Wondering how to survive cheat days? Are you planning to break your diet or got “glutened” by accident? How can you feel better faster? Answer #1 is to hydrate with Spring water and a pinch of Sea Salt to help the Lymph and Liver.
My clients know I never advocate “cheat days”. To me, nothing’s worth feeling badly on purpose or going on a swing – high carb, low carb, fast days, feast days… Balance works best for me.
How to Survive Cheat Days
If you follow the 90/10 rule and allow yourself to eat and drink 10% off target (I don’t), you can still keep gluten-free. Maybe choose some extra carbs (without sugar) as these foods are pretty easy to recover from as long as you don’t overdo and you know how your gut reacts to them. (I do better with white potato than sweet).
If you overeat fatty food, take a digestive enzyme with Lipase during the meal and maybe later as well. Especially if you have a tricky gall bladder…. This all-purpose digestive D-Digest in my online store has enzymes and a little HCL. It’s good for a wide variety of foods including fat and carbs.
Dairy? Well, for me that’s OUT. It makes my sensitive gut miserable for days – so not worth it! You can try Lactase enzyme but I find many people are not actually Lactose Intolerant but reacting to the proteins in Dairy – Casein, Whey and Lactalbumin. If so, Lactase won’t help. Only avoidance.
How long will this upset tummy last?
Foods act in your body for 3 or 4 days. That’s why it’s hard to tell when you react mildly to things – the reaction on Tuesday to the food you had Saturday! Frustrating? Absolutely!
Sadly that can mean days of payback if you cheat. The bigger the cheat, the worse it can be. If you carb out, you’ll blow your hard-earned fat-burning or Ketosis mode, be hungry and cranky and have to deal with Insulin Resistance again.
Elevated Antibodies from small mistakes
If you are Celiac or sensitive to Gluten you can have elevated antibodies and inflammation of the brain and other organs for months from one indiscretion.
I know from my own Cyrex Labs blood work that my elevated Gluten Antibodies were due to the TINY bit of oat dust I inhaled daily from my pony’s feed. It took months for the antibodies to normalize once I replaced her food.
Food Mishaps and Surprises
You can’t trust the waiter, the host or the restaurant manager to know exactly what’s in a dish. To-Go food labels are often wrong. You have to ask the cook.
If you have reflux a few hours after eating, take 1/2 tsp. baking soda in water.
If you’re bloating, homeopathic Nux Vomica or Carbo Vegetalis are good to have on hand and easily found at most healthy food or vitamin stores.
If you got into dairy, enzymes with Lactase can often help, but not always.
Learn From Your Mistakes
- Learn to ask better questions
- Pick your restaurant carefully or bring your own contribution to dinner.
- Don’t be shy about taking care of your self
- Your friends would be upset if they knew you ate something just to “please” them
- Stay safe and enjoy your time out
