With so much restriction at the moment and heightened stress etc, a totally natural response to cure your increased stress is to eat all the junk. Donuts, cookies, lollies, chocolate. You name it.

And that’s very close to what I am going to recommend! Yep, you read that right – I recommend you EAT the DONUT!

Studies show that there is a giant link between restriction and binging. I call this the Light Switch Approach. People are motivated and throw everything but the kitchen sink at their Health + Fitness journey and are completely ON, eat only whole foods, train every single day, give up alcohol, stop attending events – like flicking on the light switch, only to fall off the wagon and go in the opposite direction when the motivation fades, or you get sick of eating like a bird or you intend on eating ONE donut but eat 12. (light switch is OFF).

And while you may be just trying to survive Covid without coming out carrying an extra 10kg’s, the same fundamental principles will apply.

In a time of restriction at every turn, is more restriction around what you should eat going to benefit your journey? The science says NO.

So here’s my TOP TIP that has helped 1000’s of my clients;

1. Increase your protein intake. Protein is the most satiating macro, meaning you’ll feel fuller for longer. It also has a higher Thermic Effect, which means your body will burn more calories digesting protein than carbs or fats (aim for 1.6 – 2.2g or protein per KG of bodyweight).
2. Eat the donut. Or chocolate, or lollie or whatever it is. Once you’ve hit your protein target for the day, include some SOUL foods. Foods that bring you JOY. You can have all the donuts you want – you just can’t have them ALL now. So be OK with just the 1 donut.

Removing restriction is a key step to healing the relationship with foods, and once we understand there aren’t any good foods or bad foods – we can stop the RESTRICT / BINGE cycle and enjoy a combination of WHOLE foods and SOUL foods in a sustainable way.