Photo Reflection of the Day #109: Saying No

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What Is It

A cupcake offered to me by a coworker.  

Why It's Today's Pick

So today's pic comes to us from the realm of food porn...ok, not really--but it's a catchy line, right?  This cupcake was kindly offered to me by a coworker who upon not being able to eat it because of dietary issues, gave it to me.  I accepted it and let it sit there for a while before deciding what to do.  About two weeks back, I had decided that give up traditional desserts and replace it with fruit.  Every time I have had a crazing for the last few weeks for something sweet, I reached for fruit.  Also, I largely removed fruit from my general diet and focused on it as a treat.  Instead of having 4-6 clementines (or 2 oranges), a few apples, and berries throughout the day, I worked on making fruit a reward.  I realized that when my body craves sugar, I can respond to it with the right kind of sugar.  I've made the transition quite well and am making sure that I regularly treat myself daily with fruit.  So the cupcake sat at my desk--none of my coworkers know of my transition and I have always been a sweets guy.  The coworker was in a rush so I didn't feel the desire to explain why I couldn't accept it and just did.  But it sat there and eventually, I did throw it away.  I'm not happy that I threw it away but I am happy that I managed to say no to it.  That's a pretty big step for me as I've always been a "Yes Man" when it comes to most food.  And that's probably where some of the realization came with the switch to fruit as treats.  When I became a vegetarian, it helped me navigate a complicated path (what to eat) and instilled an element of censorship (no meat) that triggered a second set of questions (what can I eat, what should I eat, how much should I eat).  Moving to fruit does a similar thing in triggering decisions around desserts.  And while being vegetarian has led me to loss and maintain a 50 pound loss over the last 7 years, I don't know that switching to fruits will wield the same result, but I'm sure I'm the better for it.  

This submission is part of the 365 Challenge.  For 2015's submissions, check out this link to all the posts.  For access to all photos, which open for reuse under a Creative Commons License, check out the full album on Flickr.


By Any Other Nerd Blog by Lance Eaton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.