Sweet Temptations

Let’s face it – if we have a weight issue – and who doesn’t these days? – it’s most often due to a lack of willpower. We tend to use food, particularly desserts, as a salve for other things going on in our lives that make us uncomfortable – things we’d rather not deal with - or forget - or gloss over with something we know we love, like food to switch our focus, if only for a moment.

Once you’ve decided to pay more attention to how much you are eating – you may decide that not having certain items in the house is the best way to battle temptation. If it’s not in the pantry or refrigerator, you can’t eat it, right?

A friend mentioned that she has bought several cupcakes with the idea that she will only eat one a day. If she can do that, keeping track of the calories, that’s great. But what is going to keep her from diving into a second one or a third or even all of them if temptation gets the best of her? Many of us wouldn’t stop at one. If we didn’t struggle with willpower, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. After the first cupcake – it would be too easy to start justifying the second one:

‘OK, so if each cupcake is X amount of calories, I’ll subtract the second one from tomorrow’s calorie count. It’s all about our total calories for the entire week, right? 3500 calories is 3500 no matter how you slice it. A pound is a pound, right?’

But you know what will happen. Tomorrow rolls around, you’re hungry for sugar – you not only don’t like the idea of subtracting last night’s cupcake from today’s calorie count, but you also don’t like the fact you won’t get today’s cupcake. And then there is the shrug-your-shoulders-and-eat-it-anyway, excuse. You only live once, right? And it’s only a cupcake for heaven’s sake.

May I offer a suggestion? Don’t buy desserts in multiples. Resist a full-sized cake or pie or a dozen donuts or anything that’s going to give you more than one serving of dessert, unless you have someone at home to share it with. You’re only making your battle with food, harder. Yes, if you can eat only one cupcake like my friend believes she will, you’ll feel proud of yourself in the morning, knowing you struggled and won the day. But how will you feel if you ‘slip’ and have two or all? You’ll probably feel physically bloated and a little ill from the sugar rush – but more importantly, you’ll risk feeling a failure – disgusted with yourself for not finding that elusive willpower. Not a good way to strengthen your resolve and be proud of what you’ve accomplished. We don’t get very far by taking two steps backward. Do yourself a favor. Buy one cupcake. Eat one cupcake. Be proud of yourself. Move on.

Peer Pressure

There is nothing more annoying than having everyone around you eat cake while you're stuck nibbling on a carrot stick. A friend recently mentioned how hard it is to avoid temptation at the office when coworkers bring in sweet treats for everyone. I used to work in an office where retirement parties, birthdays, and any kind of special meetings that involved a formal report from the boss always seemed to be accompanied with an enormous sheet cake or platters of cookies and donuts, or both! In fact, this is apparently such an issue in some offices that Seinfeld devoted a hysterically funny episode to it with the character of Elaine rebuking her coworkers because of their "any reason to eat cake" attitudes.


If you can deal with eating one small cookie or half a piece of cake, that's great. Good for you! But if you know one bite of cake will lead to three more pieces and send you on a full binge, try to have something really yummy available that you can eat instead. The idea here is to have a treat you already know the calorie count for, so you don't blow your day's allotment with a piece of cake or chocolate chunk cookie that can be anywhere from 200-to-400 calories.

A number of the nutrition bar makers are now coming out with snack bars: smaller, lower calorie versions of their meal supplement bars. They taste pretty good and this can give you the satisfaction of having something sweet and 'snacky.'

Also, those mini versions of candy like Dove, Snickers, and Milky Way bars are great to have around. They're very satisfying and most are less than 45 calories each. A couple of those might go quite a long way to satisfy your craving and keep you from feeling left out of the celebration.

If you keep these items in your purse or in your desk, (away from the greedy little fingers of coworkers who might learn of your stash!), you will always have something on hand that's satisfying and a better choice for you. Remember, it's about taking back your control and taking back your life. Others can tempt you, but no one makes the decision but you. Smile to yourself as you watch your coworkers bend and break to temptation. Decide you will win not only the battle, but the war.