The Indulgence

In Phase II, at one meal a week, we may now eat whatever we want. The only rule is that we must plan ahead for it.

Drs. Wyatt and Hill justify this luxury in three ways. First, because we continue to increase our weekly exercise time, one fatty meal probably won’t go straight to our hips (though some still worry it will). Second, because this is the anti-long-term-deprivation diet, the docs never want our favorite food to be more than seven days away, as they like to say. And because it’s only once a week, it teaches us to savor our food and refrain from mindless eating.

Sounds pretty good to me – it sure makes this diet more bearable (though, really, the diet is kind of enjoyable). So I was pretty stoked about this indulgence meal. I could go to any restaurant and not have to find the one, usually tasteless item compliant with the diet.

At an upscale greasy spoon, I ordered pizza and wine, and shared a dessert. Pizza is one of my favorite foods, and I love sweets, so I fully expected to feel comfort from consuming these foods that in the past have made me feel happy, warm, and satisfied.

The thing is, though, it wasn’t like that at all. It was anticlimactic. The food didn’t taste as good as I remembered, and afterwards, my energy spiked from the simple sugars, then crashed into lethargy. It felt uncomfortable.

Sometimes sensory memory is nostalgic. That is, it remembers things better than maybe they were, so when we go back to them, we are disappointed. Maybe I did misremember the experience of eating comfort food. Or maybe my taste buds are changing.

It made me wonder if the indulgence had been worth it and the following week, I looked forward to it a little less than I had the week before.

I suspect this was Drs. Hill and Wyatt’s plan all along.