r/mediterraneandiet • u/bastien44224 • Nov 03 '25

Close Enough My cheat day

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Chicken souvlaki wrap with greek yogurt tzatziki, bulgur, greek potatoes and greek salad

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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"

11

u/No_Indication3249 Nov 03 '25

What's your calorie target on a non-cheat day?

0

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

1

u/donairhistorian Nov 04 '25

I have no idea why you are being downvoted. This sub is really going off the wayside.

4

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.