Cheat meal: five good reasons to break your diet periodically

It doesn’t matter for what purpose a person goes on a strict diet, but following it is not easy, especially if you never arrange a cheat meal for yourself. A cheat meal is a planned violation of the diet, during which you can eat your favorite high-calorie goodies (sweets, fast food, and others ).

Experts advise breaking the diet every seven to ten days, and here are some good reasons to follow this recommendation.

PS If you suffer from food addiction or are on a keto diet, you better not arrange cheat meals, as they can only harm you.

A cheat meal will help speed up metabolism

Even the most effective diet sooner or later stops working and gives the desired results. This is called the plateau effect, and a cheat meal can help overcome it. A sharp increase in caloric intake will slightly stir up your metabolism, already accustomed to restrictions, and you will again begin to notice a decrease in kilograms on the scales and a decrease in centimeters at the waist.

Improve your mental health

A cheat meal significantly reduces psychological stress, which certainly appears in any person faced with dietary restrictions. Planned diet irregularities will save you from breakdowns and constant irritation and give you moral satisfaction.

The main thing is to stop on time and remember that you need to devote only one day to the cheat meal and the rest of the time to eat according to your diet rules.

Enhance thermogenesis

Thermogenesis is our body’s ability to convert the calories it receives into heat. The process of losing weight largely depends on thermogenesis, and cheat meal can speed it up by affecting the thyroid gland.

Boost energy levels

Eating restrictions reduce not only weight but also energy levels. This is why dieters often feel apathy, lethargy, muscle weakness, and so on. A cheat meal will help you return to your normal state and again feel vigor, activity, and desire to move mountains.

Unload the stomach and other organs

High-protein diets force the digestive tract, kidneys, and liver to work harder. To unload these organs and give them at least a little rest, it is sometimes worth breaking the rules of a strict diet and increasing the number of carbohydrates in the diet.