Can Your Commitment To Health Handle Temptation?

Have you ever noticed how every single time you recommit to healthy living, you get sick?

(By you, of course, I mean me. And maybe it’s not every single time, but it feels like that right this minute.)

I’ve been back on my meal plan for a week (gluten-free, sugar-free vegetarian). I’m doing all of this energy work, getting lots of rest, drinking oodles of water, using essential oils to support my return to health, and BAM… I have a nasty cold.

I jokingly asked my beastie (not a typo) if she thought cake had some sort of immune system boosting qualities, since the absence of it left me here. For a moment, we enjoyed the idea that one might need to eat cake regularly to be healthy, but we both know better. This is either just a cold I picked up from a customer at the market (day job) or a cleansing of my system that’s no longer being assaulted by my old comfort foods.

Speaking of comfort foods, it’s soul-stirring enough go without my old (faux) friends when I’m healthy, but now I can barely breathe, which makes it hard to sleep, talk, work, and honestly, even think straight. Now, I really have something uncomfortable with which I must now find a way to cope. My desire to check out of my body, to numb the discomfort, to stuff my emotions is growing stronger with each sniffle and sneeze.

Generally, the longer I’m on my meal plan, the easier it gets to follow. But instead of flying high from my week of freedom from the junk that leaves me crabby, swollen, and detached, I’m sitting here feeling like this. This being crummy and whiny and more than a little bratty. This being triggered and uncomfortable and in search of a way to not feel all of this.

I want cake.

Yes, I said it. I want cake. It seems like it always comes back to me and sweets. It’s an old, but mighty pattern that very possibly dates back to the first hours of my life, when I was likely “comforted” with sugar water following my surgical delivery.

So, this is old, and frankly, I’ve grown rather weary of the whole cycle of self-destruction, but here I am. I don’t feel good and things didn’t go the way I worked so hard for them to go (Healthy eating is supposed to make me feel great, not unwell.) and I want cake. (See? Bratty, bratty, bratty.)
Now, what am I going to do about it?

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Navpreet K.

11:59AM PDT on Apr 4, 2013

Temptations will test your resolve but not giving in will only strengthen your resolve.

April 4
send a green star

Marie W.

9:06PM PDT on Mar 12, 2013

Little 'treats' now and then will not kill you.

March 12
send a green star

Christine J.

12:34PM PDT on Mar 11, 2013

Oh for God's sake lighten up and have a piece of cake. People make too much of a fuss and get too neurotic about food. No wonder half the community is morbidly obese and the other half is suffering from bulimia and anorexia. It's a piece of cake, not crystal meth! My mother used to say "A little of what you fancy does you good" and it's a good maxim to live by. "A little", mind you, not the whole cake :)

March 11
send a green star

JL A.

11:31AM PDT on Mar 11, 2013

need to transfer focus to what you want instead of what you don't want

Nicole W.

9:59AM PDT on Mar 11, 2013

thank you

Holly L.

8:34AM PDT on Mar 11, 2013

Nope!

Donna H.

6:46AM PDT on Mar 11, 2013

Thanks for the article.

Norma V.

5:34AM PDT on Mar 11, 2013

You can have your cake and eat it too. Move away from those thoughts and actions of 'deprivation and suffering.' When I focus on healthy choices and well-being, what rises are some consequences and results of detoxing the body. I am learning to move through it and celebrate the transformation of my body, mind, and spirit!

Denise M.

7:21PM PDT on Mar 10, 2013

Thank you for sharing :)

March 10
send a green star

Lydia W.

5:01PM PDT on Mar 10, 2013

Your immune system can suffer turmoil by a SUDDEN change in diet, it is always better to make any changes gradually. This sure was a cute and clever way to present this article. Quite enjoyable to read. Thank you.