Impulse Control

03/27/08 Disease Basics

By Eric Devine

“Get that out of your mouth!” I stand, hands on hips, looking at my three-year-old. She pulls the toy from her lips and looks up at me. I begin with the questions I always ask. “What can you put in your mouth?”
   
She answers. “Food.”
   
“Right.” I look severely at the toy. “Is that food?”
   
She sizes up the pink, plastic whatever. “No.”
   
“Exactly, so keep it out of your mouth.”
   
If only my daughter knew that this line of logic could easily be turned back on me, she’d enforce it with gusto. No, I don’t have a compulsion to put toys in my mouth, but what I do have a panache for can’t really be deemed much better. My weakness is chocolate. To my daughter’s credit, at least plastic doesn’t have any calories.
   
I follow a rather regimented diet, wholly free of processed foods, starch, grains, and sugar. Basically, if our Paleolithic ancestors ate it, so will I. Except when it comes to chocolate. That concoction is allowed a de-evolutionary pass.

However, I do restrict the quantity: a Hershey Kiss or two, a miniature peanut butter cup, or some M&M’s. And it’s only when the chocolate happens to be around, because of a holiday or it’s my daughter’s. I never, ever buy any. This fact, coupled with the small quantity of consumption, becomes justification for cheating on my diet, and in turn, the source of  my shame.
   
And shame it is, because once the sweet, almost titillating sensation has worn from my tongue, I feel guilt and remorse. This isn’t due to the fact that I’ve eaten sugar and now believe that I’ve undercut all my healthful measures. Rather, it’s the lack of ability to control my impulse, or the giving in to temptation. I know I’m better than that, and to fall victim is so very demeaning.
   
Trust me; I understand that this small lack of willpower is starkly insignificant when compared to the other, more formidable issues we with diabetes must withstand. However, the root of the issue does not. We all have far more impulses toward “rewards” (typically unhealthy food) than we like to admit. We are in a perpetual state of saying “No.” Therefore, giving in only feels like an unavoidable circumstance. Who can keep up such dogged discipline? Well, us, if we want to maintain our health.
   
The only way then to proceed in these scenarios is to allow rational judgment to override desire. Yes, easier said than done, but it is a measure we must practice.

So here’s a method toward that end: the next time your “trigger” of loss of impulse appears, whether it be chocolate or baked goods, ask yourself the same questions I do my daughter, and then act accordingly.