You may be thinking, "Mel, you keep talking about 80/20...what the heck does that even mean?!"
The 80/20 concept is: liking and ENJOYING how you eat!
Many women have come to me for help because they are stuck in this constant food restriction and binge cycle.
Think about it, the harder you push against your psychology and physiology, the less control you will have when they push back. There is NOT something wrong with us overeating. It is literally just the body and mind reacting to what it is up against.
The 80/20 principle allows us to decide when, what, and where we enjoy any and all foods.
When foods aren’t “off limits” suddenly the urgency to get them all in before they are gone
disappears.
How do we break free from that yucky restriction and binge cycle?
Basically, you eat healthy/whole/real strong plates 80 percent of the time, and
indulge or eat for pleasure 20 percent of the time.
Your 20 percent might mean having dessert, ordering white pasta, enjoying the bread
basket, or having a drink when you’re out with friends—all of which can fit into your goals,
even if you’re trying to lose weight.
When we learn to enjoy each and every meal as much as possible, rather than hold out on
what it is we truly want, there’s nothing left on the table to cause food fixation.
That’s not to say that every meal needs to be a gourmet experience, only that it needs to be
something satisfying enough that you aren’t still thinking about food after you finish your
meal.
Loving the way you eat -- this is 80/20.
80/20 is a concept that is hard for lots of people. We have been programmed to think that
choices that don’t fit the diet we are on -- is considered cheating. The word “cheat” puts a negative
moral value on foods that our real strong lifestyle says are OK and actually encouraged. This is the hard part.
But doing the work -- the detective work -- every damn day to create a lifestyle free from
diets -- is worth it!!
xo, Mel