3 Ways to Avoid Cake in the Community Room

August 23, 2010 ↓ Comments (2)

Cake

I’m away at a college residency. The program director turned 40 and they gave her a cake. It was a big chocolate production with icing and chocolate covered strawberries around the outside. Now there’s a bunch of left over pieces sitting out in the community room waiting to be eaten.

The cake looked really good when it was served. People who had some said it is really rich, which is just how I like my chocolate cake! Still, it’s easy to resist. Why?

You’re Sick of the Roller Coaster

When you first go off sugar for a while you’ll find that you have good and bad times. That is, you’ll last for months without sugar only to fall off the wagon and start eating sweets again. Do that enough times and you’ll start to associate a little taste of sugar with falling out of control in a not fun way.

Exercise Your No Thank You Muscle

If you’ve just started to avoid sugar, expect that it’s not easy. In the Stop Being Sweet eBook I explain that saying no (with your words or actions) is like exercising a muscle—you have to build it up by repetitively using it. The only way to get good at avoiding sweets it to keep avoiding them. My “NO” muscle is strong enough to deal with most any typical situation where sweets tempt me.

Don’t Be Around It

If you are still having trouble with the stuff, stay away from the stuff. Sugar is tempting. If it’s not within your reach it’s easier to avoid eating it. I’m in the same room as the cake but not at the same table!

It’s Not the End of the World

If you make a mistake then just move on. You don’t stop talking just because you mispronounce a word. Keep going, little by little. eventually a little becomes a lot and one slip up doesn’t ruin your unsweet lifestyle. (See yesterday’s post.)

Comments · 3 Ways to Avoid Cake in the Community Room

Connie
Aug 23, 2010

Those are some pretty big pieces of cake but I know I would never be satisfied with only one. I keep this in mind, “one would be too much and a dozen wouldn’t be enough”.
My 12 year old daughter made sugar cookies last night and offered me one several times. I had to say no but I commented on how beautiful they were. I guess I was building up my no thank-you muscle.

DavidVanadia
Aug 23, 2010

Nice. It’s annoying when people who know you’re off sugar keep offering you sweets!