Did giving up my beloved chocolate-chip cookies make me happier?

One of my resolutions is to “Stop eating fake food.” Most importantly, I decided to go cold turkey on eating my favorite snack, the Nutritious Creation chocolate-chip cookie.

These enormous, delicious cookies allegedly contain 150 calories, but I just don’t believe that.

Several weeks ago, I decided I would never eat one of these cookies again. A couple friends said to me, “Why give them up? You have a healthy diet, what’s the harm in a little indulgence? Enjoy yourself!”

But I was eating one, two, even three cookies a day. Not good.

Was this needless severity, or am I happier, now that I’ve given them up?

Well—I’m a lot happier. Now that I’m not eating these cookies anymore, I realize they were a bad influence for several reasons:

I’m sure I was eating far more calories than I realized.

The cookies crowded out healthy food. I’d think, “I could stop for Ten Vegetable soup at Hale and Hearty Soups—or even better, I could get a cookie instead!”

The cookies filled me up, which I liked, but an hour or so later, I’d be starving again—usually about ten minutes after I’d gotten settled down to work in the library. So then I’d dart out for more fake food to stop my stomach from grumbling.

Once I gave up the cookies, I was astonished to realize how much I’d organized my day around my tea-and-cookie-in-a-coffee-shop-with-laptop routine (oh, how much I loved that routine!). I knew all the stores where I could buy the cookie, and I really went out of my day to walk by them. Now I can go wherever I like instead of circling around certain delis.

I’m still eating some fake food, but I’ve decided that I’m not going to worry about that too much—as long as I don’t backslide on the chocolate-chip cookies.

My sister said, “Why give up the cookies altogether? Just limit yourself to a few each week.”

But I tried that in June, and I spent far too much time each day debating with myself about whether I could have a cookie, and I ate just as many cookies, anyway. It was more of a strain to try to limit myself than it is to deny myself the cookies altogether. As Samuel Johnson said, “Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.”

One strategy about going cold turkey made it easier. I gave the cookies up when we went away for Christmas vacation. So I had a week without the cookies, obviously, and when we came back home, my habit of eating them had been weakened somewhat by the break.

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Comments

[lea]

ah, abstinence. it is so tricky, and so hard-won. "moderation in all things" is about as easy as training for the new york city marathon, and as a girl i appreciate a Deep Thinking Girl (gr) letting the world know that the Big Questions can be as challenging as the Little Ones (how many cookies, etc.). what is the value of self-restraint, and are the ones who restrain themselves happier? i am not sure. i am constantly setting new goals, new water-marks, and remembering my limitations--philosophically, and literally.

[lea]

ah, abstinence. it is so tricky, and so hard-won. "moderation in all things" is about as easy as training for the new york city marathon, and as a girl i appreciate a Deep Thinking Girl (gr) letting the world know that the Big Questions can be as challenging as the Little Ones (how many cookies, etc.). what is the value of self-restraint, and are the ones who restrain themselves happier? i am not sure. i am constantly setting new goals, new water-marks, and remembering my limitations--philosophically, and literally.

[shuchetana]

Congratulations!
Giving up cookies must have been difficult for you.
Isn't part of your happiness stemming from the joy of accomplishment?
Personally, I try to consume very little sugar. I've learnt to have tea without it; I can't have sugarfree coffee, so I only have a tiny bit of sweet coffee, at most once a day.
Sometimes I crave something sweet, so I try my best not to have more than 1 thin dark chocolate per day.
This doesn't sound all that healthy, but for someone who adores all things sweet, it's a lot.
Moderation is so difficult unless you have unambiguous limits.

[kstyle]

I have had various chocolate addictions which change from year to year. My current chocolate of choice is reeses peanut butter cups. I can't have them at all or I silde into utter bad chocolate oblivion. But I have also learned over the years that being just a little bit "bad" from time to time is inherent to my being happy. k

[Jim Rain]

Sadly, I can't remember the source, but I recently read this advice about avoiding super-processed food, which struck a chord: "Don't eat anything that your grandparents wouldn't recognize as food."

[STL Mom]

Jim - it was in the article "Unhappy Meals" by Michael Pollan, in the New York Times Magazine. He also wrote "The Omnivore's Dilemma," a great book.
Gretchen - there are some foods that I have had to give up completely because I can't stop eating them. It doesn't exactly make me happy to stop eating them, but I no longer feel UNhappy because I gorged on them. I try to remind myself that the happiness from eating something delicious is fleeting, while the misery of jogging on the treadmill to burn off the calories seems to last forever...

[TasterSpoon]

Would it be easier if instead of dwelling on what you "can't" or "shouldn't" eat, you swapped the cookies (or whatever your particular poison may be) out for something more wholesome but which you'd look forward to just as much - fresh raspberries maybe (pricier, but what price good health?) instead of cookies, or a Vitamin Water instead of a Frappucino. Paying top dollar for fancy fruits or tinted water bugged me on principle until I started seeing them as luxuries that could displace more harmful habits - maybe at least till the habits were broken.

I find focusing on what to include in my diet much more satisfying than dwelling on what I should be leaving out.

[keyerra]

you ar pail

[Jackie Danicki]

I just had my first Nutritious Creations cookie (chocolate fudge) and thought, "Wait - are these the evil cookies Gretchen gave up?" Indeed!

I can see why. They are divine but definitely habit-forming.