Another edition of memory Mondays...
Man, I love peanut butter. It's such a rich flavor with a lovely aroma. It's creamy goodness. While peanut butter is high in fat, it is considered a healthy fat and because it is also high in protein, it is often a key ingredient in diet plans. Many diets suggest a TB of peanut butter on a slice of bread, sticks of celery, an apple, etc. for a quick snack idea. It's one of the many reasons I love PB. It's so versatile, and it goes well with so many things, not just jelly.
This summer I adopted sort of an unhealthy addiction to peanut butter. I was using it as a topping for my individual servings of ice cream or just eating it straight out of the jar. I often had enough calories left at the end of the day for a spoonful of peanut butter to be an okay end to my dinner, and I told myself that the protein in it would help me stay full so I wouldn't snack at night. The problem was that it was never just a spoonful (Betcha Can't Eat Just One could also be a great peanut butter slogan.).
I was telling my friend, Abi, about this one day on the phone when I was lamenting a weight gain. I told her I knew what the problem was, it was the peanut butter. I was overindulging with it. She said right then, "You've got to take the jar you have, throw it away and don't buy any more."
I don't think I really even tried to argue with her much, because I knew what she said was true. I knew I was abusing it, and it's not low in calories so it was really packing a punch on my diet goals. We both agreed that I could still have peanut butter if it was at someone else's house or as part of a meal out at a restaurant, but I haven't bought another jar to keep in my cupboard since.
It's kind of sad that I had to take this extreme measure, but .it was causing me to stumble on my way to achieving my goals. Abi and I also agreed that when I make it to 100 pounds lost I can buy another jar as a reward. Hopefully, I will have learned from my mistakes and won't let my relationship with peanut butter get out of control again.
I've found that for foods I have difficulty managing, it's easier for me to slowly reintegrate them into my diet. I have a serious issue with baked goods and buying a box of muffin mix was bad news: 12 muffins?!
ReplyDeleteSo I started out buying ONE muffin and bringing it home and worked my way up to two, then a box of four, then a mix for six, and now I bake muffins from scratch like I'm about to open my own bakery. (Admittedly, I sometimes still have to place them in the freezer because I would eat three a day if I could.)
Maybe you could take the same approach with the peanut butter? They make single-serving packs (2T) and they also make small cups (4T, I think, which could be split across multiple sittings) in packs of two or three. It would be a way that you could sort of dip your toe into having peanut butter in the house again without having the risk of there being a large quantity. Of course, one day, you WILL be able to keep a jar of peanut butter and it not be something that causes you to stumble, but I think sometimes small steps is the way to go.
Just my $0.02. :)
Good memory :)
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Your love of peanut butter mirrors my love of cheese. I'm a cheese-a-holic. And sadly that is NOT the good kind of fat. I make myself use Laughing Cow on sandwiches, and I only keep one small bag of mozzarella. I say it's in there to make my own pizzas, but most of the time I just eat wads of it right out of the bag.
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