Agnostic.com

25 14

What helps you manage impulses?

Impulse control is a daily challenge, more for some people. We all get tempted.

"In the heat of the moment," my brother replied when I asked why he had four children.

I keep a plastic container of roasted almonds in the front seat of my car. When I get hungry running errands, I eat a handful of almonds instead of buying something unhealthy.

But yesterday I paid $1.75 at a deli for one decadent, Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie. Outraged by the price, I decided to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

"I can share the cookies with my hiking partners," I rationalized.

What saved me was looking up healthy chocolate chip cookie recipes. Healthy eating is a lifelong obsession. The recipes use oil, not butter. Cookies without butter are not worth eating.

Arriving home, a stick of butter was softening on the counter with chocolate chips and coconut. Suddenly came to my senses.

"The reason I don't make cookies is I'll eat them all," I thought. "I will eat frozen cookies like I did as a kid. It's your choice: gain five pounds or spend $1.75 for one cookie."

With relief, I put away the baking ingredients. Portion control reigns.

LiterateHiker 9 Apr 11
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

25 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

3

Chocolate is good for you, ask any doctor.

2

a craft beer & a shot of V.O. (canadian whiskey).

Alexander Keith's is the only alcoholic beverage I know of that is Canadian in origin (I went to their brewery when I was in Halifax several years ago)...

@VineetHonkan ,
there are dozens of craft brewers, probably well over 100, in canada. right here on vancouver isle with our small population we have at least 6. our little town of parksville has an excellent craft brewery/tap room.
as for alexander kieth i drank some while i was there yrs ago. doesn't at all compare favourably to our craft brews around here. especially our hoppy IPAs. pretty sure AK was bought by a big brewery many yrs ago & is just a factory beer.
as for hard liquor we have distillaries going going back 100+ yrs. Seagrams is probably the biggest & best know. i just bought a 40 oz btl of their V.O. a few days ago & it compares very favourably wth Makers Mark a good US whiskey which is at least 25% more expensive.

2

WIth regard to food, if I eat poorly, I feel bad. I prefer to feel good. So on balance, it isn't that hard. I am not perfect but do OK.

2

Two words.
Jail sucks.

Oh wait, you were talking about food.
Well, since I'm allergic to almonds, that's not an option.

Usually, I will either just say "no", or I will indulge my impulses.
Life is too short for me to deny myself what I want.
Self-denial is a waste of my time. I don't believe in it.

@KKGator

Love your sense of humor! Please don't limit your comments to food.

Impulse control involves everything in life: driving, fighting, sex, swearing, getting pregnant, addictions, overspending... the list is endless.

"In the heat of the moment," my brother replied when I asked why he had four children.

2

The fact that you can realize and articulate your thought processes and rationalizations means you are farther down the road than most travellers. Keep going!

@indirect76

Thank you!

2

Whether or not my bank account is in the double digits.

2

Satisfaction.

@Santanaman9

What do you mean?

@LiterateHiker Indulging in the temptation.

1

I am an impulse shopper...my sister and I used to compare notes on who had the most "seen on tv" things in our house ready to be given away once we realized they were pretty useless...I stopped watching commercial tv...

But then, I got sucked into FB ads...stopped going to FB...

I rarely go to retail stores anymore but when I do, I have to go with a specific list...

I let myself go at the Dollar Tree...everything is a $1...as I walk out with six bags... 🙂

1

I'm an emotional eater, so this is a big deal for me. I really have to stop and figure out why I want to eat something, and this isn't easy. Many times it's an automatic impulse to stress and really not so much because I'm physically hungry.

1

I'm mostly with you on this topic. I don't have a lot of impulse control issues but the ones I do have are around food. It is better not to even get started.

In a way, it's easier now because I'm to the point that anything I enjoy is forbidden for health reasons, so I don't even bother to look forward to eating. Anymore, I do it to keep from sugar crashing or starving, not as a form of entertainment or comfort. My relationship with food has always been complicated, now it is just functional. Better that way.

Lucky for me, my other family members are similarly constrained for various reasons, and we're all working out with the same personal trainer too. The family that suffers together, stays together. Or something like that. At least we're not tempting each other.

I'm so sorry for you. At this point in my life food is one of the few real pleasures I have left, except bourbon. At least I'm getting real about my lack of control -- if I'm going to eat chocolate, I no longer need to coat it in sugar and fat. Just eat the damned chocolate.

