Feel Guilty Eating Sweets? Read This.

You’re out with your friends and the dinner is coming to a close. One of your best girl friends brings up the idea  to try the new ice cream shop around the corner. While others around you literally scream in excitement for ice cream, you feel your stomach sink  a little bit. You told yourself you weren’t going to have any sweets today…. But here you are.

You go with your pals to the shop because hello, you don’t want to  be lame leaving early. You open the door and the sweet scent of freshly baked cones and 50 different ice cream flavors flood the room. It. looks. amazing.

You go through a quick internal debate and try to reason with yourself that if you eat just two scoops and you workout for an extra hour tomorrow it should be fine. So, two scoops  it is. You enjoy the ice cream because it tastes amazing but approximately .2 seconds after you’re done you feel a  huge wave of guilt overcome you. Immediately you start beating yourself up for having the treat. You “shouldn’t have done that!”. You got off your diet bandwagon, and now, just feel bad.

Does this sound familiar? Sadly, it does to me. So many times I’ve beat myself up for having sweets after being on a strict “diet”. Restriction has made me miss out on so much. It has stolen moments of joy from me that I’ll never get back. It has taken me away from being present. It has sent me down a negative spiral. 

If you can agree, you’re not alone. So how can we rid ourselves of this nonsense guilt that can come when/after enjoying sweets? The first thing to realize is that cravings and guilt are often a  result of deprivation and restriction. When you deprive yourself and mark certain foods as “off limits” your brain only wants even more. It’s human nature. 

Guilt occurs when we don’t give ourselves the permission to eat certain foods. The restriction we place can be physical and mental. One of the best ways to rid guilt is to try to make peace with food. Understanding intuitively that food is neutral- it is not good or bad, is a key piece of this. Once you understand this, the emotion around food can often dissipate.

Giving yourself unconditional permission to eat is another fantastic way to rid the guilt. To do this, tell yourself “I’m choosing the foods that will satisfy  me most today” or even tell yourself that it’s okay to not have a vegetable at every meal. By opening your mind to realize that you have permission to eat whatever you’d want will ultimately lift the burden of guilt from you.  It can also be really helpful to journal to release some of the thoughts you may be having.

Have compassion. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that you are learning to trust your body. The more you lean into trusting your body, the better the relationship will be. You can drop the guilt and trust your body, it just takes time, the commitment to trust the process, and intuitive eating. 

You’ve got this sister, but it can also be challenging to go at it alone! I’d love to help you through this FREE discovery call.