Saturday, March 5, 2011

Chocolate. . .The Ultimate Emotional Barometer

Weekends are hardest for me. Not because I have a full house. Not because decibel levels goes up or the days move at a frenetic pace. Not because my husband is home and there are a thousand questions about where this goes or that stays.
No. No. No. It’s all because my pantry is full and I’ve committed the cardinal sin.
I went grocery shopping. . .while hungry.
Such a BAD move.  
For some reason, I’m especially vulnerable on Friday evenings. All the bad stuff looks so incredibly good. And what do you know? It all makes a flying leap into my grocery cart. Hmm, yeah. REALLY bad move.
Oh, how I wish I had an automatic reset button that made me reach for carrot sticks instead. Or cucumber wedges. Or, anything remotely healthy. Nuh-uh, I’m a one hundred percent, hand-to-mouth peanut M&M girl. My emotional barometer is directly linked to the amount of little yellow bags I toss into my grocery cart.
Okay, sure, I’m pretty active, but honestly, there’s only so much a body can take.
So, I’m back to asking myself (yet again) the question I can’t seem to answer. Why (for the love of God) do I do this to myself?
Those lovely chocolate coated peanuts might taste great in the moment, but afterward, I’m sick to my stomach and sick of myself. And then, the inevitable beat-up on E.C. begins. I try not to do that--I really do--because what’s done is done. Right? No use crying over spilled milk and all that, but really. . . 
So, here I go again. It’s Saturday morning and I’ve got a cupboard full of peanut M&Ms. Oh, the joy! Oh, the horror! Oh, the inevitability! <grin>
And oh, boy. I see a whole lot of jogging in my future.

16 comments:

  1. My sister got me hooked on these new peanut butter cups called Minis. They're smaller than the small ones--LOL--but my fave part is there is no paper wrapper on them! I tell myself I'm being kind to the environment, and less wasteful, but I just like not having to slow down to unwrap them. Now that I think about it, look at all those calories I'm not burning now by ripping off the paper. Sigh.

    Donna

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  2. Sigh, indeed Donna! Yikes, looks like we both have a peanut butter obsession. Welcome to the club! (:

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  3. OK I love this post and have some incredible advice you're gonna love. Here it is...
    1. Enjoy your chocolate. Love it. Savour it. It was made just for you.
    2. Enjoy your jog. Dream about chocolate while you do it, you earned it.
    3. Next time, eat a chocolate bar while you shop, you'll buy less. Promise.

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  4. Gah. Shopping on Friday is always tough for me too. I think it's Friday, I deserve a break/treat/reward/chance to unwind and then I end up with all sorts of stuff in my cart.

    I didn't realize just how much I ate to regulate my mood and not my hunger until I started Jenny Craig and I could only have treats on a schedule.

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  5. I can always tell when I've gone shopping hungry (or angry, wow, those days are rough). It's amazing the crap I pick up. So here's my two cents on it:
    1. Pick up whatever you want, but as the cashier's scanning it, you have a second chance to get rid of it. Just ask her to set it aside.
    2. Only buy candy in the check out lane. That way you get your treat, but it's a smaller serving.

    I also wanted to stop by and let you know that I'm passing along the Stylish Blogger award to you. You can check it out on my blog here.

    Also, I'm doing features on my Crusader group members. If you're interested, feel free to drop me a line at timesaved(at)gmail(dot)com.

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  6. Oh yeah, shopping while tired or hungry makes a big difference in my cart. We love peanut M&Ms too!

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  7. Not me. Don't care for chocolate. Nope, I'm a salty Doritos/potato chip/french fry type. So I'm not only stuffing calories, I'm clogging my arteries and making my face break out. So, there ARE worse things than chocolate addictions :) Plus, they often have BOGO specials. Sigh. It would be wrong to pass up anything free. Have a good weekend, and plz ignore the orange cheese dust I left all over your blog page.

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  8. If you figure out how to stop yourself from doing this over & over please share with the rest of us. BTW, I suffer this same fate, only with peanut butter M&M's (orange bags)

    I'm guilty of buying them and saying "It's alright, so long as I eat them in moderation". Then somewhere around my fourth trip bag to the cupboard for a refill, I decide I have no willpower after all . . . and it's really best if I just eat the whole thing and get it out of the way so I can start over fresh tomorrow.

    But then tomorrow comes and I, inevitably, convince myself that my willpower of moderation will be stronger this time, etc. It's a vicious cycle I've yet to learn from.

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  9. My favorite rule of body health is the 80/20 rule:
    Do what you're supposed to do 80 percent of the time and the other 20 percent should be spent enjoying life. I apply that to everything.

    ...though in my case it's more like 50/50.
    (I suggest no one follow my percentage, lol!)

    -Gen

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  10. Yeah, it's a bad thing to go shopping when hungry! I've definitely done it. Well...you could always give some to your neighbor or have friends over and share your chocolate and more weightier goodies. :)

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  11. I like Tanya's three part advice. No idea if it works but it sounds like solid gold!

    I think sometimes what we're really looking for is a treat, but what we choose to have for that treat doesn't have to be unhealthy...so I'm thinking more budgetary indulgences like smoked salmon, exotic fruit, sushi roll, banana smoothie...works for me!

    The other thing I do is have a treat at the shops but not take anything home. So it's a once-off rather than a pantry full of indulgence...

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  12. Luckily, my newest weakness is for dark chocolate. Brilliant, because a) it's healthier b) it only takes a block to kill the munchies.

    :-)

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  13. I have something for you on my blog

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  14. I just did that this weekend too. Shopped while I was hungry and the grocery bill was more expensive than usual. Lots of really yummy foods now in the cabinet now, not a great thing. But yeah, exercise in my future too.

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  15. I only get peanut M&Ms at Halloween, or I'd eat nothing else the entire year. I feel your pain! :0)

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  16. In the spirit of International Women's Day, I'm going to suggest that we women (and E.J.) stop feeling bad about wanting to eat things that are delicious. Just enjoy!

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