Tempation? Is it really?



Oh wow, Halloween is almost upon us!   The thing I love about this FUN day is seeing all the little kids coming to the door and screaming with delight "Trick or Treat"!  I try to get down to their level, and ask them what they are or who are they dressed up as.    The answers are endless, even if they aren't sure! But surely they are happy, excited to get a small present, and enjoying participating with a group after dark.  The twinkle in their eyes and the smiles on their faces - well I just melt!  When that happens, they obviously get a whole hand full of candy!   It reminds me of when I used to take my own kids out!  Such fun!  Now I get to watch my grand kids make the rounds of the neighborhood with their parents, then coming back to count their loot.  

What makes this month difficult are the huge amounts of candy that seem to be on every isle of the grocery store.  So just because it's there, does that mean I have to pick it up, toss it in the cart and pay for it at the counter?  

All of this candy business got me thinking alot more about temptations in my life and how does it manifest itself in my life.  I have to ask myself these 5 questions:

• When am I most tempted?  Certain time of day?  Certain day/days of the week?
• Where am I most tempted?  At work? At home? In a restaurant?
• Who is with me when I'm most tempted?  Am I alone?  With friends?  In a crowd of strangers? Am I a closet eater?
• What temporary benefit do I get if I give in?  Does is taste GREAT ?  Do I feel better?  Do I get relief from stress?
• How do I feel right before I'm tempted?  Am I frustrated?  Feel alone?  Bored?  Insecure?  Angry?Sad?

When the urge is there, I am going to refocus my energy and attention to something else.  Maybe take a 15 walk around the neighborhood, design a piece of jewelry, rev up the sewing machine, turn on some music and just dance, etc.  We all have ways to divert our attention, that I know. 

Patterns of Temptation

• Attention - I think about what it is I am willing to sabotage my life with, how it will taste and how it will make me feel.  Is it worth it?
• Arousal - There is some sort of emotions that cling to the thought of the temptation  and it gets stronger the more I think about it.  All this could be in the matter of seconds too!  UG!
• Action - Then I do it!  I eat the ice cream, swallow the candy, or eat more than I should at a meal, lacking portion control and blame it on something else.  The reason  I fail, is that the thought should have been stopped before it got to the action.  I need to stop it at the attention phase, when it first grabs me..

As I work through this, I am really trying to see where my pitfalls are, what time of day I am tempted, am I alone, etc.  Here's the funny thing!  The options to caving into your food temptations are:

• Chewing it until most of the good flavor is gone, then spit it out in the trash can!  Been there done that!
• Chewing it and swallowing it, pretend it didn't happen, so I won't have to write in my food journal and count the points/calories.
• Orrrrrrrrrrrr just not caving, thus being able to pat myself on my back for a Who-ah, telling myself you did it once and can do it again, and high fives all around.

How do you handle your temptations and what triggers you mostly about going off track?  And most important, how do you get back on track?  

Until then I'm still bribing my grandaughter into wearing the ice cream cone costume I made for her last year!  

Happy Autumn,

Cher