In his book Integrative Nutrition, Joshua Rosenthal expresses his philosophy about the diet he created for himself – the 90-10 Diet. Rosenthal is an expert on nutrition and says that when people try to eat totally clean and pure diets, they can only do it for a limited period of time. No matter how much willpower we have, at some point cravings for the foods we’re avoiding become overwhelming and we cheat. Then we feel guilty, and feelings of guilt and fear about food are not healthy. Trying to stick to a diet 100% of the time is also stressful.
Rosenthal has only one rule concerning this diet (and even this one rule is flexible, he says). The rule is that 90% of the time you eat what is healthy for you, and 10% of the time you eat whatever you feel like eating. By giving yourself a 10% range of flexibility, you can indulge yourself without guilt and maintain a basically healthy diet. The great thing about this deiting philosphy is that it works!