Just Add Milk!

We want what we want and we want it now! 

I got to thinking last night and again this morning that my own personal key to being physically fit and eating a diet of healthy foods is not by avoiding exposure to the unhealthy but rather by looking at my choices as short-lived.  Twice in the last week I had a choice of giving in and eating pizza for a meal because that is what the plan was where I was at.  I decided in both cases to make a healthier meal choice and did so because I realized that whatever choice I would make was only going to be about 30-minutes in duration.  In essence my choice would 30-minutes later leave me with a feeling of guilt or of victory over temptation.  Either way-my choice was going to be but a memory.  My choice was whether or not temptation for instant gratification was going to be allowed to have long-lived consequences or be encouragement to press on and continue to make a wise choice.

My challenges have been foods.  For others, the need for instant gratification comes in the form of alcohol, drugs, pornography, rage, anger-you name it.  The thing is I believe we stand a fairly good chance of victory over these temptations if we look at them as temporary rather than something that can (or will) control our life.  I believe that part of a winning strategy over temptation is coming to grips with the fact that it can be short-lived.  If the temptation is food then have alternative healthy foods on hand.  If the temptation is more of a serious kind such as I mentioned, keep the phone close by with at least a few friends on speed-dial that you have confided in to expect your call in a moment’s notice-and why.    

Just add milk!  Oh-if only all of life was as instantly gratifying as a bowl of cereal…and as harmless.