Sunday Scone

Below is a picture of a scone my wife made for me on Sunday. Thrive is a 6 day a week program leaving Sunday open. This doesn't mean you have to eat as much junk food as you can, it just means all bets are off. Sometimes I will drink a half dozen espressos and not eat anything until lunch. Other times it means I eat things like this Scone. 

1) Do you do something similar? 80/20, cheat meals, re-fuel, etc.

2) When you indulge is there a limit to the level your willing to sink to? No gluten ever, added sugars, food coloring, etc? 

3) How does letting go for a day, meal or drink effect your life? Mental heath is an often over looked factor in performance. For me eating good food with my family is a huger re-charge. Is the step back in nutrients worth the step forward in mental heath for you? 

Hey Jeff, nice picture and good timing.

I was just thinking about "Sunday's off", as we had a family gathering yesterday (Sunday). Funny thing, my wife also made scones (I think it was mainly pumkin, egg, touch of spelt/sugar) She wanted to make something special for the family and friends in town. We enjoyed them with some coffee and laughs prior to my baby's baptism.

What I was thankful for was the approach of Thrive for a day like this. Going into the Sunday, knowing as you said "all bets are off", sharing a gathering with others, gives a nice peace of mind, and realistic long term approach. I think this addresses mainly your 3rd point, and a little step back recharges the mental health nicely.

Zach that is one of the best post ever! "classy junk" funny. "cheat to win" even funnier. 

I've pretty much gone off "junk food" to a point where it doesn't hold much attraction to me anymore. On the rare occasions when I eat it I feel weird afterwards - not a good feeling. On holidays I do indulge in pastas, pizzas etc. but although these mainly consist of carbs I don't consider them junk foods if properly prepared, just something I could easily eat once or twice a week all year around. My normal food is quite tasty and makes me feel good. However, every two weeks I put away a bag of strong Dutch Liquorice (salmiakki for Finns), the one addiction I can never shake.

1)  Sometimes on Sunday I skip breakfast (maybe once a month) but I usually stick with my 6 eggs for breakfast.  Lunch usually happens a little late for me on Sundays maybe around 1 or 2.  I still try to get my starch, protein and veggies but if it is not there 100% I don't worry about it.  If it happens great if not, no big deal.  Sundays we like to bake.  Homemade bread with grass fed butter and homemade jams are hard to beat.  Throw in a really cold glass of whole or raw milk and it is just about perfect.  

2)  There are things that I don't approach at all anymore.  Most types of "junk" food I just don't want.  I used to eat a lot of ice cream.  Almost every night I would have a big bowl.  Serving size for me was 3/4 of the carton.  Now I don't eat it except in rare cases and even then it is  just a reasonable amount.  It just doesn't taste that great anymore.  What I do enjoy for a Sunday treat are homemade chocolate chip cookies unfortunately those only come around maybe once a month.

3)  I have been thinking about the mental health affect.  I haven't yet determined whether the break in the food routine benefits me mentally or not.  I enjoy eating healthy.  I love meeting my goals.  If I found that a break in the routine was detrimental I would cut it out immediately.  Right now the break for me is probably neutral in helping my mental health.  I don't see a big effect either way.  

I don't particularly love the Sunday cheat day rule because it actually adds some mental stress. It feels like I am on a diet that way. Before I started thrive I usually would just eat good most of the time and if I was out in a social situation would have a non compliant meal or add a dessert to my healthy meal. What if my family party is on Saturday instead of Sunday? Do I not partake? (Rhetorical question, I know the answer.) 

With that said it takes very good disipline to randomly eat bad and then get back on track. I was very good at this for awhile but slowly found myself adding a few too many snacks and cheat meals and I was starting to feel the effects of this with more crashes in energy. Thrive has been excellent at getting me disciplined again. I have had less energy dips and found myself not really wanting junk on the Sunday, at least when I'm at home. I did go all out on a recent Sunday and felt like crap on Monday. That's my take and just wanted to say I'm enjoying Thrive and looking forward to my remaining 8 tasks.

Having a Sunday cheat day is THE BEST for my mental health. 

We all have various levels of psychological hardiness, and I need "off" time in my life (in every area: training, food, productivity, social interactions, etc.).

It is also tremendously easier to say no to temptations during the weak if I can have them Sunday.

That said, I've been Thrive compliant for breakfast 7 days a week for the entire program. It's the easiest meal to adhere to, for me, and I like to stay in the fat burning zone for as long as possible. 

I've also discovered that Sundays mess with my digestion, and I assume it's the wheat (which I only eat on Sundays). In future weeks, I may end up cutting back on wheat  products simply to avoid it's mildly unpleasant side affects (but not because I'm trying to be rigorous on my off day!).

In sum: Long live Sundays. Go homemade scones with local preserves and grass fed butter! 

Hi Jeff, wow, great question :-)

My approach is different but flexible as well. I'm strict each and every day with my diet, which is now 100% Thrive compliant. SUndays are not off. Strict is the wrong word though, because I'm enjoying all my meals everyday and I don't crave anything really apart from dark chocolate. So no regular off days for me.

