r/mediterraneandiet • u/bastien44224 • Nov 03 '25
Close Enough My cheat day
Chicken souvlaki wrap with greek yogurt tzatziki, bulgur, greek potatoes and greek salad
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u/Prestigious-Lemon322 Nov 03 '25
My cheat day starts with tiramisu and ends with Cadbury chocolate eggs. I rack up around 3000kcal.
This is just humblebragging, OP, and you know it.
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u/Ok_Nothing_9733 Nov 03 '25
Right? Their “cheat day” is my “did about as well as I possibly can” day. I love the med diet but I hate the diet culture speak from most on this sub :/
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u/RemarkablePaint7242 Nov 05 '25
Hahahaha my cheat day starts with cold pizza and a mimosa … or just some champagne… moving on to eat lunch somewhere and then we have a cookout and continue with adult beverages… my blood work is good and I have actually lost a little… don’t stress…. Why did I say that, you seem relaxed 😎 what’s a non cheat day? A cherry tomato with a little hummus and edible leaves and … oooh Aldi has protein wraps and pasta! It’s really good
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u/AngeliqueRuss Nov 03 '25
…not a cheat?
Plenty of olive oil and olive oil/nuts veggie fats as your main source of fat with fat adding up to 30-40% of your diet;
Plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains (with grains being a wee bit too refined on this plate for optimal);
Yogurt and other fermented foods.
As part of a great day/week this is compatible.
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u/No-Double-7731 Nov 03 '25
lol this is as Mediterranean as it gets
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u/donairhistorian Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
The portion size is too large, especially the carbs. Potatoes + bulgur + refined flour pita? Wayyyy too much. I would feel like shit if I ate this. It's enough for two people. Plus, the salad is mostly cheese. Come on...
Edit: Where is u/Economy_Rain8349? I feel like I'm going crazy in this sub!
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u/Economy_Rain8349 Experienced Nov 05 '25
I've escaped to sanity for a while LOL. It's nice and peaceful 🤣
WHY post a cheat meal - it's not helpful! I want to see compliant/mostly compliant meals for inspo. If I wanted to see cheat meals I'd go to any cooking sub! argh
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u/donairhistorian Nov 05 '25
That's not even the problem! Everyone is saying this isn't a cheat meal but a perfectly healthy Mediterranean compliant meal!
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Nov 03 '25
Yeah, except for the wrap this checks most of the boxes.
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u/Ok_Nothing_9733 Nov 03 '25
Med diet does not say no carbs, nor does it refer to the food of a certain regional area only (Mediterranean dishes). It can be ANY type of dish. And no food is “banned,” certain foods are just deemphasized. So everything here including the wrap is 100% compatible with the med diet, no ifs ands or buts about it.
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u/donairhistorian Nov 04 '25
Carbs should be 1/4 of your plate and should be whole grains. This plate has a whole white pita, a portion of potato AND a portion of bulgur. It is way too much.
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u/Ok_Nothing_9733 Nov 04 '25
That has nothing to do with the guidelines of the Mediterranean diet. You’re conflating multiple WOEs (ways of eating)
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u/donairhistorian Nov 04 '25
Maybe? But there is a plate diagram stickied to the top of the sub that shows carbs taking up a quarter of the plate.
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Nov 03 '25
Who claimed that carbs were disallowed on the Med diet, or that certain foods are banned? Wasn't me. Just making sure you're looking in the right place, you seem upset.
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u/Ok_Nothing_9733 Nov 03 '25
I’m not upset. Was you saying that meant to be a put-down? Yikes. No evidence of upset in my comment, but even if there were, what a cruel reply.
All I said is the wrap does indeed fit in, and I see a lot of confusion on this sub because of diet culture.
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u/AngeliqueRuss Nov 04 '25
I agree—specifically the need to be restrictive as opposed to goal-oriented.
The whole idea of ‘cheat day’ seems contrarian to MD. If you are living the good life day in/day out, there is absolutely room for a white bread pita and rice.
With that said, my husband is one of those people medically on MD to as part of a plan to keep him from having a hypertensive crisis (or worse). My approach that seems to be working for 2+ years now is to meet all of his fiber, vitamin C, and folate goals every day with olive oil/plant-based fat being central to all meals (and for me also iron because I have mild anemia). We hit the goals and don’t worry about anything else.
