The ‘cheat day’ is a controversial concept in dieting circles.
Some see it as a little break from following a strict diet, such as eating a piece of chocolate cake or a slice of pizza on the weekend.
But with the rise of social media, the concept has become more extreme, sometimes involving eating thousands of calories in just a few hours.
Still, science shows there are benefits to planning a junk food binge into a healthy diet, with studies showing it can actually help you burn more fat, replenish vital hormones that make us hungry, boost metabolism and give people more energy to train harder. .
Actress Jennifer Aniston, 54, made headlines last week after a source said she enjoys martinis or tequila on the days when she deviates from her strict high-protein, low-carb, low-sugar diet.
And she is far from alone. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, 51, has also revealed that after six days of carefully curated eating, he indulges in a cheat day every week. His favorite treats that he shows off social media include mountains of pancakes and several pizzas in one sitting.
Actor Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson shared a photo on Twitter saying he ate all four pizzas pictured in one sitting on one of his cheating days
The Black Adam star is no stranger to uploading photos of food to his Instagram account, and the ‘Sunday Sushi Train’ was no exception
While not a new practice, it has taken social media by storm. On Instagram, there are over 4.2 million posts under #cheatmeal. On TikTok, #cheatmeal has been viewed 1.3 billion times.
“It’s this idea of being super strict most days of the week and then coming around the weekend… really just the freedom to eat what you want, how much you want [within a certain time window],” Lindsey Joe, a dietitian in Nashville, Tennessee, told DailyMail.com.
Restricting calories can reduce the amount of leptin in the body. Leptin is a hormone released by body fat that helps maintain body weight over a long period of time.
Leptin regulates the feeling of hunger and signals to the body that it is full.
As you cut calories and begin to lose body fat, some research suggests that leptin also decreases. Those studies suggest that cheat days may help restore leptin.
Actress Jennifer Aniston opts for martinis or tequila on her cheating days
a review published in Sports magazine suggested that alternating days of calorie restriction with days of increased calorie intake helped athletes reach their weight goals more quickly.
The researchers said cheat days restore energy levels and stimulate the production of hormones such as leptin, which can lead to fat loss, increase satiety and boost metabolism.
In a Study from 2018, researchers divided obese men into two groups: one who stuck to a strict meal plan and another who took short breaks from the diet. The participants who took a break every now and then lost more weight after the trial and gained fewer kilos.
A set of three experiments published in the Consumer Psychology Journal evaluated whether participants would be better able to stick to their goals if they were given cheat days.
Lindsey Joe, a registered dietitian in Nashville, TN, said that while cheat days can ease the mental burden around dieting, it can lead people to vilify certain foods
In the first experiment, participants imagined following a 1,500-calorie diet each day or a 1,300-calorie diet with a 2,700-calorie binge day at the end of the week. Those with the splurge option predicted they would have more self-control at the end of the study and be able to come up with better strategies for resisting temptation than the 1,500-calorie group.
In the second experiment, 36 participants actually followed one of the two diets for two weeks. Those who had a cheat day reported having more motivation and self-control than those who didn’t have that option.
Both groups lost the same amount of weight on average.
In the final experiment, when participants were asked to describe their personal goals, those on the cheat-day plan said the splurge was more helpful to their motivation, regardless of what their goal actually was.
However, other research shows that cheat days can also have negative consequences.
Early research has suggested that overeating, which might be a hoax to some, only increases metabolism by three to ten percent, and this does not last more than 24 hours.
However, other older studies have shown that temporarily increasing calorie intake can increase leptin production by nearly 30 percent for up to 24 hours.
Research published in April in the journal Molecular nutrition and nutrition research found that mice that ate a healthy diet but relied on high-fat and high-sugar diets showed cognitive impairment. The mice performed significantly worse on spatial memory tests that required them to remember where objects were placed.
The researchers also linked the unhealthy eating to increased inflammation, which lowers cognitive function.
A study published last year in the Eating Disorder Journal found that more than half of the adolescents and young adults studied had at least one cheat meal over the course of a year. Cheating meals in these participants were associated with several eating disorder behaviors, including binge eating, compulsive exercise, and fasting.
“Research has not fully investigated eating behaviors designed to increase muscularity and leanness, such as cheat meals,” lead study author Kyle T Ganson said in a paper. press release.
While cheat days can boost motivation, there can also be mental health drawbacks, Ms. Joe said. “Maybe you’re not where you want to be because of the cheat day that happened, and you end up feeling really defeated and down on your progress.”
The term “cheat day” can also have negative connotations, as it insinuates that the rules are being broken and certain foods labeled “bad.” “Who are we cheating?” she said. “I think it can also perpetuate this unhealthy dynamic…I feel like it brings up a lot of extra emotional baggage that doesn’t necessarily come with your food choices.”
This is especially important given the popularity of cheat meals that is well documented on social media. We needed to investigate whether there are links between cheat meals and psychopathology of eating disorders.’
Ms. Joe recommends that instead of focusing on “good” foods versus “bad” foods, listen to signals from your body that indicate you are hungry or full, such as dizziness, moodiness, to control portion sizes and not to exaggerate. “Strengthen that relationship with food and leave out the emotional baggage here.”
If you want to treat yourself for doing well with your diet, she suggests non-food rewards, such as buying a new gadget for your kitchen or storage containers for meal prep, that support a healthy lifestyle.
“You don’t have to be perfect,” Mrs. Joe said. “It doesn’t have to be all on or all off to get where you want to be.”