AEE Episode 1342: Why Cheat Days Matter and the American Diet
Announcer: This is an All Ears English podcast Episode 1342: "Why Cheat Days Matter and the American Diet." [Instrumental] Announcer: Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 130 million times. We believe in Connection NOT Perfection™, with your American hosts Lindsay McMahon, the "English Adventurer," and Michelle Kaplan, the "New York Radio Girl," coming to you from Los Angeles and New York City, U.S.A. [Instrumental] Announcer: And to take your learning deeper with real-time transcripts and vocabulary practice, download our app on your iOS device. Go to AllEarsEnglish.com/bonuses. [Instrumental] Announcer: Today we get a question from a listener, "what is a cheat day?" Find out what it means and how to it applies to our diets, plus get an overview of key words that you need when you talk about diet and nutrition in American English. [Instrumental]3 © All Ears English www.allearsenglish.com Announcer: This episode was recorded a few weeks in advance. Our understanding of the COVID-19 situation has changed since then. We hope you are healthy and safe. We hope that All Ears English can be a bright spot in your day during this moment of uncertainty. [Instrumental] Lindsay: Hey (hi) Michelle, how you doing? How are you feeling today? What did you have for breakfast? Michelle: Oooh, today I had half of an English muffin with cottage cheese and strawberries. Lindsay: Oh cottage... hmm interesting. Cottage cheese on top of the English muffin or... Michelle: Yeah (yes), why not? Lindsay: Interesting, okay, okay, fair enough. Michelle: I was going to have cream cheese but then I was feeling, feeling crazy. Lindsay: Oh man, I haven't had cottage cheese in ages but they do say it's really healthy, so... Michelle: So good. I used to not like it. I mean, it's certainly a weird texture but it's delicious. Lindsay: It's weird, yeah (yes). Michelle: What did you have for breakfast? Lindsay: I had steel cut oats but the instant kind with, with cherries and blackberries on top and coffee, of course. Michelle: Oh yeah, I had coffee as well. I mean, Lindsay, have you… are you a person who has ever gone on a diet? I mean, you're, you're petite. You're tiny so I can't imagine that you're a dieter. You seem, just like… healthy lifestyle naturally and, so, I don't think you would need … I don't think that you would be a dieter.
Lindsay: Yeah (yes) I've never gone on any diet like Weight Watchers or keto diet, but I'm really interested in nutrition. Like, I feel like in another life I would have liked to be a nutritionist. I think that would... Michelle: Me too. Lindsay: To write diet plans for people, that would have been cool. I find it fascinating. Michelle: I do too. Yes, I agree. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), so, I'll always read about diet like any time there is an article in The Times or something, I'll read that article and try to implement things. So, I'm really interested in creating a really clean, healthy, like, antioxidant-packed diet but I have never... Michelle: Ohhh. Lindsay: Although last week I did feel like there was too much meat creeping into my diet, so, I said I was going to go off meat for a week, so, I'll do things like that. You know what I mean? Michelle: Mhh. Lindsay: But it's not extreme, it's not like Weight Watchers or anything like that. Michelle: Yeah (yes), interesting, interesting. I mean, I, I actually have been, I have been on Weight Watchers. Lindsay: Oh really? Michelle: Yeah (yes), I have done it, like, after the baby. Lindsay: Huh. Michelle: Because I was having, like, a lot of trouble, like, I wanted to get back to my past weight and I was having trouble with, like, I was doing it all just naturally and not thinking about it. Lindsay: Mhh hhm.
