So yesterday we went to Costco and if you shop there, you know that a lot of their samples around this time of the year contain a lot of chocolate and other such confections. This year is certainly no exception.

We’re walking along, shopping for our healthy food, when Zach starts screaming, “Chocolate! Chocolate!” I turn, and sure enough, they are giving out samples of Lindor Truffles. We got a couple for Zach and apparently they were good, because he REALLY wanted more.

Mike and I didn’t have any. Now, would one small sample of some chocolate have killed us? No, absolutely not. Especially since the AdvoCare 24-Day Challenge says to shoot for being “80% on” (I really like that you don’t need to be perfect!). But, we figure the closer to 100% we can be, the better our results will be. Not to mention, it’s only 10 days for the cleanse phase, so we can at least be more restrictive for 10 measly days, right?

It wasn’t until later in the evening that I realized something VERY important about what happened at Costco. I didn’t CARE if I ate the chocolate! O_O! Day 3 and cravings are already gone?! SWEET!

Never have I had my cravings disappear so quickly after changing my eating habits. It HAS to be the AdvoCare products.

But this got me and Mike talking about cravings and how the evil one uses them and how they’re a part of his plan. I’ve never really thought about it, although it really is quite obvious. Think about any addiction. Does someone who’s never tasted a drop of alcohol crave it? Does someone who’s never used drugs go through withdrawals? Nope!

Last weekend I took my little guy to a cookie-decorating party and my friend who turned me on to AdvoCare ate a cookie and made a comment that it’s been a really long time since he’d had one, because she just doesn’t crave sweets anymore. I think I probably looked at her like she just sprouted a second head!

If you don’t drink alcohol, you won’t crave alcohol. If you don’t do drugs, you won’t crave drugs. If you don’t eat unhealthy food, you won’t crave unhealthy food.

If we kid ourselves for one second and believe that the evil one isn’t using food, just as much as drugs and alcohol (maybe even more, as the percentage of obese people is greater than those who are alcoholics and drug addicts) to trip us up and weaken our spiritual health and defenses, we’re in danger.

Yes, I believe fully that the AdvoCare products got me there faster, but I also know that in the past, anytime I’ve started watching what I eat, my cravings eventually do subside. It just usually takes a good week or two and there’s lots of feelings of deprivation in the meantime. I have to dig deep and find willpower. When I did SlimGenics, it took A LOT of prayer.

When I first started asking for help a couple weeks ago, I admitted that I had the tools to reverse the course I was on, but I flat out didn’t want to. I knew there was a time that I found healthy food appealing, but it seemed like a very distant memory. That’s because I was just eating terrible food!

So now, I’m back to remembering just how good pears are, how good vegetables are with hummus and I’m discovering new yummy foods and recipes! So long, cravings! 🙂