No Willpower

I for one am very happy that the holidays are over and life is returning to normal. This is not to say that I haven’t enjoyed the time off or catching up with friends and family. It is all about how glad I am to say goodbye to the goodies that are around throughout the season.

I cannot be trusted around sweets. There is good reason why there are typically no snacks at my place. If there were, I would have eaten them all already, and there would still be none sitting around. I have no willpower.

[Maybe that’s the direction my willpower went!]

I take that back, some foods I’m really good around – mainly things I don’t like: dark chocolate, raised donuts, or things with walnuts in them. Unfortunately, those types of items are too few and far between for my waistline’s liking.

At my office, baked goods were non-stop from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. I’m hoping there will be a big clean out before I go in today.

What I have found over the years is that if the treats are individually wrapped, I’m safe. I can limit myself to only one. If it is in a regular package, however, if you value the use of your fingers, you are safer to keep them away from the Cookie Monster over here.

I’ve tried all the mental games I can think of to stay away, but the lure is just too strong. Not having them in the house or office is the only solution that works for me.

When I lived in England, money was incredibly tight. I had a tiny food budget, and once it was gone, I was done eating. At that time I was going to school, and I would pack a sandwich, a piece of fruit, and three small store-bought cookies in my lunch. The cookies were of the grocery store’s “value” line and came in a sleeve.

One week I brought home chocolate chip cookies as a change of pace. The whole sleeve was gone in less than 10 minutes. That was a depressing week of lunches. The next week I brought home peanut butter cookies. Those lasted 15 minutes. I started to cry thinking about another boring (and hungry) week of lunches.

Finally I brought home the lemon-cream variety. They lasted the whole week. I discovered that that type and the glazed oatmeal cookies would last. I didn’t tempt fate by testing any other flavors. Sometimes I think it is a matter of accepting limitations and working with them.

Am I the only one who is glad the holidays are over? or Are there any other members of the No Willpower Club out there?