Michelle: But it was, like, that last, like, five to seven pounds. Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: And it was just not going away and, so, I did need a little bit of structure. I just felt like I don't, I didn't have a lot that I was trying to get off but I needed that structure because I didn't have the self-discipline so that's why I did it. Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: I got rid of it and then some. I don't even know how it happened but now it's starting to go back so... Lindsay: Oh, what were the foods that you were eating when you were on that diet? Because I always want to know, like, what actually works to take weight off. I'm interested. Like, what... Michelle: It's pretty much I was just eating less, like, I wasn't always eating... I was eating more fruits and vegetables. Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: That is what I was doing. So, like, if I wanted to have a snack, I mean, they make you do, like, the points, so, you kind of, you, it's basically the idea is writing down every single thing you eat and making... and if you, you can have anything you want. There is nothing that is off limits with that diet, but then you only have a certain amount of points you can spend. Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: So, like, fruits and vegetables are either, I think they changed it now but were zero points, I don't know. Lindsay: Oh interesting, interesting. Michelle: Like, it's basically, it's almost ,like, a natural way like leading you towards eating healthy. Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: It's not like counting calories but it's kind of like "Oh, I'm thinking, oh I only have five points left for the day, I could either have this bag of chips or I could have fruit and then I'll still have leftover." Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: It's, like, naturally leading you to a healthy lifestyle, so, I actually like that one, but yeah, baby weight, man. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), well I think it is all about portion size. I realized that when, when I was living in Japan and I realized that how huge our portions are here and then we would go out with our school, our students, our managers, for izakaya and they would put, like, maybe – there would be 20 of us at the table, they would maybe five plates on the table and that would have been in the U.S. what four people would eat but 20 people were sharing it and, so, I would go… Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: At first, I was like, I'm going to be starving here. I'm not going... but I did end up losing about 15 pounds in Japan. Michelle: Oh wow. Lindsay: During my time and I got used to it, like, my stomach just shrank. Michelle: Yeah (yes), yeah that's what happens, is like now, I mean, I was away on vacation and then I was with family and, so I ate a lot, and so I noticed though that I put on a little bit of weight and I, and I can tell that my stomach is, not as... the opposite of shrank, it grew because I can tell now I need, I need more food during the day. Lindsay: You need more food. Michelle: Like, I get very, very hungry. Lindsay: Interesting. Michelle: And, so, that shows, you know? Because then when you adjust, anyway…
Lindsay: Yeah (yes) the stomach is a muscle; it goes back and forth. It does change in size and so it's like eating less begets more for eating less if that makes sense? Yeah (yes) that's fascinating. I love that. Michelle: Yeah (yes), so guys, we are going to be talking about all this stuff today and it's going to be a fun and interesting episode. So, we have a listener question from Instagram and guys, you know, you have to follow us on Instagram. Lindsay: Yes. Michelle: It's a blast over there. We have so much fun and we have, I mean, what I love about Instagram is the community that we have over there, right, Lindsay? Lindsay: It's so cool, it's so cool. It's really nice because we feel like we're really connecting with you guys in a unique way that we can't on any other channel. Michelle: Yeah (yes), yeah, exactly and, so, we'll get to the question in a second but guys, you know, make sure that you follow us on Instagram, so, go over right now on your phone and search for All Ears English on Instagram, get that yellow. Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: And we will be right there with you and you will be a part of that community. Lindsay: Oh yeah, it's so cool. Alright, very cool, so, we have a question. Should I read the question, Michelle? Michelle: Yes, this is from a video Jessica posted. Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: This person posted their question. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), this is a great topic. So, this is from Lubakoynova, sorry I'm having a hard to time pronouncing that name but…
Michelle: Lubakoynova, that sounds right. Right? Lindsay: Yeah (yes), okay. The person says, "Hi Jessica, thank you for sharing these amazing slang words with us. I want to ask you a question. What does the cheat day mean? I heard one American woman said she loves cheat days. I wonder what on earth this mean. I have never heard this expression." What a good question. Michelle: Awesome. Lindsay: And then, this is why Instagram is so awesome. Michelle: Yes. Lindsay: Because another listener answered 122Barbie answered, "Cheat day means someone can eat something that is high calorie if he or she is losing weight." So, right, so, exactly. I mean, our student answered the question. Michelle: Right, right, so, a cheat day, yeah exactly, that's the right idea. It's basically, like, if you've done a good job, you know usually if, I think of it as somebody is dieting and then Saturday is their cheat day. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I mean, this just comes back to how, it's so weird our culture when it comes to food because we're so food obsessed and, like, health obsessed but we're also some of the heaviest, you know, like, we're probably, like, we have the most obese people in the world. It's, it's a weird contradiction that I have always found strange, the way – I feel like other cultures they think less about food. It's just about high-quality food and less food and they don't worry as much. You know? I, it's so interesting. Michelle: Yeah (yes) definitely, oh my gosh, very interesting. So, the word "diet" just to point out, guys, so that can be, that can mean that you are eating less food or you're on a specific kind of diet but it can also just be about when you talk about what you eat, right? So, if you say, like my diet consists of a lot of veggies and healthy fats, right? Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: So, it can be like, "Oh I have a pretty healthy diet in general." It doesn't always mean that you're on a formal diet. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), exactly, exactly. That's very true. So, there are two kind of ways that diet can be interpreted, right? Michelle: Right. Lindsay: Yeah (yes).
