{Pescience Soft Serve}

Why don’t I stick to a diet that’s 100% clean, featuring only Whole Foods?

Why do I incorporate processed foods into my diet? 

I realize some people might cringe at some of the foods I consume. 

Typically, when people think about dieting, they think of dietary restrictions and misery. They think of not being able to eat the foods they want to eat ever again or until they reach their weight loss goal. Either way, the mindset is unrealistic. Because if you take away the foods you love, and you’re like me, you’ll sit and obsess about those foods until you finally give in and eat them. If you take away the foods you love for a period of time (until a goal weight is met) and then go back to your previous diet, you’ll probably go back to your previous weight.

There are people who eat only whole/healthy/clean foods. And, they are happy doing it. I say, “Rock on you hippie food rockstars!” Maybe someday I’ll reach that pinnacle of zen foodie bliss.

Until then, I have to find balance for my mind as well as my body. 

I love, love, love food! There isn’t a whole lot of separation for me when it comes to food and mental wellness. 

Flexible Dieting allows me to do whatever I want within the bounds of the calorie and macro amounts I set for myself depending on my particular body goals at the time.

I can have a pint of regular chocolate ice cream made with real sugar, cream, eggs, and cocoa. It will cost me about 1000 calories and provide me with about 112g C/56g F/20g P. Or, I can blend together some chocolate protein powder, ice, cashew milk, some stevia, and a little xanthium gum and it will cost me about 190 calories and provide me with about  14g C/6g F/25g P.

So basically I’m getting my sugar fix from something semi-healthy and I can spend my remaining calories, carbs, fat, and protein on foods that are whole/clean and good for my body. 

Like I’ve said before, I try to eat 80% whole/clean. I allow myself whatever for the other 20%. It can be 2 Oreos or a bowl of protein powder ice cream. 

I lean towards my protein treats because of volume and they are semi-healthy. 

It’s a mind game. 1/16 of an 8″x 8″ pan of homemade brownies (1, so called, serving) would just make me sad. But, an entire bowl of protein powder soft serve tastes good to me and satisfies me mentally.

Flexible dieting is something many people already do and aren’t even aware of it. The concept is basically: Everything in Moderation. But, I’m not adept at unconsciously making those automatic healthy food choices. So, I’m tracking and learning. Maybe, hopefully, someday it will be intuitive for me.

If you are interested in flexible dieting here’s how it works.

Here is a great macro calculator help you get started.

Amanda Bucci’s, website, podcast episode 005 about flexible dieting and her YouTube channel have helped me immensely! 

I use MyFitnessPal to track my calories and macros.

Bodybuilding.com is also a hugely valuable resource for flexible dieting and much more.

All of this information is free. I do all of my own diet and health research on my own for free!

How do I know this is a healthy way of eating? 

How do I know it’s not a harmful way of eating?

I don’t! I don’t know of any medical professionals that endorse or push flexible dieting. 

But, I feel really good mentally and physically. So there’s that.