The first Friday of every month I attend a team meeting. The meeting is part update and part team-building session. In this meeting, we celebrate team members' birthdays for the upcoming month. Of course, birthdays are celebrated with cake; or like this month, Prairie Girl cupcakes.
I've been struggling with the baked good aspect of this meeting. To have or not to have. I don't really want to have, but I continue to accept the slice of cake/cookie or cupcake. So far the only sure fire way of avoiding these fun, empty calories is by taking a vacation day. But, that isn't practical solution and I'm running out of vacation days.
Last week I discussed this monthly dilemma with my therapist. Again, we talked about the idea of eating foods that I like rather than foods that I love. She acknowledged that many patients have a hard time with the idea of choosing food that they like over food that they love. After all, if you decide to eat something, you want it to be worth it!
For example, I love the taste of baked goods; cake and cupcakes but I like the taste of my typical afternoon snack - fruit-pureed yogurt topped with bran buds. From our discussion of love vs. like came the solution to the birthday cake dilemma: take my afternoon snack to the meeting.
So simple, but it worked. I brought my yogurt to the meeting and ate it mindfully as my colleagues ate their cupcakes. I didn't feel like I was missing out by choosing the yogurt I like to eat over my love of baked goods.