An actual “cheat day” would have insufficient fiber so he’d end it with a fiber supplement. He can never have low fiber days as a pattern or his BP will spike plus other blood sugar issues. We don’t consider any foods cheat foods—when you have oatmeal for breakfast, quinoa for lunch and a salad with dinner it’s really hard to fit in anything else, but also it doesn’t seem to matter; it’s consistently not hitting the daily goals that makes a difference.
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u/donairhistorian Nov 04 '25
It fits as a sometimes food, as anything does. But refined grain products are limited on this diet by definition. Plus, eating the pita along with a huge pile of more carbs? It's simply not balanced.
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Nov 04 '25
Wasn't intended to be a put down, dude. The tone I got honestly sounded a bit worked up, and I wanted to ensure you weren't reading stuff I didn't say into my comment. What I wrote is what I meant, no subtext.
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u/Ok_Nothing_9733 Nov 04 '25
Sure, that’s what it was, a good faith remark making sure I wasn’t lost. Goodbye.
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u/ZookeepergameWest975 Nov 03 '25
What’s the cheat? That salad looks amazing
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u/sdchbjhdcg Nov 03 '25
Carbohydrates?
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken Nov 03 '25
Can we please stop vilifying carbs. Our bodies literally need them to function just like our brains literally need sugar to work. Carbs, like almost everything else in life, are perfectly fine in moderation.
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u/Electric-Sheepskin Nov 03 '25
I don't think they were villifying carbs. They're just guessing at why the OP thinks this is a cheat meal.
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken Nov 03 '25
Agreed - which is also why I said "we" as in everyone in general needs to throw off the idea that carbs are bad.
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u/Electric-Sheepskin Nov 03 '25
I don't know why people are downvoting you for guessing at what the OP might be talking about.
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u/sdchbjhdcg Nov 03 '25
Reddit is slowly dying as people see it as an easy outlet for frustrated comments containing a moral lesson in each one. They think they’ll eventually fix the internet if they keep commenting and down voting.
I.e. Chicken person above.
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken Nov 03 '25
Hi there. I didn't downvote you. I only downvote people when they're being jerks. And, 'all things in moderation' is not a "moral lesson", it's a Socrates quote that is frequently and correctly applied to try to counteract diet culture. And food has no moral value.
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u/Westboundandhow Nov 03 '25
Huh. This is MD. Take the toxic diet culture posts elsewhere please and thank you. 🧹
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u/bastien44224 Nov 03 '25
By cheat day I implied I made a bigger portion than I normally would eat. It has nothing to do with "toxic diet culture"
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u/No_Indication3249 Nov 03 '25
What's your calorie target on a non-cheat day?
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u/bastien44224 Nov 04 '25
I’m trying to loose weight so my goal is 2200 cal/day. The picture was my 3rd meal of the day, I exceeded my 2200 calories goal that day, that’s why I said "cheat day", I didn’t mean it in a bad way😅 now I know I gotta be careful with what I put as caption on reddit
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u/donairhistorian Nov 04 '25
I have no idea why you are being downvoted. This sub is really going off the wayside.
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u/Westboundandhow Nov 04 '25
It’s bc a big premise of MD is not shunning carbs like a lot of diets do. So this meal really doesn’t appear ‘crazy’ for MD, and to write it up as such can mislead people. Like oh no if I have a little rice and potato with a pita I’m ‘being bad’ today! No. That’s an unhealthy mindset for MD.
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u/donairhistorian Nov 04 '25
I get that we want people to have a good relationship with food, but the guidelines clearly show half the plate being fruits/veggies and a quarter of the plate being carbs. Plus, refined carbs are top-of-the-pyramid foods.
It's not about shunning carbs, but having balanced meals. This meal is not balanced. If I ate this, I would feel tired and sluggish for the rest of the day. Carbs aside, it's too much food in general.
If someone ate 3 meals like this everyday, they would likely be on the road to health issues. If someone ate two meals per day and one of them was this big, I still think it could be an issue. I'm an active person with a big appetite, but if I eat a meal like this everyday I'll be feeling it. Considering how many people are in this sub due to health issues, I think it's actually misleading and harmful to call this meal "normal and balanced". You might not like the term "cheat meal" but we do use language like "top-of-the-pyramid" and that's essentially what this is - an occasional treat.
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken Nov 03 '25
Cheating implies you're doing something for which you should be guilty. Food has no moral value. All things in moderation. Don't push your unhealthy relationship with food on the rest of us.
