If you’re over 18 I’m sure you’ve heard this hundreds of times, maybe you’ve even said it yourself: “but I don’t want to deprive myself!”
I know, you don’t feel like you should live a life filled with deprivation of all of those favorite, yummy foods you love, but you know what? There are other ways of looking at this topic of “deprivation”…
Who Is Depriving You?
First off, unless you are being held captive (then I doubt you’d be reading this article 😉 ), you are the one making the choices in what you eat. It’s always your choice what you feed your body, your choice if you want to read labels and learn about what’s in the food you’re eating, or if you want to live like I used to – eating whatever the heck I pleased, 90% of it filled with refined sugar!
Most of that I realize now was my rebellious self, the self I learned about in the Shrink Yourself program (learn more in my emotional eating experiment series), but I was still the one choosing to eat like that.
Is It Really Deprivation?
de ·prive
–verb (used with object), -prived, -priv ·ing.
1. to remove or withhold something from the enjoyment or possession of (a person or persons): to deprive a man of life; to deprive a baby of candy.
Isn’t it interesting that in the definition of the word deprive they use the example of depriving a baby of candy (sugar!). It’s good though, because this is exactly my point – if you’re addicted to sugar, if eating sugar makes you want more and you find it hard to stop eating foods that contain it, then are you really depriving yourself if you stay away from it? Aren’t you instead loving yourself and doing yourself a favor by abstaining from any food that contains sugar?
That’s how I look at it. It doesn’t mean that I don’t still want it sometimes, but when I think logically that I’m doing a good thing for myself by staying off of the sugar (think of the mood swings I’m saving myself from!), then it’s really not deprivation but a kindness. 😉
Is it a Treat or an Obstacle?
Here’s one more thought, something I learned from the Hunger Coach portion of the Shrink Yourself program (the Hunger Coach is a neat interactive tool you can use after week 4 of the program to help you avoid overeating) – think of the food you want, that cake, cookie or ice cream as the obstacle it really is instead of being a treat.
It’s an obstacle to your goal of a healthy and fit body and if you indulge in it, it takes you a step back from your goal instead of helping you move towards it. And back to the sugar addiction topic – if you indulge in that sweet you could set yourself up for another cycle of sugar indulgence.
It’s really Not Deprivation
So, are you truly depriving yourself of anything by choosing not to eat the sugary sweet stuff, or are you doing yourself a favor by loving yourself just a little bit more and helping yourself get closer to your goal weight? Just something to think about the next time you start to give yourself the excuse that you’re depriving yourself; I hope these thoughts help you as much as they’re helping me. 😉
this is always so HOTLY debated and I really like your answer of the DOING YOURSELF A FAVOR.
now, if I didnt get so distracted by the DESSERT PHOTO at the top 🙂
M.
MizFits last blog post..Link Love and a Friday FREEBIE!
I find myself having those thoughts as well–I don’t want to “deprive myself” or “miss out”. This is a great reminder that I’m actually giving myself a huge gift by choosing healthy foods! The only thing I’m depriving myself of is extra pounds…
Jens last blog post..Accidentally On Purpose
Yes, yes! You said it well regarding deprivation and sugar! Removing sugar may seem like a deprivation at first to a sugar addiction, but in the long run you’re giving your body more! 🙂 This is what I must keep in mind. Change of perspective and focusing on the positive can make a world of difference in recovering from sugar addiction!
Susans last blog post..Getting Picky Eaters to Eat Healthy
I’ve come to realize that where this disconnect has come from is not on whether we should eat those things, but the portion sizes of all the foods we eat. And where we plan to have a piece of cake after dinner, we should eat less dinner. Great Post!
fatbastards last blog post..Facts Are Stranger Than Fiction
any big change to a diet will result in you missing the foods… I find that it is best to change you eating lifestyle, make it better through listening to your body and balance.
Denis Kanygins last blog post..Dangers of dieting
Thanks for this! I just decided a few months ago to give up chocolate. I did this to take a look at how often I was actually eating it.
It was difficult at first, but I discovered I ate chocolate while waiting for dinner to cook, after dinner (to calm my stomach…so I told myself), and just before bed. I began to notice I was using chocolate…and abusing it.
So I now eat chocolate a bit more mindfully…and if it would be better to eat something more healthy, I do.
Susan
organicsyess last blog post..Tarot Exploration
@M, thanks!
@Jen, hi, I’ve felt the same way before and this thought of the food being an obstacle to my goal instead of being something that I should be allowed to treat myself with has really given me a new perspective.
Now if I can ever eat sweets in moderation that would be awesome but they just trigger my cravings for more sugar, so I have to stay away.
Hi Susan,
Thanks, it’s tricky with the sugar addicts mind, one side saying “it’s ok” and if you give in so you aren’t “depriving” yourself you end up in a mess, the place that is not your end goal. 😉
@F,
Sure, if you can eat a smaller portion of cake and then stop there then that’s awesome. I’m not able to have the cake because I’ll just want more and more sugar, but I feel better by staying away from it anyway, that’s what I need to remember. 😉
@Denis,
Yes, if you’re a sugar addict though you need to eliminate those foods from your diet and in the first 3 days you’ll likely miss them – if you give into the thought that you’re depriving yourself and eat sugar-filled foods though, then you’ll be right back where you started.
@Susan,
Great job on raising your awareness of how you were using the food for something besides what it is – food. 😉
It’s that kind of self-exploration that really helps get you where you need to be if you’re struggling with food abuse and especially if you tell yourself you’re depriving yourself when you stop abusing food.
Thanks for sharing that! 🙂
It really is an interesting concept…the power of words and thinking. If we are what we eat, are we also what we think?
Thank you so much for acknowledging my post:) That really is wonderfully supportive!
Susan
organicsyess last blog post..Certified Organic Bug Spray
Hi Susan,
Yes, your words and thoughts are more powerful than you might know right now – thoughts are things and what you repeatedly think you will create, especially when you have strong emotion behind it.
So absolutely, we are what we think. 😉 So, if I think over and over that I’m depriving myself of a sugary treat, you know what I’m actually doing? I’m creating more of an attraction to that sugary treat. It’s better that I just
I really didn’t get into this in my article above (I have in other posts) but thought I’d pass it along since you sound interested in it. 🙂