Little white lies aren’t so bad when you’ve been gifted a not-so-great sweater. But when it comes to your diet, honesty is the best policy. The small food fibs you tell yourself (“I need to eat this macaroni and cheese to get through the pandemic”) can sabotage your health goals. Here are a few common examples of diet self-deceptions, and how to combat them.

I am the mother of five grown children. As our family grew, I adjusted my shopping, food prep and cooking methods to accommodate. One by one, as my children began to leave the nest, I found that shopping and cooking meals for a smaller household presented its own challenges. I went from preparing meals for a family of seven down to two—my husband and me.

For years, I had longed to see wild animals in their natural habitat. In January, my dream of going on an African safari came true when my husband and I traveled to the harmonious country in East Africa with a small group through Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). To my surprise, the animals were the cake but the people were the frosting.