The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies - Meri Raffetto [80]
Past conditioning has you thinking it's okay to eat "all bad foods" on special occasions. Many people view foods as good and bad. "Good" foods are for regular situations; "bad" foods are for special occasions, like vacations and holidays. Do you ever find yourself thinking, "When I'm on vacation, I'm going to eat everything bad"? This mindset treats the "bad" food like a reward or a natural part of your vacation. Such conditioning can be passed down through families.
One or two days of overindulging can't cause you to gain weight, but several weeks or even months of overindulging most certainly can. When you give in to any of the challenges posed by special occasions, the effects almost always linger for a longer period of time than the actual event.
However, now that you know some of the reasons why holidays, vacations, and parties are so tough to get through, you're better prepared to overcome the challenges they present. In the following sections, I share advice for eating what you want on special occasions while still staying on track with your low-glycemic lifestyle.
Avoiding the all-or-nothing mentality
I'm a firm believer that an all-or-nothing attitude toward dietary guidelines is not only one of the biggest diet traps but that it also makes true lifestyle change more difficult. Only a handful of people do really well with a strict diet protocol (and that's often only because they must follow a strict diet due to a food allergy or gastrointestinal problems). Most people do better with a diet that leaves room for flexibility, which is one of the draws of the low-glycemic diet.
Perhaps you've found yourself in the all-or-nothing trap (also known as the good-and-bad trap) before. You feel that you're either being "good" because you're following your guidelines to a tee or being "bad" because you're not following them at all. People fall into this trap during regular times of the year, but I see it happen most often during holidays and vacations. Why? Because in most cases people have either made a conscious decision that they'll get back on track next month post-holiday/vacation or they've decided to be completely unconscious and not think about their food choices at all.
The problem with the all-or-nothing mentality is that you end up treating your new dietary guidelines as a temporary thing and not a part of your low-glycemic lifestyle. Telling yourself you're being good or bad can lead you to think, "Well, if I'm going to be bad, then I'd better eat everything now." When you think this way during the holidays or for one or two weeks while on vacation, you run the risk of regaining some weight, which often leads to feelings of guilt and frustration as well as a never-ending cycle of gaining and losing weight.
Getting rid of that all-or-nothing mentality helps you realize that you can enjoy all foods in your diet. The trick is balancing them so you don't eat them all at one sitting every time you go on vacation or attend a party. Following are some suggestions for banishing the all-or-nothing mentality from your mind:
Don't think of slip-ups as failures. Instead, use them as tools to learn from for the future.
Remember that you're in this for the long haul. Don't think of making good food choices as a short-term diet. You want to be able to incorporate all foods to make a low-glycemic lifestyle realistic for you.
Embrace a support system. Peers and/or health professionals can encourage your weight loss by helping you set realistic goals and maintain a positive mindset. (Turn to Chapter 14 for help finding a solid support system.)
Discovering moderation with high-glycemic, special-occasion foods
Moderation is more important than ever during special occasions such as holidays, parties, and vacations. Creating a balance of low- and high-glycemic foods on your plate when faced with the challenges presented earlier in this chapter can be difficult — but not