Comforting, salty, sweet, cheesy, nutrient-deficient, tasty, filling, beautiful food. The worst part? Too easy. Just open a bag or slice into a pie, be it pizza, Shepherd’s, creamy chicken pot pie, cherry, lemon meringue, apple, pumpkin, peanut butter, or some other sort. Cake? Cookies? Toast with butter and jelly? It smells divine. It improves our moods for a short period of time. It wrecks out blood sugar, self-confidence, and willpower.

I stumble and fall when certain foods are available. As in flat on my face. I regret it immediately. Before I get to the pickup window to get my food after I’ve paid. As I throw away the chip bag and the empty dip container. Before the glorious rush of euphoria from the dark chocolate and creamy caramel have even left my body. Regret. The questioning begins. “Why did I do that?! What is wrong with me? What was I thinking? What do I do now?!!!!!!”

One moment of weakness. Then what? Move on. Yup. Move on. Eat the spinach salad with the bleu cheese anyway. Eat the rest of the menu you had planned anyway. Do not think about it. Do not think that this has ruined your life or your diet. Forget it. Do not dwell on it. You’ll not only want more if you continue to think about it, but you’ll also break your stride and your confidence. I don’t always know why I’m weak. I suspect it is mostly due to the flavor of the foods or sadness or being rushed or frustrated or perhaps I need some nutrient that my brain mis-associates  or misinterprets as being connected to that food.

You cannot really undo it. You cannot un-eat it in a healthy fashion. Do you need to work it off? Yes, but not necessarily at the expense of your workout plan if your have one. Not at the expense of your sanity, happiness, or outlook on food. Not at the expense of failing to eat the nutritive meals you ought to eat even though you just ate all the leftover ice cream.  Just resolve to do better, avoid the temptation, and forget your shortcoming. Forgive yourself. Move on. Do not exercise as punishment because that can cause you to view exercise in an unhealthy manner. Some mistakes we cannot fix. Most likely, that one candy bar or family size bag of chips will not hurt you unless you continue and repeat this behavior. Move on. Plan better, have healthy foods available instead, make a plan, and stick to it. Do not penalize yourself by taking away the rest of your food for today — you need that nutrition to keep going and to keep progressing.

The spiritual side of this is easy: forgive yourself. Shake the dust off your shoes and leave that behind. Pray for strength and wisdom and set yourself up to do better starting right now. You are strong enough to avoid this mistake in the future, so do it. But if you stumble and fall, get up and walk. Or crawl. But do not give up. This is one time that you can just pretend that nothing happened and just keep going. But keep going. Do not stop. Whatever you do, keep climbing toward your goals.