And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. John 8:32


Monday, November 28, 2011

Avoid Christmas Weight Gain Tip #4: Be Careful with the Christmas Cookies

It was December 22, 1982, and we were driving down I-90, flinging Christmas cookies out the window at 75 miles an hour.

We had just gotten married and were headed back to Montana with a car full of presents and a box full of Christmas cookies.

600 miles from the wedding, my self-control (and my stomach) had reached its limits. There was only one answer:

Get rid of the cookies.

Now, 29 Christmases later, I no longer have to resort to throwing cookies away, but I still have to be careful. Here are a few things I do to keep myself from gaining five pounds worth of Christmas cookies each Christmas.

1. Wait as long as possible to make the Christmas cookies.

The longer we wait to make cookies, the less likely we are to look at Christmas cookies as just another December food group. If you’re a procrastination eater, wait until you’ve finished all those hard Christmas jobs before you make cookies.

If you have kids and they’re clamoring to make cookies, make one or two early batches, but give them away. Bring them to the older people in the neighborhood who don’t do much baking anymore. They’ll appreciate a little visit and some homemade cookies.

2. Make only the "necessary" cookies.

Another thing we’ve done the last few years is to cut down on the variety of cookies we make. We have about three favorites and we try to stick with those.

3. Don’t eat any cookie dough until all the cookies are in the oven.

I could easily pop five or six cookies’ worth of dough into my mouth while making cookies, but I’d feel too piggy to actually plan to eat that much. So instead of eating as I go, I decide how much dough I want and save it until all the cookies are in the oven. Then I sit down and enjoy my snack.

4. Make special Christmas boundaries for the cookies.

I vary these boundaries depending on the year. It all depends on what else is going on my life and how desperate I am for cookies. The more desperate I am, the tighter I make my boundaries. If I’m really desperate, I don’t have any.

5. Truth journal after every cookie that breaks a boundary.

I hate to say this, but I’ve had four brownies today and every single one of those brownies was outside my boundaries. Remember my last post when I had to renew my mind four times before lunch? I never even felt like breaking my boundaries again after I wrote that post.

Today I haven’t renewed my mind once. Instead, I just kept eating brownies. If I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning and have a brownie for breakfast, I’ll need to renew my mind before I go to bed tonight.

The sooner, the better.

In fact, I think I better go do that right now because I’m feeling like another brownie.

And if that doesn't work . . . I'll head for the highway with the windows open.



3 comments:

Kat said...

I love reading your posts! They make me laugh, feel sane, and TOTALLY encourage me! So glad your blogging here again. If I don't comment much, it's just because I'm reading on my phone and my phone is smarter than I am. A matter a fact, I think it ate my cookie.

Unknown said...

You are so funny. I would be a lot skinnier if I could just get my phone to eat my cookies for me! I just checked out your blog and I love the picture of your family. I think it's so great that you're adopting. What a blessing for you and your husband and all the kids. We homeschool too but most of my kids have left the nest - only one left at home. Enjoy the chaos!

martha brady said...

had to LOL:) can you imagine being in the car behind yours? with cookies landing on the windshield? they must have wondered if it was raining/snowing cookies! ha-ha!
enjoyed reading your post on cookies. will give me a great picture in my head the next time i reach for a cookie this xmas.
thanks for stopping by to visit my blog. feel free to visit again:)