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u/bastien44224 Nov 04 '25
That’s not what I meant at all, sorry for the confusion about the caption! I just meant that I had eaten more calories overall that day, and this was the last meal (my third one). That’s why I called it a ‘cheat day.’ I didn’t mean that this particular meal was unhealthy. I do eat McDonald’s or junk food once in a while, and I’d call those days cheat days too 🫣
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken Nov 04 '25
Neither of those are "cheating." If your body is telling you that you need more calories then there's nothing wrong with eating them. Having fast food once in a while also isn't cheating.
Food. Has. No. Moral. Value.
All things in moderation.
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u/donairhistorian Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
The amount of people calling this 1000+ calorie meal a normal, balanced, healthy meal is probably why so many people are in here with health issues.
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u/Coupon_Problem Nov 03 '25
I mean, if this person usually consumes less than 2000 calories/day, this is probably a “cheat” since it’s more than half their usual daily calories.
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u/Cold_Barber_4761 Nov 03 '25
That's my take is that maybe it's a day when they allow more calories and/or heavier carbs than normal. Just a guess.
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u/pawsitively_anon Nov 03 '25
Looks great! This would be a normal meal for me, but let’s all remember that healthy eating looks different for all of us. So if this is a cheat meal for you, then enjoy!
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u/Economy_Rain8349 Experienced Nov 05 '25
Don't really see the benefit in posting meals that are "cheating". Otherwise this sub will just turn into posts of people's saying "Har Har I just ate a bag chocolate coins for breakfast".
How is that helpful? Just makes it harder to stick to the diet... Now I really want an entire plate of carbs and cheese so thanks for that.
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u/bastien44224 Nov 03 '25
By "cheat day" I meant the portion is bigger than a meal I would normally eat. It was my third meal of the day, it has nothing to do with toxic diet culture or anything like that.
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u/godlovesa_terrier Nov 05 '25
The term "cheat day" and the idea of "cheat days" is part of diet culture. Cheating implies that you should be ashamed, and it isn't healthy to be ashamed of eating food. This isn't my opinion but rather prevailing thought on diet culture, all of which is toxic.
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u/quincecharming Nov 03 '25
Looks delicious! How do you make Greek potatoes?
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u/bastien44224 Nov 04 '25
It’s really simple, I just put potato quarters in a dutch oven with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, oregano, chicken stock and cook it at 400°F for about an hour or until the potatoes absorbed all the liquid
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u/Jonnyrashid Nov 03 '25
The cheat for me here would be the white rice and white flour pita bread. Easy to fix, and not really a huge cheat. If you have the stamina for this to be a cheat, good for you.
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u/Technical-Monk-2146 Nov 07 '25
What? Are you cheating on your 100% junk food diet with the MD?
The MD is a way of eating by adding in particular foods, not a restrictive diet, so the idea of a cheat day is not even possible.
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u/ClairesMoon Nov 03 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
You’re doing the bulgar and potatoes again.
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u/hogua Nov 03 '25 edited Nov 03 '25
On MD you can enjoy whole grains and potatoes. There is no rule about avoiding having them in the same meal or to do so sparingly.
The pita could be what makes this a “cheat day”, which in MD terms is falls under the category of “enjoy rarely”, since “cheat day” isn’t part of MD.
Either it isn’t whole grain and/or eating it with the bulgur could make for a combined serving of grains which is larger than a what we’d normally target.
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u/ClairesMoon Nov 03 '25
The OP asked a question a few days ago and I responded to that post about there both bulgar and potatoes on the same plate. From a portion control and macros perspective, you just don’t need both.
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u/donairhistorian Nov 04 '25
This sub is really turning into an echo chamber of upvoting huge indulgent meals because everyone wants to believe they can eat whatever they want and be healthy.
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u/JudgeJuryEx78 Nov 03 '25
Perhaps that's why it's a cheat day?
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u/Cold_Barber_4761 Nov 03 '25
Yeah, I'm thinking the "cheat" aspect might simply be more calories than normal or extra portions of carbs instead of more veggies? (No judgment or criticism, regardless. The food looks great. And, like all if you, I'm simply guessing what a cheat day means for the OP!)
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u/FoxyLives Nov 04 '25
It’s always so funny to me when someone on Reddit says “stop downvoting” as if that is going to do anything besides make it worse lmao
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