The other day I was in the food store, and in the checkout line. To the right of me were tons of magazines, so of course since it was a long wait, I had to read all the headlines on each cover. On the other side was the junk food. Normally I have no problem just passing all that stuff by, and move on, or just continue reading the headlines. But this day was different. I had been running around like a maniac all day. Perhaps I was a little hungry or just a lot stressed. I usually have great will power (or the power of prayer) and these things just dont faze me. Affter all, these stores know you have to wait in line and face the junk food while you are there. But I guess I must have fallen off the wagon or had a moment of insanity, because it hit me. M&M's!
There they were! It seemed the packages grew to be bigger than life and just screamed my name/ Just then the TV commercial about how they fit those pretzels inside of the M&M.....and the other commercial where the M&M's dont want to get in the bowl came flooding into my brain. I could blame it on the TV set, but then nobody twisted my arm to watch it. I could have blamed it on the store for putting those there. But I wasnt thinking of that at the time. It was like I was mezmorized...like I was being pushed ever closer to those packages of M&M's.
My health experience kicked in for just a moment, and I started picking up those little packages and actually reading the ingredients. Do you know there are a lot of things on there I could barely pronounce? I didnt care. Amazingly, something made me pick up the package with the M&M pretzel and put it on the conveyor belt. And so, I went through the checkout with the little package of M&Ms pretzel and headed for home. All the while my brain was wrestling with me...why did you do that? You know better? Didnt you read the label? You arent even supposed to eat chocolate! The voice kept getting louder in my head.
I got to the car, and the first thing I did was sift through the bags to find my prize. I opened the package and took out a lovely M&M....it was SO GOOD!!!!!!!!! I offered one to my son, who also took one (he didnt want any more than one?) Good grief! At that point I felt like Eve offering Adam that dreaded apple! Did it stop me from eating? Nope. I finished the entire bag. I will admit I was a little disappointed in the fact that the pretzel wasn't preztel shaped, but round instead.
Ok, now please understand. One bag of M&Ms once a year or very seldom isnt going to kill you. And all of us have weak moments in life. But its the continual use of sugar, perservatives, coloring, and artificial mumbo jumbo that will directly affect your health in a negative way either quickly, or over time. Sugar depletes the immune system, and causes a myriad of health issues, as does chocolate...but that's another post. I know this, and teach this, yet I failed by doing something I already know is going to hurt my health.
Should I beat myself up over my senior moment? Definately not. If anything, I learned that next time when I see a package of M&M's or any other candy (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!!!!...drool), Ill know that it will be a moment of satisfaction, then its gone leaving me unfulfilled. They weren't all they were advertised to be after all. And I can smile at the commercials and their ingenious methods of advertising, without guilt.
By the way, I kept the bag so I can share all the ingedients at my next seminar.....and share my story. Those pesky M&M's!
To Your Health!
