Working very long hours with no weekends makes it very hard to stay on the straight and narrow path where eating is concerned. It seems like the long days make the guys I work with want to bring in loads of sweets to share. Donuts, cookies, pastries and breads, chips and dips, cakes and crackers have all shown up and this is only the second week of this schedule, with about six weeks to go.

Combine that constant temptation with getting home too late to make my normal meals, which means that I have few leftovers to bring in for lunch, with the day not ending until two hours later than normal, and it is a recipe for eating sweets. Not getting home until almost seven means that it’s been seven hours since lunch time. Even though I eat breakfast that reliably holds off hunger until lunchtime, getting from noon to dinner is a very long stretch. That makes snacking sometime between four and five very hard to resist. Usually around that time also the day’s activities have slowed down considerably, making it easy to hang out near the treats, their very sight a constant siren call. I have ate two chocolate chip cookies this week, but I have avoided the other delights that were here, but that are now gladly gone.

It’s even worse when we are forced by our schedules to eat out, or to eat leftovers for dinner. Then there is nothing good to take to work, and I am stuck eating a hot dog or subway sandwich instead. Those days are not frequent, but it’s always disappointing when the lack of proper prior planning generated the less than optimum results.

Today I am in good shape, there are plenty of good scraps in the fridge. I am taking good care of the so that they never get warm so that they will be safe to eat when I eat them. I have had food borne illness twice this year, and that is enough to drill food safety into even the hardest head–mine.

Fortunately for me, I am not on a diet. I don’t feel bad or ashamed when I end up eating something sweet, or drinking something sweet. As long as I don’t make a habit of it, then I am really avoiding the worst outcome, which would be to start eating and drinking without regard for what it contains. Sugar is a treat. Artificial sweetener is a poison. Bread, cakes and crackers are all deserts. If I can go a week and drink one Coke then that week is a win for my health. I am doing the best that I can with what I have to work with, meaning time and money.

November is a long way off, but no so long that I will develop any habits.