May is the month of Spring Cleaning. From your house, to your car, to your body, most of us are preparing for summer with a good cleanse. Many are done with supplements, juicing, and raw or vegan foods. Or perhaps you’re just cleaning out your diet and removing all processed foods and sugar, like we do on our sugar cleanse. No matter what the cleanse, one of the challenges is what happens afterwards. How do you keep you inner “house” sparkling after all that hard work and not just go back to eating the same (or worse!) than before you started?
This got me thinking, what if there was a way that I could continue the effects of the cleanse without feeling like I’m depriving myself? I’m happy to report that I’ve found a way of eating post-cleanse that is sustainable, effective, and achievable, and even allows room for some of my favorite treats.
It’s the simple 80/20 rule: eat healthy 80% of the time, and for that remaining 20%, eat whatever you want. Let’s define “healthy” as eating clean, whole, unprocessed foods (keeping that nasty sugar and processed stuff out of your diet). How would a week look on the 80/20 rule? Six days of the week (80%) you’d eat healthy, and one day a week (20%) you eat anything and everything you want. No regrets, no guilt, no bad feelings.
As you’re going through your week, each time you have a hankering for a piece of pizza or that big bowl of ice cream, instead of indulging right in the moment, save the treat for your 20% day. It’s a nice place to catch those cravings and a way to make sure that the 20% doesn’t creep into 30%, 40% or 50%, as it tends to do when there isn’t this kind of structure.
Eating 80/20 is a very achievable lifestyle choice with profound effects on your body and mind. Should you need support or want to ease into this effective lifestyle, contact us.
This is such a great idea – my weakness is baked goods – I love to make them. We always have a big roast dinner on Sunday and I love to spend the day cooking and baking for it. This way I can keep Sunday as my 20% day – and will eat less as I only bake something for dessert ,rather than bake mid week and then again on Sunday for dessert! Thanks love the website to will be reading it a lot.
Thanks Sandi! The Sunday dinner for your 20% is a great strategy. We had a family tradition of big family roast dinners on Sundays, and my Gramma always made a big pie and other sweet treats. Such a great time to indulge and then be a little more mindful the rest of the week. Be well! -Margaret