“When you woke up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?’

“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh.
“What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.
A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Pooh enjoys the simple things in life. But it’s oddly disturbing watching this cuddly character search for the scarce resource of honey in the Hundred Acre Woods. Once he does find it, Pooh puts all else aside and stuffs himself senseless. He seems to be overly attached to what gives him pleasure and comfort: sweet foods. He even goes as far as to refuse to follow the collective notion of time; to keep up his habit, he sets his clock to show the same time, all the time. “Then it is always the right time for a little something.”

Winnie-the-Pooh is a terrible example of any realistic or balanced life: he has time for lots of things he likes to do, without any obligations or responsibilities, such as a job or career. But I can relate to Pooh in regards to my own lifelong dreams of sweets. This morning I had quite a battle in the kitchen when I came down for coffee and saw it sitting on the counter disguised as an angel. Satan’s spawn, sprung from the depths of cellulite hell to torture me: the chocolate cupcake my daughter forgot to eat last night after dinner, topped with smooth butter cream and innocent pink sprinkles. Of course, the cupcake isn’t bad or good in its own right, but how I choose to see it will have an impact on the quality of my life.

This internal battle may not apply to you, but we mortals struggle with decisions of what to put in our bodies as well as with other life choices. Along with Pooh, most of us would agree eating is one of the joys in life. But when we lose sight of food past necessity, when we are deceived by its ability to bring us happiness or unhappiness, we may fear or abuse it. Thinking the battle you’re involved in is about food itself is not just a little bit nutty. A healthy detachment to food, or a realistic view of it, brings a more balanced life. The instant gratification of eating every cupcake we want, enjoying every bite down to the top layer of cupcake paper, might seem to make our lives more fun and fulfilled than practicing self-control. But long-term, believing that this cupcake will make us happy will ultimately affect our health, mental state and self-perception.

It’s about the will of your thoughts and actions directed toward the goals you have for your life. These define your life and your diet. More simply, it’s your dedication to self-discipline. Although he lived in a time where restraint was the norm, William Blake’s words still apply today: “Those who restrain Desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained; and the restrainer or Reason usurps its place and governs the unwilling. And being restrained, it by degrees becomes passive, till it is only the shadow of Desire.” By having the desire to practice discipline in our daily lives, we can fulfill not only our dietary goals but also our various life goals. Diet, in this view, is just one small piece of a balanced life.

FOUR STEPS TO DISCIPLINE

So what is discipline? We’ve all heard the word, but to really think about how we can apply it to all aspects of our lives is a lifelong practice that takes mental work. Discipline can be described as tools, techniques of suffering or means of experiencing the pain of problems constructively. It’s directly related to growing as an individual. These tools are simple concepts and the desire to achieve a fulfilling life is what we need to achieve happiness, not that pizza washed down with a beer and a chocolate bar for dessert. It’s understanding that one aspect of life, enjoying good food, won’t make us feel great in the long-term.

Four helpful tools offered by M. Scott Peck, M.D., author of The Road Less Traveled, put the path to discipline in clear terms.

1. The delaying of gratification. I’m going to let the cupcake sit there until I have a giant salad that fills me up because it’s nutritious and good for my body. Then I’m going to eat the cupcake. At that point I’m going to enjoy every single bite down to the last sprinkle that I may have to lick off of the floor. Or, I may skip the cupcake because I’m full and it just won’t taste like Satan’s chocolate spawn, but more like Crisco. I will choose to save it for breakfast when all my senses are awake, and round it out with eggs and fruit.

2. Acceptance of responsibility. I understand that if I eat this cupcake it’s only for pure momentary enjoyment, not because it’s made with eggs and milk, and I may have to suffer the consequences of heightened blood sugar, empty calories and a more than a little disappointment in myself. Unless, of course, I’m watching my intake of sweets and fatty foods, then I probably won’t feel that disappointment and will enjoy it more than when I haven’t been watching what I eat.

3. Dedication to the truth. The cupcake isn’t my sworn enemy, but rather, my own carelessness with my body and with what I choose put in my mouth is my enemy. The cupcake can’t give me true happiness and therefore, having that cupcake isn’t as important in my life as I might want to believe. I’d be happier taking care of myself and respecting my body’s needs.

4. Balance. A healthy detachment to food will create a more balanced life by giving me more mental and physical energy that I can direct to more important life goals to what you really value in life.

Using discipline to determine our daily food choices isn’t the easiest or the most fun route to our dietary goals, but trust me: once you’ve got the hang of it, every cupcake you eat will be that much sweeter.