How not to tempt yourself

Thursday, August 21, 2008

For a week and a half, there was almost no snacking in our household. There are two reasons we tried to avoid it:

1. Snack food is almost inherently not "real food"
2. Snacking between meals detracts from the experience of full meals. You won't be as hungry, and will be less likely to focus on preparing something natural and healthy.

Enter angel food cake. After deciding we could go out on a limb once in a while and buy a "real" dessert, I bought boxed angel food cake at the local Wild Oats. Of course, that usage of "real" actually implies fake, since deserts are often laden with unnatural ingredients, and a lot of sugar. The ingredients seemed safe and real, so I tossed it in the cart.

(image courtsey of ^-^liz)

The cake was good, quite good, but that's not the point. Since there are only two of us, we had leftovers. A ton of leftovers. For the next 3 days, I was hungrier between meals. I wanted to head downstairs and have a bite of cake. Why? Because it was there. Taunting me. I could taste it from several rooms away.

Before we had this tupperware of cake slices sitting on the counter, I had no problem abstaining from snacks or sweets. When the only food in your house is a refrigerator full of fruits and vegetables, you will find there really isn't any pull to eat between meals.

So please, if you are going to make a cake, be sure you invite enough people over so you don't end up with leftovers.