In turns, what that means and which is actually important for my mental health, is that on the rare occasions life puts me in a situation where I can't eat proper foods, I don't spend time dwelling on it and consider it one of my off days. So if I'm at a restaurant for business, I choose what's appealing for me; with family, the same, etc. If I'm traveling to Europe from Australia, then I have no qualms eating airline food for 24 hours (the food we bring aboard is all for our kids, no room for more), etc. In general, I plan to eat properly, but if eating properly would require huge efforts, costs or other negative externalities, then it's an off day and I do the best I can of the situation. I have far less off days than the number of Sundays in the year :-)

For me, that's the balance that work best and that way, I'm always adaptable and mentally, there are no guilty feelings, hesitations, whatever. I'm eating properly nearly every day. If I can't for one meal or day, no big deal and I roll with it nonchalantly ;-)

I've been thinking a lot about the relationship between imagination and enjoyment of food. Obviously big junk players spend billions to get you to associate coke/McD's/Skittles/whatever with "good times." That's no mystery, but I suppose it must work for the broad population because it's hard to escape these items. They're at the checkout counter, they're in the vending machines on the train platform. It's like they're stalking us! Since starting Thrive, I used to treasure the "off" days, and relished a beer and pizza. But something has changed in the last few weeks. When I began the program, the thing I was least interested in was vegetables. But since getting curious about them (why are they the different colors they are? How can they be used to heal/improve performance, etc.) I've become fascinated. Now I relish eating them because my imagination has been captured. I'm eating strange beautiful mysteries, really. Why would I want something synthetic? 

Side note: If I cheat now, it's for something my wife just baked. Fresh out of the oven, made from scratch. Again, this is the imagination leading the appetite: that homebaked thing means something. It's a message of love, I suppose. It's not a dead thing from a machine. 

Personaly I still need to work on the basics (I do eat everything recommanded in Thrive 1 but I still add some unecessary/bad food on top of it). Nonetheless it's nice to think that, if you really crave something, you can wait until Sunday. It will help to resist junk food during the week.

Note to myself : I need to buy a small oven so that I can make some homemade pie !

On 2 May 2016 at 6:22 PM, Jeff Serven said:

Below is a picture of a scone my wife made for me on Sunday. Thrive is a 6 day a week program leaving Sunday open. This doesn't mean you have to eat as much junk food as you can, it just means all bets are off. Sometimes I will drink a half dozen espressos and not eat anything until lunch. Other times it means I eat things like this Scone. 

1) Do you do something similar? 80/20, cheat meals, re-fuel, etc.

2) When you indulge is there a limit to the level your willing to sink to? No gluten ever, added sugars, food coloring, etc? 

3) How does letting go for a day, meal or drink effect your life? Mental heath is an often over looked factor in performance. For me eating good food with my family is a huger re-charge. Is the step back in nutrients worth the step forward in mental heath for you? 

 

Hi Jeff,

Nice-looking scone there. My answers for your survey:

1. I do the re-fuel - when totally exhausted after a bout of DIY or gardening at the weekend, I really enjoy a pepperoni pizza or fish and chips. I've done this about 4 times this year. 

2. Yes there is a limit, I don't eat and am unable to enjoy cakes, biscuits, and processed food - because I don't want to put rubbish in my body. The exceptions are 1. above, and a special ice cream of which I've had 2 this year so far, and the third is coming up next week  - I'll post a photo of it 

3. I don't feel bad at all, and really enjoy these rare moments of rubbish. Probably because my usual diet is very healthy and tasty, though others would find it rather repetitive. 

As promised  - at the end of a week's break.

Thanks for the info everyone. I always like to see what people think and how they perceive things, I always learn something. 

I've found that a healthy dose of indulge whenever, so long as I've first met my Thrive goals suits me best. For instance, Tuesday this week was free Haagen-Dazs ice cream throughout NYC and while potentially 'off-plan,' I could have a) foregone the opportunity and been like a stick in the mud, sticking to my 'Thrive' guns or b) made sure that all the other boxes of Thrive and my workout were either priorly or simultaneously checked off. I do this, and maintain this attitude, every day. While it may not exactly be in line with what Thrive hopes to achieve for people who've not been on a meal plan before I find that it works best for my obsessive compulsive nature. So, while Thrive takes Sundays off, I don't. On the off-chance that someone's made a cake and it's a Thursday--God forbid--I don't want to be held back by other limitations from partaking in that social experience (I don't like cake much, but when someone bakes, you eat, lol). 

Anyways, those scones look good. I would've likely had two. 

I've been looking at my intake this year on a week-by-week basis. I don't have specific "cheat" or "not-tracked" days, but if I have a day where I go over my daily Calories/macro targets (which is just my weekly targets / 7), I go under on another day or over several days during that week to compensate. I don't do this much as I feel like it is a slippery slope (can be easy to get into a surplus condition that I can't get out of in a week), but there were two occasions in particular where this way of thinking gave me freedom to do what I wanted outside of my nutrition constraints and everything was fine. One day I spent all day building a deck and didn't eat, and another day my wife threw a party. In the first case my next day was awesome, and in the second, I balanced the excess into a 3- day deficit.

6 hours ago, William Marler said:

I've been looking at my intake this year on a week-by-week basis. I don't have specific "cheat" or "not-tracked" days, but if I have a day where I go over my daily Calories/macro targets (which is just my weekly targets / 7), I go under on another day or over several days during that week to compensate. I don't do this much as I feel like it is a slippery slope (can be easy to get into a surplus condition that I can't get out of in a week), but there were two occasions in particular where this way of thinking gave me freedom to do what I wanted outside of my nutrition constraints and everything was fine. One day I spent all day building a deck and didn't eat, and another day my wife threw a party. In the first case my next day was awesome, and in the second, I balanced the excess into a 3- day deficit.

That sounds like a lot of math.

Concerning deficits and calorie balancing. I'm impressed but that sorta thing would make me hard to be around. 

Math suits me, so I like this approach. It is not hard math ;-). I personally like feeling more in control and more like I'm "optimizing" my effort by thinking I know my targets. I know this isn't everyone's opinion.

Lol, it gets easier with practice. I spend 5-6 minutes/day tracking my food now; I don't even think the folks I have lunch with every day know I do it.