My Abstainer Tendencies Get Me into Trouble

Pulled pork open faced sandwcihIf you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I’m a huge fan of Gretchen Rubin.  I’ve read her three books on happiness and habits numerous times, and I hear my voice in my head as I do so.  One of her key insights, especially relevant when it comes to healthy eating habits, is the divide between what she calls “moderators” and “abstainers.”  (She and her sister have started doing a weekly podcast called “Happier with Gretchen Rubin,” and I was tickled that today’s episode includes a segment about whether or not to keep ice cream in the freezer which centers around this very divide.)  I am mostly an abstainer, just like the listener who called in with the ice cream question, which means that I do better at controlling bad habits when I just abstain entirely, or almost entirely, from them.  I do find it possible to eat just one chocolate truffle. And my little “eat only one dessert a week” mantra also works pretty well.  BUT . . . if I overstep those bounds very much at all then I plunge into trouble.  I can’t break the rules just a little bit; I break them a lot.

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