Michelle: Right. So, but this cheat day, Lindsay if you were giving yourself a cheat day, if you were on a diet and you had a cheat day, what would you eat? Lindsay: Oh probably, just, ice cream. I love ice cream. Michelle: That's great. Lindsay: Maybe I would have it for dinner or something. That's, like, my favorite dessert, my favorite cheat thing. There is nothing better than, just, in the summer getting an ice cream cone, walking around with it, chocolate of course. Michelle: Yes. Lindsay: Chocolate and peanut butter, some version of that. That's probably what I would cheat on. Yeah (yes). Michelle: Yeah (yes), yeah. As you guys all know probably… mine is French fries. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), the curly fries, right? Michelle: Well, curly fries, waffle fries, any sort of... Lindsay: Any fries. Michelle: Any chip, popcorn, all that stuff, like… Lindsay: You like salty. Michelle: I love salty, like, that's definitely my thing. But I do, I do love also the saltysweet like chocolate-covered pretzels. Lindsay: Oh okay. For me it's just pure sweet. Like, there is nothing better than a good chocolate lava cake. Ohh! Those are the best. Michelle: Those are delicious but yeah (yes), I always say like if you put a juicy brownie right next to a thing of French fries and you asked me which one I would have, I'd go for the fries. You'd go for the brownie. Lindsay: I would go for the brownie. Michelle: So, we would be perfect in, in this situation. Lindsay: We won't compete. Michelle: Yeah (yes), we'll never get in a fight over who gets to eat what. Lindsay: That's good, and so, we've talked about this a fair amount. Right, on this show, guys, we've covered, you know, diet and eating because it is such a prominent issue in our culture, so, Episode 1110 is about how to approach talking about whether, you know, when you ask someone have they lost weight, is that okay? Can you say that? And what should you be careful of. And then there was 468 talking about veg (vegetarian), vegan, gluten-free diets like that. And then what else Michelle, another one? [Instrumental] Announcer: Today, we are talking about the American diet and how Americans deals with nutrition. This is a topic that we might talk about over on our Instagram channel. Come and follow us on Instagram, guys. Search for All Ears English and look for the yellow. We'll see you on Instagram. [Instrumental] Michelle: 1026 was "Got a Weird Diet? How to Customize your Meal in English" so that is a little bit different of an idea but these are really good ones to listen to along with this episode. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), and I think just a few weeks ago Jessica and I did another one that had something to do with the gluten-free thing with eliminating wheat from your diet and the issues in the American diet, with the industry, you know, the wheat industry and all that. So guys, check that one out too. Really good. Good stuff. Michelle: Very interesting. So guys, the idea of cheat days, I mean, I think that if you're on a diet, I think these cheat days are important. I mean, I think letting yourself – even if you're not on a formal diet, I think it makes it easier if you don't restrict yourself all the time because if you're always like, "I'm not eating chocolate," right? I think it's more tempting and you're less able to control your eating habits when you have a craving. What do you think, Lindsay? Lindsay: Well, it's, it's a similar idea of, like, of what's forbidden is what we want, right? Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: And it's the same thing and this goes back the same problem that we have with our drinking age in the U.S. being 21. Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: The fact that when you're a kid, you're 18, 19, 17, you can't drink. That means that the first thing you're going to do when you turn 21 is go and get completely drunk, right? Michelle: Or before you're even, before you're supposed to. Lindsay: Or when you go to college and you can find it, you can get it. Michelle: Right. Lindsay: But most people, their first experience with alcohol is not a safe one because they have not been taught to treat alcohol in a safe way, like, it's not normal to them. It's this forbidden thing and I think it's the same idea here with the cheat day, yeah. Michelle: Yeah (yes), yeah, I totally agree. Yeah (yes) that's, oh my gosh, and that's another topic. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), we're coming up with so many ideas for episodes. It's just endless Michelle. Michelle: It is, it is, it is. So guys, today we also wanted to teach you some additional nutrition words and we're going to help you – these are going to help you when you want to talk about diets or eating habits but I do want say maybe, Lindsay, I mean, I am also interested in learning about nutrition and in another life I would also be a nutritionist which is really funny that we both feel that way but we are not scientists currently so we are explaining the basic ideas of these words, so, I'm not going to go into all of the explanation of the, but you know – it would – we can go more into it another time but I'm going to go over the basic idea of some of these. