Local Runner Uses ‘Cheat Day’ to Eat Ice Cream, Sleep With Neighbor’s Wife

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From Tuesday to Sunday, Nickie Ferrante does everything right: He exercises, meditates, and “eats clean,” favoring a diet rich in organic, unprocessed fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and fish. When Monday rolls around, however, all bets are off.

“Monday is my ‘cheat day,’” said Ferrante, using a phrase commonly understood in diet and nutrition circles to mean a full day when otherwise scrupulous eaters may consume anything they want without guilt. “Like, this past Monday I had a Belgian waffle for breakfast, Burger King for lunch, pizza for dinner, and then a huge banana split at my local ice cream place.”

“Also I banged my neighbor’s wife.”

Ferrante, a married father of two and an avid marathon runner, has been using cheat days for years, he said.

Cheat days, proponents argue, are like a pressure release valve—“brief periods of indulgence” that make it easier to behave responsibly the rest of the time. Critics counter that the word cheat has negative connotations and suggest that overindulgence isn’t healthy even once a week.

Ferrante, obviously, is in the former camp.

“If I didn’t have my cheat days, I’d go crazy,” he said.

“Knowing I could never have ice cream or commit adultery would only make it more likely I’d fail completely on both counts. I’d be sneaking pints of Ben & Jerry’s two, three times a week, and sleeping with random women any time I had the chance.”

Instead, said Ferrante, he finds it easy to be “good” six days a week with the knowledge that he can cut loose on the seventh.

“And then the next day, I’m right back on track,” he said. “It really works well.”

Ferrante said he’s already looking forward to his next cheat day, when he plans to join friends for a local bar’s all-you-can-eat wings night and nail a server in the establishment’s bathroom.