Day 129: Willy Wonka's Scrumdiddlyumptious Chocolate Bar

Okay, let me preface this post by telling you that in preparation for my new lifestyle, I banned myself from going to the store without Emily.  I did this because I have an awful track record of coming home with a treat to snack on every time I go to the store. 

It used to be that every Monday, I would stop by Trader Joe’s to pick up some grocery items that Emily really liked there. (For those of you who have not been introduced to Trader Joe’s, I am truly sorry.  It is a really awesome grocery store with tons of great things to buy and eat.)  The problem with Trader Joe’s is that they have this aisle that is full of cookies, candies, and treats galore.  In addition to buying all of Emily’s health things, I would always pick up something for myself.  This included chocolate covered sunflower seeds with candy coating, toffee cookies dipped in chocolate (my favorite), miniature peanut butter cups, fruit gummies (hey, they have real fruit juice!), almond pastry wafers, etc., etc., etc.  No matter how hard I tried, I just could not keep myself from getting something.

Over the last four months, I have completely broken that habit, mainly by not going to grocery stores by myself.  Of course, when I am with Emily, she immediately vetoes anything I want and we move on.  Plus, I like to think that I have learned a thing or two over the last several months and am actually Living the Life. . . .

Okay, that is the background.  Today, Emily asked me to stop at the grocery store to pick up some toothpicks.  Every man in the county was there picking up dying flowers, boxes of mediocre chocolates, and really (no REALLY) tacky Valentine’s Day cakes.  I felt guilty because we really don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, so I thought I would get everyone a little candy or something.  I walked down the candy aisle, and wham, there it was:  The Willy Wonka Scrumdiddlyumptious Chocolate Bar (I hope you know, by the way, that “scrumdiddlyumptious” is not an easy word to type).  I have been wanting one of these candy bars ever since I saw one on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Fortunately, they have never actually existed.  That is, they have never actually existed, until now.  

I stared at it for probably a good two minutes, and I started to walk away.  Only, I did not walk away.  Instead, my hand reached out and grabbed it like so many children greedily snatching Halloween candy.   Now, the amazing thing is that I really don’t even like big chocolate bars like this.  I would rather have something small and bite-size (I have a really hard time with M&Ms).  Nevertheless, despite mentally knowing that I could not eat this thing, I bought it.  I opened it.  I ate every, single last bit if it.  I did not, thankfully, lick the melted chocolate off of the wrapper, but I might as well have. 

Honestly, I just never saw this coming.  Because it is something I have just eliminated from my life, it did not cross my mind that I would have a problem with getting a treat at the grocery store if I went alone.  Apparently, I still have a long way to go.  The nice thing was that I felt guilty every single minute I ate that candy bar.  I find this particularly interesting because last week I bought myself a small pack of M&Ms as a reward for doing an awesome job eating right.  I planned on eating them, I accounted for the calories, carbs and fat, and I enjoyed every bit of the treat.  No guilt whatsoever.  I guess the difference here is that I did not plan on eating anything like this tonight.  And the saddest thing?  Despite a life long dream to eat a Willy Wonka Scrumdiddlyumptious Chocolate Bar, it was quite a let down to find out it just isn't that scrumdiddlyumptious.