How to eat just one cookie

lisabinco wrote: »

Here's the link: http://greatist.com/connect/how-eat-just-one-cookie

I read the article. I disagree, however, that this one-cookie approach has nothing to do with discipline. "Delayed gratification" has EVERYTHING to do with discipline. Self-discipline, the toughest kind of discipline. It is, however, LEARNED not innate; some of us just learn it later as adults, rather than as children, early in life; most specifically, as it applies to the food we eat.

wow great article. not sure why you disagree.. she didn't say it doesn't have to do with discipline.. simply that she doesn't have any more discipline than you or i.

How to eat just 1 cookie: Make it a really big cookie!

didn't read the article, but i've never had a problem just having a cookie. i don't really have issues with foods like that...i have bigger issues with, for example, meat and cheese platters...i can eat all of that if i let myself, and sometimes i do. fortunately though, i've learned a lot of self discipline over these past few years.

I agree with the article as well. And I think it's a false dichotomy to make it be all or nothing. There is a middle ground.

I think getting over these mental hurdles has more to do with it rather than being more disciplined than another person.
A person abstaining from cookies is being disciplined. But I think they've given cookies a lot of power if they believe they can't have a reasonable portion of cookies without losing all self-control, and that is a mental hurdle. Part of me also thinks that this mental hurdle, or narrative, is precisely what green-lights people to lose self-control around cookies (or whatever). The narrative, their self-understanding, would be contradictory if they didn't devour all the cookies.

Lourdesong wrote: »

A person abstaining from cookies is being disciplined. But I think they've given cookies a lot of power if they believe they can't have a reasonable portion of cookies without losing all self-control, and that is a mental hurdle. Part of me also thinks that this mental hurdle, or narrative, is precisely what green-lights people to lose self-control around cookies (or whatever). The narrative, their self-understanding, would be contradictory if they didn't devour all the cookies.

I agree with this.

I used to be one of those people who thought I "couldn't" have just one cookie. Or one piece of cake. Or one brownie. Or one square of a chocolate bar. I'd keep eating automatically, until all the cookies were gone. And I just couldn't fathom how anyone could possibly do otherwise?

Then I realized that I did have a choice. I was making a choice to consume all those cookies. I needed to replace the word "couldn't" with the word "wouldn't".

Before, I wouldn't eat just one cookie. I'd eat more of them. But it was me, choosing to eat all those cookies. The cookies themselves simply weren't powerful enough to force me to eat them. I had control over them; they didn't have control over me.

And so I realized I could eat just one cookie. And now, that's exactly what I do. I eat one cookie at a time. (Bake recipes that freeze well and take them out of the freezer one at a time if you want to make them last). I buy fancy expensive high-cocoa content dark chocolate bars and eat them one square at a time. I let myself have dessert when eating at someone's house, but I limit myself to one brownie or one small slice of cake. That's it.

I'd rather have some than none. And I am stronger than the cookies.

lorrpb wrote: »

It is easier for me to eat no cookies than just one.

Ditto. I'd rather have none. And now that I have none, they mean absolutely nothing to me.
There's a box of open cookies hubs brought home on the counter and meh, no appeal any more.

Francl27 wrote: »

segacs wrote: »

I'd rather have some than none.

Exactly. I love cookies. The prospect of never having cookies again without binging is just dreadful, and the prospect of never having cookies at all even worse.

So I decide to just have one (or two, whatever fits my calories really).

And I like post where it says eat just ONE BIG Cookie... If it fits, I can eat it.. If it does not fit, I make room another day..

segacs wrote: »

I am stronger than the cookies.

I would buy this as a slogan on a tee shirt. Or maybe a baseball cap. Where should I send my money?

Nope. Can't eat just one cookie.