Everybody knows about eating in moderation, but have you ever heard of cheating in moderation? (I’m talking only about food now.)

I had never even thought about cheating on eating until today. Last night I decided to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I was hungry for something sweet, usually the kiss of death for this food addict.

So I made a batch of Toll House cookies. I wasn’t feeling panicky or anything. I just wanted a couple of cookies. Now, it’s all well and good to say to yourself, “I’ll just eat a couple of cookies”, but someone with an addiction of any kind knows that’s not usually how it goes.

And because that’s not usually how it goes, I had never considered being able to do that, eat just a few cookies and then stop.

I had gotten into the habit of abstaining from occasional sweets in order to avoid the addictive behavior that always seemed to follow.

In the past, the avoidance behavior would work for a while but eventually the cravings would be so bad that the stress alone would cause me to eat everything in sight.

Well, I made the cookies and baked just a few. Then I covered the rest of the batter and put it in the refrigerator. I surprised myself by not getting up in the middle of the night with the desire to stuff down the rest of the batch. I felt content, not stressed.

Today, I baked the rest of the cookies, ate two, then carefully packaged the rest and took them to work with me. I put them in our break room with a little note inviting my coworkers to try them.

My friends at work kept coming over to my counter to tell me how delicious the cookies were and to thank me for bringing them in.

The pleasure I got from that experience far outweighed any satisfaction I would have gotten from stuffing my feelings down with food. I got to enjoy the cookies and the feelings.

I cheated on my food addiction and it felt great!