Temptations II

[Guest guest]

So last night, we went to our " extended family " Christmas dinner

feast. We decided ahead of time to try to cheat as little as

possible, and to draw as little attention to ourselves and diet as we

could. (Which is hard when you have a worry-wart mother as I

do). We ate at the back of the line, which helped.

Actually, the dinner wasn't hard to eat " on-diet " for the most part.

I had several pieces of pork roast in butter/garlic sauce, one small

slice of honeybaked ham, a small serving of broccoli casserole

without much cheese or anything, and a small serving of asparagus

casserole, where I dug into and ate only the asparagus part, and

removed the topping. I also ate a very small serving of a Russian

potato salad, which is light on potatoes and has many other

ingredients.

After returning home, Fitday said I only ate 30g of carbs yesterday,

so I did pretty well! The " bad foods " I ate weren't really that bad,

and I didn't eat much of them anyway. I smuggled in a container of

coconut oil to eat when no one was looking.

By far, the hardest part was when everyone was eating desserts, and

commenting on how wonderful they were. My wife and I stood at the

dessert table and admired/craved them for about 5 minutes. I won't

describe all the stuff... But the most interesting thing was an

apple stack cake that my aunt made... from frozen/dried 30-year old

apples originally stored by my grandmother (who died in 1977). It was

like, " everyone... please eat a piece of this cake... these are the

last of Boo-boo's apples! "

To make matters worse, my neighbor called me yesterday morning and

said she had a gift for my wife from her niece. (My neighbor is 80

years old and is dying from lung cancer that has spread). Anyway, it

was a box of home-made cinammon rolls from a very expensive bakery in

town. My wife has never had one, and was craving them, but she was

strong with my encouragment. We have given away 4 of the 8, and will

freeze the other 4 to give to other friends. My wife was a little

mad at me yesterday and said, " Why didn't you buy me these BEFORE we

started this diet???? " You know how women can be about such

things.

Why am I writing this? To those who struggle at making the " right "

choices when temptations smack you in the face... if you decide to

remain strong, it is possible to succeed. Sure, that piece of fudge

or a HUGE cinnamon roll would taste great for a few minutes while you

eat it. But what real benefit does it offer past that?

Our enemy uses temptations which provide a very short-lived

pleasure. But if you keep your eyes focused on your longer goals...

true life, and true health... the benefits far outweigh

the " pleasure " which is really a mirage anyway.

Two Christmas dinners down... one more to go on Friday night.

You can do it... we can ALL do it!

Doug