I know.  Obvious, right?  EVERYbody knows that!

Puh! The lady at the Publix bakery sure did seem surprised when I told her!  (Maybe that was more alarm than surprise.  Hmmm.) You see, the cannoli I wanted were on special – a lower piece price if I bought two.  She was surprised when I still wanted just one. Why would I want just one when, for less than double the price, I could have two? The mind boggles!

Because they’re Jedi masters, that’s why!

If I bought two, that would be to eat one now and to eat one “later,” Yeah, right.  In this case, “later” would have been right after I finished licking the crumbs from the first one off my fingers.  Who am I trying to kid here?

As I have previously confessed, I cannot be trusted with sweets or really snacks of any kind.  As a result, I generally don’t buy them for fear of the danger they present in my kitchen.  However, from time to time, I like to pretend that I’m an adult and can handle the responsibility of baked goods.  I choose to take the responsibility slowly and purchase them singly.  That really seems to freak out the people selling them.

I once ordered a single mini-scone at Starbucks.  The kid behind the counter proceeded to tell me how much cheaper they were if I bought three.  I thanked him for the information and repeated my order for one.  His head exploded. Seriously, it was like that scene in Austin Powers when the fembots blow up.  This poor kid didn’t even know how to ring up the sale of a single one.

What’s wrong with us when sufficient is a bad word? Why must I always want more? Why can’t I be content with enough? Because a burgeoning market cannot be sustained that way, missy!  That’s trouble talk right there.

You know what else can’t be sustained that way? A burgeoning belly, that’s what.

If I eat what my great-grandmother would have called “a sufficiency (anything more would be superfluous)” then my body gets what it needs without all of the extra that it doesn’t need. The chief problem with this is that we don’t eat a sufficiency anymore.  I dare say that most of us wouldn’t even recognize it. We eat too fast and too much.  We don’t realize that we are over-full until it’s too late to do anything about it.

Here are a couple of ways I have found to help me define a sufficiency:

1. When dining out, I either split the entrée with my companion or divide it in half and eat only one half.  I’ve even heard of some people ordering a to-go box right then and putting half of the meal out of sight immediately.
2. Remove a single serving from the container. Even if the yogurt, ice cream or chocolate container holds only two servings, I am more apt to eat only one serving if I immediately remove it from the package.
3. Buy cookies, scones or other baked treats in singles pieces or slices. An added benefit here is that you get fresher items.

I don’t have to display impressive feats of will-power at home if I display small feats of control at the grocery store. The cannoli my mind control cannot if I leave it in the case.