Changing Eating Habits

Autobiography in Five Short Chaptersby Portia Nelson

Chapter I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost… I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in this same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there.
I still fall in… it’s a habit… but,
my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter V
I walk down another street.

Every time I read this autobiography, it makes me think of my behavior when it came to my denial with food. I would always tell myself, “This time I will only eat a small portion of a muffin and save the rest for later." Who was I kidding? Me of course because one bite always led to many muffins. This behavior continued for most of my life until one day a miracle happened and I was able to realize that one bite leads to a thousand bites.

Would you like to try an experiment today? Whenever you want to eat something not on your eating plan read the poem above and see what happens. Please let me know what happens by leaving a comment on the blog or send me an email at helen@loveyourselfcoaching.net. I am looking forward to hearing from you.