Ice Cream Melt Down

In general, I don’t talk about food here. There are so many other blogs that do a much better job of discussing food, nutrition, and recipes, so I generally stay out of the discussion. This time is the exception.

Hi. I’m Lisa and I have a problem. I can’t say “No” to free food, especially when that free food is dessert. Sometimes my coworkers bring in little goodies to share, like mini cupcakes. Sometimes there are leftover cookies or pastries when a meeting is over. Today there was free Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream bars in the lobby. It didn’t matter that I had just eaten lunch. It didn’t matter that after lunch I had one of the above mentioned mini cupcakes. (Yesterday I ate two of those mini cupcakes. WHY WON’T THEY JUST GO AWAY?) I still went down and got myself a free Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream bar.

I got to the lobby and it was mayhem. People had 5 or 6 bars each. Everyone wanted one. I saw that they had Half Baked Ice Cream bars and had a minor flashback. For those of you that don’t know, I used to be unhappy and overweight. When I would get a little extra unhappy, I would drown my sorrows in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked ice cream. (It has cookie dough and brownie bits!) I basically haven’t had this flavor since I lost the weight. The old me really wanted one so I let the old me have one. I went out to the park to relish in my (free) ice cream. I took a bite, and it was good, but I just kept thinking about the old unhappy me. About the times I would eat my ice cream until I was numb. About how guilty and disgusted I felt after. I started to hate my ice cream bar, but I kept eating it. It was free! Then I started talking to my ice cream bar. “Why can’t I throw you away?”

Wait, why couldn’t I throw my ice cream bar away? The trash can was right there. It would be easy. Before I changed my mind, I ran to the trash and threw away my mostly uneaten ice cream bar. I settled back down on in the grass, this time to relish in my book and enjoy laying on the grass in the sunshine. You know? I was happier with the book. It caused a lot less anxiety.

I still can't say "no" to free desserts, but at least I know I can always throw them away.