move on. Don't think about how many calories you ate. Don't

[00:06:09] think about trying to undo the damage. Don't feel guilty. Don't vow to do an extra workout. Try

[00:06:16] to forget about it and move on. Because really, what's the other option? Sure, you can beat

[00:06:21] yourself up for eating too much and feel immense shame and guilt. I've been there and done that,

[00:06:27] but what does this solve? It changes absolutely nothing and only leads to negative thoughts and

[00:06:32] actions that increase over time. I know from personal experience that if you always react negatively

[00:06:38] when you overeat, that an increasing negative self image will be the likely result.

[00:06:44] Choose to move on and focus exclusively on positive actions you can take. If you work out later

[00:06:49] in the day, remember that you're not doing it as a form of punishment. You chose to be active

[00:06:54] and workout because you're becoming a stronger, more awesome version of yourself.

[00:07:00] Eat mostly real food meals that you enjoy. Be active in a fun way. Just take positive and

[00:07:07] powering actions. Remember, you don't need permission to eat your favorite foods. You don't

[00:07:12] have to earn them or attempt to undo the perceived damage afterward. Focus on the things that

[00:07:18] matter most. Eat real foods most of the time. Enjoy your favorite foods on occasion.

[00:07:23] Guilt free, of course. Be physically active in whatever way or ways you enjoy most and

[00:07:29] definitely strive to become the best version of yourself. You just listen to the post titled

[00:07:38] Damage Control. What to do when you overindulge by Nia Shanks of Nia Shanks.com

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[00:08:59] Dr. Nia here for my commentary. I used to serve as a health educator and would lead classes on

[00:09:05] weight management for a large HMO. Every week, patients would leave class feeling motivated and

[00:09:11] ready to tackle their weight loss goals. But by the following week when I would ask the class,

[00:09:17] how things went since we last saw each other, one or two people would say something like,

[00:09:22] well, things started off just fine but then I had to go to this party over the weekend and I

[00:09:27] completely overindulged. There were so many tempting foods I couldn't help it. I feel so guilty now.

[00:09:34] Now I should mention that these comments would happen in the early weeks of the program. That's

[00:09:38] because by the end of the program, my patients had learned that overindulging and feeling guilty

[00:09:44] are normal and that we shouldn't beat ourselves up over it, which is exactly what today's

[00:09:49] author Nia said. Instead, I would advise them to learn from the experience and get back on track

[00:09:55] as soon as they can. No punishment, less guilt hopefully, and a feeling of empowerment. After all,

[00:10:02] one day isn't going to undo six days' worth of work. All right, that'll do it for today.

[00:10:09] I hope you have a great rest of your Wednesday. Thank you so much for listening and I'll be back here

[00:10:14] tomorrow as usual, so I'll see you there where your optimal life awaits.