Growing up Gluttonous

I find it somewhat ironic that as I sit here studying my first course, perusing "Nutrition: The Complete Guide", that I'm chowing down on Doritos, Cheetos, M&M's, Peanut Butter Cups and more.  Perhaps I didn't time this properly; starting a course on nutrition the week before Halloween may not have been my brightest idea. I bought my Halloween candies a good two weeks ago and I did so well the first week, but then the Doritos started to call out to me, begging me to release them from their not-so-tightly-sealed cardboard coffin. I finally gave in to their taunting and opened the box, and before long the bag of miniature chocolate bars also succumbed to my desires.

It's funny how I shop for Halloween goodies, quite contrary to the tips I've read on my countless excursions online, attempting to quench my thirst of information for all things related to health and fitness.  Instead of buying candies I don't like in order to resist temptation, I only buy the stuff that I love and crave.  Only name brand potato chips and cheese puffs and tortilla chips for this gal ... and it's the larger 28g bags too, not those skimpy little two bite wannabes. And since Halloween is one of my favourite holidays, I give each little visitor to my door a bag of chips AND a candy bar ... needless to say I'm very well liked by the neighbourhood kids ;)

I think the reason Halloween is my favourite holiday is because it conjures up such wonderful memories from my childhood. I remember barely being able to contain the excitement of being able to dress up and go door-to-door getting free candy from my neighbours ... what a concept !!!  And I honestly don't remember being all that excited about dressing up in funny costumes - for me, it was all about the goods :)  And did I use grocery bags or those pathetic little plastic pumpkin carriers to load up the goodies ??  Puh-lease !!  Only an oversized pillowcase would fit the bill, and I even recall in later years coming home to empty it before heading out for more.  Can you say glutton ???

Perhaps it was because we never really had junk food in the house growing up. Although as mentioned previously, we ate very well as kids and I suspect our abundant feedings contributed to my lifelong issues with weight, we only indulged in home cooking and we were rarely allowed treats or junk food.  We never ate fast food all that much either. Once a week, after church on Sunday, my dad would pick up a couple of buckets of KFC for lunch, and occasionally we'd order pizza to nosh on while we all huddled around the basement television watching Hockey Night in Canada. But that was it; McDonald's or Chinese food or anything take-out was unheard of in our household.

I remember when my big brother was old enough to drive and would take a trip to McD's on occasion, I would practically beg him to take me along as it was such an enormous treat. Oddly to this day, I never eat KFC anymore.  I can’t remember the last time I had a piece of the Colonel's chicken, although I have to admit I'm dying of curiosity about their new and largely controversial sandwich, The Double Down. If I were a betting man, I'd put a large sum on the odds I'll be trying that monstrosity in the very near future.

It's amazing how instilling a good habit with your children can still backfire though.  Perhaps it’s a good lesson to parents not to completely forbid certain treats or types of foods to their kids; they may only end up craving it and seeking it out when they are older, and it could cause adverse effects in their future.  Everything in moderation is my motto.

But back to Halloween … for some reason that motto is very hard for me to keep under control this time of year.  Normally I don’t eat that much in the way of junk food, and it doesn’t even tempt me in the least.  I can stand in line at the grocery store staring at the cleverly placed goodies near the register, luring customers to that last minute impulse buy, and never even give it a second thought.  But every year on Halloween I eat so much of the shit I literally feel sick to my stomach.  And this year it’s even worse.  I don’t usually open the boxes until Halloween night, when I allow myself a one night junk food free-for-all.  But this year the seals were opened a little prematurely, and I’ve been snacking on several goodies each night this week. 

Boredom?  Stress??  Gluttony???  Who knows.

This does serve as an important reminder though; that even though I feel I’ve finally found the solution to successful and permanent weight loss, my lifelong all-or-nothing behaviour is still lurking in the background and could rear it’s ugly head at any given moment.  I shall use this experience as a lesson to never lose my awareness of this fact, and know that this really is a permanent lifestyle change.  Damn :(

 

For now I have one last issue to tackle … leftovers.  The amount of gremlins knocking on my door can vary from year to year, anywhere from 80-140 visitors in just the one night.  And given my love for the holiday I always make sure I’m well stocked, so I bought enough for 150 kids … minus my minor thefts of course :)  In prior years I would bag up any remaining goodies the very next day and bring them in to the office where they would quickly disappear, but now that I’m not working, I could be in big trouble.  The kids on my street may be holding a parade in my honour as I’ll likely knock on their doors the following day dispensing any excess treats.  Either that or I’ll make sure I finish everything that night and “start fresh” November 1^st ;-)

Happy Halloween !!! :)