I personally have no luck scheduling cheats. I think it fetishizes the "forbidden" foods too much. I'm much better when I only have "cheats of opportunity": unplanned cheats that just happen because of unforseen circumstances.

I "cheat" once a week usually. Doesn't always mean I eat a grain (I am celiac as well, so this is hard) but sometimes means yogurt or some sweet fruit from the farmers market (mango, oh yeah) or dinner out with friends and family.

You don't have to go "off paleo" to cheat, but sometimes you can feel a little like you're stuck in a cave by yourself gnawing the bones of a Mammoth while everyone else binges in the cornfield (yeah, totally not the same era, but you get the gist). a cheat can mean permission to go out, have something you don't eat every day and relax with the people who make your life worth living for.

If you face the "slippery slope" issue, build some rules. "No cheating at home" usually works for me. Alternatively, I have most of my groceries delivered to my house once a week. I order 1 special thing each week and save it for the day before I play lacrosse. That way, I have something to look forward to and I don't face guilt over indulging. I find it is usually the guilt of cheating that makes people do it again. It's the whole, "well, I've already ruined my day" ideal.

Hope that helps!

I used to have a cheat day, as a way of managing my cravings for pizza and brownies. It worked pretty well--by simply postponing my indulgences rather than forbidding them altogether, I was plagued by fewer cravings overall.

I've stopped bothering to cheat, however, because I felt so incredibly lousy the day after. It turned out to be some pretty effective aversion therapy for wheat and sugar. I still allow myself that one day a week, should I decide I really want to cheat again, but it's been a couple of months now since I last actually did so.

I keep scheduling a cheat and... never follow up on it. So I haven't had a cheat in about two months. I just don't want it.

I use cashew nuts as my cheat. Or sometimes I buy natural yogurt. But I cannot really call it a cheat because nuts are Paleo and I buy yogurt maybe once a month.

Sometimes I buy fruits as my cheats, mostly bananas. It only happens when I run out of food so I try not to eat too many.

Not sure how helpful my answer is.

I used to binge eat and crave chocolate. It all stopped with herbal supplements and just eating Paleo and raw foods.

Nah. I just focus on eating well as much as possible. And, when my friends happen to call, whether it's a Tuesday or Saturday to go out, I can afford it in my "flex meal" (85/15). Just living my life and doing my thing works best for me. Then, every 3-4 days, I end up going out with some friends to a restaurant and enjoy whatever meal. I don't go hog wild. I enjoy a plate, and move onward in life.

I guess it depends on the reasons for being paleo. I don't bother eating non-paleo foods like sugary snacks or gluten laden foods because I came to paleo for health reasons and eating crap just sets me back.

If I was on paleo to lose weight and didn't have serious food sensitivities I might do it once a week.

Back in my bodybuilding days I used to be uber strict Monday-saturday and have a blow-out on Sundays. It kept me lean but I would spend Mondays feeling like crap.

I've been having surprising success in managing my binge eating issues with a cheat day every 2 weeks. It's embarrassing how much I look forward to it (some weeks it's the main thing I look forward to, and I'll plan it when I'm bored at work), but it really does help keep me on track the rest of the time.

That said, this is not a "cheat day" involving some fruit and yogurt. Cheating is as much pizza, ice cream, and peanut M&Ms as I can stuff into my stomach.

My rules:

1. No more than once every two weeks.
2. I'm not allowed to whine about how sick I feel the day after. I did it to myself.

I'm with Adam. It's hard enough to keep a "perfect" paleo diet on a daily basis as is, so scheduling a cheat seems a bit overboard. Persononally, I'm more of an opportunistic/spontaneous cheater, where about once or twice a week I'll find myself eating something like ice cream/gelato, a gluten-free cookie, slice of flourless chocolate cake, or a non-gulten-free beer. I just eat it and move on, and everytime it's with other people/someone else. When I'm having these things I try to steer clear of things like HFCS, vegetable/seed oils, and gluten). Plus I eat enough marginal foods on a pretty much daily basis (butter, dark chocolate, olive oil), that if I were scheduling cheats, having spontaneous cheats, and eating my day-to-day diet, I'd likely end up past the 80/20 mark and would be out of the club ;)

I find that with traveling and such I am occasionally cheating (once a week), but it is like a slice of bread or french fries with my dinner out. I can even stay pretty paleo when I am out to dinner. So, it is possible to never cheat, but as a practical matter, I eventually do. But I have learned...from my Paleo friends...that it is not really cheating and you need not guilt yourself into a pitty spiral of doom!!!!

The whole idea of a cheat meal/day seems super silly to me. Why eat something if I know I'll have to feel like crap for a day? I feel like its telling myself "all the knowledge I've gained, self education, and trial & error don't count at this moment because I'd rather eat X." I'm pretty excited to know what does and doesn't work for me these days.

Also, by having a cheat day, it makes it sound like its a diet that you'd rather not be on. I eat this way for health reasons, and it really works for me so I can talk myself out of eating stuff that sucks pretty quick. It just sounds like setting yourself up for failure, or self pity. Also, the next day after eating X, makes it hard to go back to whatever way you were eating before.

The only foods I don't get super fussy about is blue cheese, ice cream and half and half, I don't have issues with these and if they come up say in a coffee or salad, I'll consume them.