@ladyprof70 Oh, I live a pretty privileged life in a lot of ways, so no one needs to weep for me. Pretty near everyone's body betrays them beyond a certain point. I'm still vertical and doing work I enjoy and have people who love me.

@mordant I guess I didn't express that well. For me it would be a real hardship to be unable to eat the food I like. I agree that everyone loses abilities as they age. Mine has primarily been mobility -- by 50 my knees were gone. I don't know what I'd trade, but being mobility limited has been difficult. As has the constant pain.

1

A tad severe. Make the cookies, exhibit some self control, you'll be proud of yourself.

@Lop-Eared-Mule

No need to criticize me.

I know myself well.

1

Coping with the stress that comes once in a great while of wanting to choke the living shit out of someone who is being a complete asshole in my presence, but managing to restrain that impulse......

1

“I can resist anything except temptation.”
—Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan

For me, it's an all-or-nothing prospect. It's relatively easy to give myself strict boundaries that I shan't cross; moderation is much harder because I have to be far more mindful of my indulgences. For example, I tried many years ago to significantly cut back on meat consumption but found that it was difficult to keep in mind just how often I was eating meat. Before long, I was back to eating meat nearly every day. About 16 or 17 years ago I decided to get serious and became a vegetarian, and I've stuck with it ever since.

1

Vanilla ice cream sprinkled with chocolate chips and smothered with peanuts or walnuts...I've tried to stop myself...but it's hopeless.

1

I am fortunate to have the self control that minimizes impulses. I also have no issues with addictions of any kind. I have a hunch that my higher Choline levels not only help to protect me from addictions , but may also have played a role in my attitude towards religion.

1

I will see this as an invite to help eat cookies and gain weight. Kate makes oatmeal cookies and I figure I can eat all I want if I eat them for breakfast, just like a bowl of oatmeal, right. Now about the invite, be sure you have milk for the cookies.

1

Training, experience, as in having learned what to avoid. I’ve likely no more self control than most, so just ..avoid trouble. It’s like that tiny buzz of pride after having shown some restraint, then magnifying it with larger decisions.

Also, was over-disciplined as a child, so carry an additional level of discipline as an adult, too 😕

Varn Level 8 Apr 11, 2019
1

So your brother has no impulse control.

I hate to say this but growing up Catholic we always had to do things like no meat on Fridays. From an early age I saw this as a way of exercising ones self-control muscles. I still, occasionally put challenges before me to work this muscle.
Remember the experiment where children are left in a room with a marshmallow and told not to eat it and later they would get 2? Funny to watch videos of the kids trying to resist.

How can no eating meat on Fridays be an exercise of self control if you coundn´t do anythig else? 🙂

@margarida It was only one example but since we were used to meat every day it became an effort to find something else. Later the church changed the rule and took away the sin part. This was so people could do it willingly which actually made it more of an exercise. Too bad people didn't see it that way and complained the church was flip-flopping. If a religion makes any changes people get all upset and say if something was wrong once why is it OK now. I actually watched people leave a parish because of such silly things as moving pews from the back to the side of the altar.

@JackPedigo yes religion poisons everything and everyone. I´m glad I never went to church.

@margarida People are a big part of religion. Unfortunately, religious people tend to be very inflexible. However, I believe my exercising my will power stemmed from some religious practices. I just recognized it (and benefited from it) early for what it really was.

1

You know, you can make the cookie dough and freeze it so when you want a cookie you just pull a single ball of dough out and bake it off.

GwenC Level 7 Apr 11, 2019

@GwenC

I don't want cookie dough in my house. Too tempting.

"All four of us kids salivate like Pavlov's dog, craving dessert after dinner," my sister Lynne said. She's right.

Mom served dessert after dinner each night.

1

A bed too comfortable to get out of

1

Electric shock therapy lol.

@azzow2

Funny!

1

Out of sight out of mind is the only thing that works for me. If it's in front of me I have no control..........

1

Wish I had that much control,I might be able to contain the diabetes which is making life very difficult.

1

I used to be a sweerahoolic, Nt first wife would make a lemon pound cake and I would snarf down half of it in one day. Once I developed diabetes and understood what the disease could do to me. That all changed, but regretfully. I thought, "Damn, think of all the good stuff I have to give up."For the last 35 years, the only sweets that I eat are whole fruit without any sugar.

1

Thanks for the tip on the almonds. That's a pretty easy way to keep a nibbler handy when on the run.

@buckeyehoppy

You're welcome.

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:329029
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.