Melts in your mouth, not in your hand. – M&Ms
As My Roller Coaster shows, during any given year I would typically be at my heaviest at or near the end of the calendar year. So, when New Years Day rolled around I would start dieting. (BTW, is it really a resolution if you do it every year?)
Since my birthday is January 27th, I would diet hard and lose 10, 15, or even 20 pounds before my birthday. Then I would go on a bender. I would eat everything in sight. Of course, I would justify myself by saying I was in my “Birthday Week.” I had to keep the party going and sometimes a week just wasn’t enough. “The Super Bowl is coming up,” I would say. I always had a reason.
So for me, New Years Day was a reason to diet, my birthday was a reason to binge, but after that, I have always had another reason to get back on the diet: Lent.
Lenten Story
Lent is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later, before Easter Sunday. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, doing penance, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, and self-denial. – Wikipedia
For me, Lent was the perfect time to get going on a diet and make some real progress. The only problem was that on Easter Sunday, Lent would end and so would my diet.
I bring this up because eight years ago, during an Ash Wednesday Mass, the priest told an amazing story that has stuck with me ever since. As he talked about the benefits of fasting, abstaining, and other means of self-denial during the Lenten season, he talked about a problem that many people, himself included, experience: Change that is temporary is not real change. He mentioned that Lent is a time for self-improvement and the sacrifices made should be intended to make you a better person. It was like he was talking directly to me and he went on to give a concrete example from his own life.
Since he was a little kid, he had always loved M&Ms. He would eat them by the handfuls. At every opportunity, he would buy a bag and start eating away. And like so many other Christians who have similar indulgences, he would give up M&Ms as a Lenten Sacrifice. The more he thought about his sacrifice, the more he realized that this wasn’t making him a better person and it wasn’t getting him closer to God.
After this realization, he decided to completely change his relationship with M&Ms. Instead of giving them up and completely avoiding them for the 40 days of Lent, he put a big bowl, full of M&Ms, right in the middle of his kitchen table. The M&Ms became the centerpiece of his kitchen and his Lenten Sacrifice would not be to not eat them but to eat only one M&M a day. Just 1 m. And not just during Lent, but for the rest of his life.
The change was difficult for him at first. He had taken them for granted for so long. He was so used to downing them by the handful, but as time went on, he started to savor his daily m. He realized that he enjoyed his 1 m more than he had ever enjoyed a handful. His 1 m, if for only a short period of time, created a feeling of joy and a deep sense of gratitude, and the ritual became a prayer of thanksgiving.
The priest went on to say that this story is ultimately about the benefits and rewards of creating a habit that promotes spiritual growth. He used his M&Ms story as an example, but the important lesson was that a small daily ritual can lead to amazing spiritual growth.
The 1 m Strategy
Obviously, it takes a certain amount of willpower to avoid buying M&Ms for the short period of time that is the Lenten season. On the other hand, placing a large bowl of M&Ms in the center of your kitchen table while restricting yourself to only having one a day requires much more than willpower. It requires a complete change in who you are. It requires growth.
I have been known to overindulge with candy. I would often go to the convenience store, buy a big-ass bag of candy, and eat the whole thing within 5 or 10 minutes. So after I discovered the Recipe for Weight Loss Success and realized the relevance of the Lenten M&Ms story, I decided to implement “The 1 m Strategy” and completely change my candy consumption habits.
The 1 m Strategy – Taking a favorite food, something often overindulged, and greatly reducing the quantity consumed while, at the same time, consuming that food every day.
I’m not a huge fan of chocolate so M&Ms are not high on my list, but I do love sweet, sugary candy. Whether it’s Mike and Ikes, Hot Tamales, Twizzlers, Sour Patch Kids, Tootsie Pops, Laffy Taffy, Starbursts, Jelly Beans, Jolly Ranchers, Cherry Sours, Sweet Tarts, Sprees, etc. (I could go on), I love my candy. Of all the candies that I listed, I would have to say that Hot Tamales are my all-time favorite. I just love the combination of sweet, cinnamon, and heat.
So here is how I used the Recipe for Weight Loss Success, Hot Tamales, and “The 1 m Strategy” to achieve amazing results.
- I started thinking about candy. Why do I eat it? How do I eat it?
- I decided I wanted to take control of my candy consumption.
- I used the Lenten M&Ms story as a guide for my own personal change.
- I created the Statement of Fact: “I am so grateful now that I eat candy every day.”
- I bought a large box of Hot Tamales and placed it in my supplement drawer.
- Every day, when I take my supplements, I enjoy one sweet, cinnamony, delicious Hot Tamale.
Here is what has happened.
- I eat two Hot Tamales every day because I take supplements twice each day.
- I am much more consistent with taking my supplements. I don’t want to miss out on my Hot Tamale.
- I do not eat any candy outside of the two hot tamales I have every day. This is absolutely amazing.
- The change was so quick. I am completely satisfied having just two Hot Tamales each day.
- As I work at my desk, the Hot Tamale box is within arms reach. There is no temptation to have more than two.
- One box of Hot Tamales will last more than two months. Amazing compared to how much candy I used to eat.
- I enjoy each Hot Tamale.
- I savor each Hot Tamale.
- I am grateful for each Hot Tamale.
What I have come to realize is that the foods that are so sweet, so good, and so amazing are sweet, good, and amazing even in small quantities. Instead of letting the container determine how much I will eat, I determine how much I will eat. One Hot Tamale is just as good as 100 Hot Tamales. The quantity does not change my level of satisfaction. The quantity does not change my joy. 1 is enough. 1 is all I need.
I Am So Grateful Now For… Candy
As I mentioned, I first heard this Lenten story eight years ago. I thought it was profound at the time and I instantly implemented it within my spiritual life. The idea of using Lent as an opportunity to make a permanent spiritual change in my life was a revelation. I had previously treated Lent as a temporary pain in the butt. (Yes, I was selfish concerning my faith.) However, since that day I have been committed to growing spiritually. What I failed to do at the time was to apply this concept to my diet and physical health.
As I think back on my adventures with food, I have realized that food was controlling me. I was being controlled by packaging. The size of my plate would often determine how much I would eat. It seems completely ridiculous to think that a food container can be in control, but for me, that was the case. The good news is that I have taken control and not just of Hot Tamales. I have taken control of all the food that I eat and I am so grateful.
Now I realize that this strategy will not work for all types of foods. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth a try. Is it possible to get just as much satisfaction from eating a half dozen potato chips as there is from eating an entire bag? Is it more enjoyable to eat a carton of ice cream in one sitting or to have one spoonful every night for a month? Let’s find out.
It is time to stop feeling guilty about the food you eat. It is also time to take control of the food you eat and the Recipe for Weight Loss Success is here to help.
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-Nomo