Taco'bout it Tuesday: The Non-Smoker mentality

Something that Susan Thompson said in one of her videos that I watched recently resonated with me. She was talking about the mentality of someone who doesn't eat sugar and flour any longer, and she compared that mentality to someone who is a non-smoker.  When a non-smoker is offered a cigarette, the non-smoker replies, "No thank you, I don't smoke." She suggests that when someone offers me sugar or flour (or I'm otherwise tempted by those things), my response should be similar to the non-smoker's response: "No thank you, I don't eat sugar" or "No thank you, I don't eat flour."

I am a non-smoker, in fact when I fill out forms at doctors' offices, I check the "never smoker" box, and SPT is right, if I'm offered a cigarette or around people who are smoking, I'm not tempted to smoke in the least.  But, when it comes to being offered sugar or flour based items, my response has been along the lines of, "No thanks, I can't have that."  SPT even talks about this "can't have" response and encourages us to think about what that response really means.  She suggests that saying "I can't have that" really isn't a commitment to this way of eating, it's a temporary state of mind.  What you're really saying, without actually using the words is, "I can't have that right now," which leaves the door open to the possibility that you'll have [whatever it is] later or at another time. The word "can't" suggests that for this limited time you're not eating or doing something, but you will return to eating or doing it later.  Changing your mentality to the more definite or firm, "I don't" sets the tone for future temptations.  Taking the non-smoker analogy a bit further, if you tell someone, "I don't smoke," that person is less likely to offer you a cigarette again because they know, by your first response that you don't partake, and that you're not tempted by the allure of smoking or taking a drag, it doesn't affect you or your senses.

These days I think it's easy to be a non-smoker or a never-smoker because there is so much literature and research and data on smoking and how terrible it is for you.  In my small circle of close friends, I can't think of one person or their spouse who smokes.  I think maybe a similar body of work or societal transformation is happening with sugar and flour.  Everywhere I look, I read about how bad sugar and flour is for our bodies, not just in this BLE space, but in general. I don't think there's as much data and research as there is around smoking, but it appears to be growing.

I'm not sure when I'll get to the point of saying with consistent conviction, "I don't eat sugar or flour," but I've been practicing. At birthday brunch the weekend before last, there were sweet treats all over the table just waiting for me to take a bite, and I wasn't tempted.  I probably wasn't tempted because I had been talking about BLE and losing weight and not eating sugar or flour and having to laboriously pick off the candied pecans from my salad even though I specifically asked to have them left off. In the face of all of that and with people watching me, I wasn't going to turn around and take a bite of any of the decadent looking cakes or pies. I was able to live and abide by the "I don't eat that" mantra. 💖