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I mean, to be honest, I don't think I would have made it in a career as a nutritionist because I struggled in Bio 101 in college. Bio, biology is and there is a lot of science in this, so, I would have had to really take some remedial biology classes. Michelle: I know. I'm the same way. I'm the same way. I guess that shows why we're here, right? Doing what we do but, like, I was not good in the science classes but I find the idea of being a nutritionist very interesting. Lindsay: It's fascinating. It's just fascinating. And now they're finding the connection between the gut and, you know, the mind and all... it's really good stuff. So, let's get into this, Michelle. So, the first one... Michelle: Is sodium. Lindsay: Oh sodium. Right, right. Michelle: Sorry, I... Lindsay: No, that's okay. Yeah (yes), so what should we say about this? I mean, our listeners probably know this word, right? What else? Michelle: Well, I mean, it's basically… when I see the word sodium on, like, a nutrition label, I think of it as being salt. Lindsay: Yes, yes. Michelle: But I looked it up and technically it's, it's different but, but I think of salty foods as having a lot of sodium. Salty foods are like frozen foods. Lindsay: Mhh hhm. Michelle: Things like that, so, sometimes when I'm – oh soup, like, soup cans. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), yes. Michelle: If you go and you know you're going to buy a can of soup, you see that it's very high in sodium and I always look at that. Lindsay: And sodium adds, like, a preservative, right? Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: And that's the thing, our diets, the American diet is so packed with these kinds of things, these preservatives, these foods that can last forever. They can be on the shelf for a long time and they're salty, they're preservative packed and we have to be really careful. That's why I think home cooking is better because we determine how much salt goes into it. Yeah (yes). Michelle: Yeah (yes), yeah, for sure. So yeah, that's sodium and then we have low fat and high fat. How much fat is there? I mean fat free used to be a super common and popular diet. That was a thing, I mean, when I was growing up, like, in – if I knew, you know, moms and things that were on diets it was always fat free, fat free, fat free. Lindsay: Yeah (yes). Michelle: And that was how they did it but then they realized that's not really the best way to do it. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), it's really interesting as I get older to think back on all the dieting trends that have happened in the 80s and 90s and the 2000s, right? It was all about fat free. So, we were buying, like, fat-free yogurt but, guess what, It was packed with other really bad things. Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: Things that were, that were worse for us than the fat, so, now, right, as you said, it's all about the full-fat diet, the good fats, the Mediterranean diet, right? They suggest avocados and walnuts and almonds and olive oil, things like that. Michelle: Yeah (yes). Right, like I, I, it was always, I mean, fat-free muffins, fat-free salad dressing. Lindsay: Oh yes, so bad though, so bad. Michelle: Yeah (yes), yeah, so, it's interesting, I mean, because then over time we learned so much about what's good and bad. I mean, and you wonder and there are so many discussions about, like, what is good and what is bad and you know, it's just, it's hard to follow and you wonder what we are we doing now that then everyone will laugh at us for. Lindsay: I know, I do wonder that. Oh, I don't know. I think probably, the big thing, the big villain now is sugar. Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: That's... because I do read a lot about this stuff and that's what they're saying... Michelle: Sugar is in everything. Lindsay: ... is the worst thing because it's in everything. Things like the big, like, Starbucks' Frappuccino. Those things are sugar bombs and super dangerous for us but I don't know, who knows, maybe in 10 years it will be something else. Michelle: Definitely. Lindsay: Yeah (yes). Michelle: Yeah (yes). Who knows? Who knows? Then, we have calories, right, low or high-calorie foods. I mean, I don't really necessarily understand how it's completely different from fat. I think that it's more about energy units. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), yeah, calorie is a unit of energy. Yeah (yes). Michelle: Yeah (yes), exactly. Right, rather than, you know, fat… so, sometimes it seems they correlate though. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I would say so, like, when I go hiking I like to find calorie-dense, you know, dense food like bars that are actually very high in calories, 3… maybe 250 to 300 calories, so that I can get that energy. So… but those are also high in fat for a reason, you know? Michelle: Definitely. And then the next one is one that we've been getting into already a little bit, Lindsay, what is it? Lindsay: So, processed, so, processed food. Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: That's what we do best here in the U.S. Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: Frozen food, food where, like, you can just stick – when we were growing up the big thing was like T.V. dinners. We never really had those. Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: But a lot of people did. T.V. dinners were a big thing. Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: Right? Where maybe like Hungry Man or something, those brands where it would all come in a tray, like, separated out, your meat, your rice, whatever, your potatoes, you just stick it in the microwave and people would sit in front of the T.V. This was the 80s American culture. You know? Michelle: Yeah (yes), yeah and there was nothing wrong with it, you know? Lindsay: Yeah (yes). Michelle: I mean, it wasn't looked at like a bad thing. Lindsay: Right. Michelle: I remember, oh my gosh, do you remember Lunchables? Lindsay: Yeah (yes), oh God, oh yeah, and that's the thing now they're saying that, like, the deli meats are really... Michelle: Yup (yes). Lindsay: ... kind of, we should be careful of those so, because of all the salt, the meat, the nature of that meat, how it's processed, processed meat, I guess is the issue, right? Michelle: Yeah (yes). I guess so. Yeah (yes), it's not healthy. So, oh my gosh, let's do one more word. Lindsay: Okay. Cholesterol – ohh, a big one. Michelle: Yeah (yes). I mean, this is also part of nutrition. I mean, I, I often, I mean, I don't know how quite how to explain cholesterol but I think of it as something that is bad for your heart, right? Lindsay: Yeah (yes). Michelle: Like, because you have to get your cholesterol checked, your level. So, I mean, I think of eggs. Lindsay: Yeah (yes). Michelle: That's what I think of but eggs can also have good cholesterol. I don't know. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I think cholesterol is related to, like, the constriction of the blood vessels, like, the way the blood is flowing through... Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: ... our veins. But you know, eggs are one of those things that is back and forth. You read that eggs are bad for you. Michelle: Yeah (yes). Lindsay: That they're good. Same with coffee but recently I read an article that said up to five cups of coffee is good for you, so, I was psyched to read that.17 © All Ears English www.allearsenglish.com Michelle: Nice! Lindsay: So, I don't know. The science is always going back and forth on some of these things like eggs and coffee and then other things; there are clear trends over the years that have changed. Michelle: Right, right, right and then there is, of course, protein which I forgot about… meat, veggies (vegetables) all that stuff. But guys, this is a huge episode and I think we should do a follow up because today we're really teaching a lot of vocabulary but I think that we have a lot to say about each of these individually. Lindsay: Phew! There is a lot. Oh yeah, for sure, there's a lot going on here. But what is that key phrase that I feel like our listeners could come away with and they could start a conversation about this with someone? Michelle: To me, diet is about everything in moderation, like, I, I don't know if I believe in, that's why I actually liked Weight Watchers is because they don't say you can't eat this. Lindsay: Yeah (yes). Michelle: Maybe, maybe then I'll disagree with this statement one day as more comes out but, like, I feel like, oh because we have such mixed information… this is good, this is bad, this is good, this is bad. I feel like everything in moderation. Like, a little bit of everything is fine, just don't overdo it. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I like that. That's how they do it in different cultures where people do have a healthier general, like, system of – they're healthier than we are and they do take things in moderation, smaller portions, occasional, like, pieces of chocolate or whatever. Just not chocolate every night, you know? Michelle: Right. Oh my gosh. Lindsay: This is good, Michelle. It's a huge topic. We'll come back to it. Guys, if you want a specific episode within this topic because there are a lot of directions we could go into, let us know on Instagram or send us an email, lindsay@allearsenglish.com, you can ask us that question. But what should we leave our listeners with today as a takeaway, Michelle? Michelle: Well, guys, you know today we've talked about diets, we've talked about cheat days, we've given you other vocabulary words, and basic ideas of buzzwords for nutrition so definitely we'll follow up in the future but, you know, let us know what do you pay most attention to when you're deciding what to eat? And do you have a healthy diet? And how is it different in your culture? Lindsay: Yeah (yes), this is fascinating. I would really like to hear from you guys to know what your take is on nutrition, right? Because it's something that we're all – we all need to be concerned about but I just wonder how people approach it in different parts of the world, so, really interesting. Michelle: For sure, for sure. And guys before we go, remember follow us on Instagram to be a part of that special community. Lindsay: Yeah (yes), awesome. Okay Michelle, thanks for hanging out today. Good topic. Michelle: Thank you. Have a good one, guys. Lindsay: Alright talk to you later, bye. Michelle: Bye. [Instrumental] Announcer: Thanks for listening to All Ears English. If you are taking IELTS this year, get your estimated band score with our two-minute quiz, go to AllEarsEnglish.com/MyScore. And if you believe in Connection NOT Perfection™, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.
