125. Don’t Punish Yourself

You should never ban foods completely if you are only intolerant to them, because elimination diets lead to cravings.

If you are allergic however, the reactions are a lot more serious and could do you harm, but then you would already know that and stay well clear.

If you’re intolerant to wheat or sugar for example, then having them once in a while is not going to have a lasting detrimental effect to your health, but you may see signs that your body is protesting. With me, I get itchy skin whenever I eat wheat.

If you have terrible will power, then one might lead to two or three, etc, and you’re on the slippery slope, but if you need to, apply common sense in these cases.

But never feel guilty for having the occasional treat. Guilt leads to low self esteem which can make you fall off the wagon completely. Emotions have a lot to do with over eating, or eating the wrong types of foods, and we need to look after our emotional health as well as our physical health.

I’m a great believer in the two being interlinked anyway, and there is a lot of evidence to suggest this too. I definitely ate the wrong things when my emotions were all over the place.