Reflections on Temptation

Recently another blogger talked about those samples at the grocery store. Samples are hard to resist–even for me! Michael gets so annoyed when we go to Costco together and I stop for the samples. It’s completely stupid and often times I don’t even like the food they are giving out, but I often try it because it’s free! Free samples! So silly. I’ve gotten much better about discriminating against which ones I try. Do I even like this? No. Then why would I eat 200-500 extra calories for a taste of something. I try to spare myself the calories, and Michael some annoyance, by avoiding the samples.

After reading her post about the evils of samples, that same day I found samples somewhere else: MY GYM! I went to the gym right after work, wasn’t feeling too great to begin with, and walked in to my gym to find Great Harvest Bread giving out samples. There was a long table set up in the middle of my gym with bread and big bowls of creamy, whipped butter on it. The guy working the table was trying to get people to come over and have a taste. And I’m not talking a small bite. I’m talking a big slice of freshly baked bread.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Great Harvest Bread and years ago I used to eat GALLONS of those samples because I worked right next door to one. That aroma of freshly baked bread was one that was really hard to resist. And it was really offensive to smell at my gym. I was so shocked that that table was set up. This is not the first time a gym has done that. The Huffington Post shared a photo of Krispy Kreme setting up a table of samples at a gym. Can you believe it?

I walked past that table and went straight to my workout, avoiding all samples. (Did I want a sample? Sure I did!) The reason the bread table bothered me was that it felt like a trap. It feels like the gym is saying “We want you to fail, so that you have to spend more money on gym memberships to lose the weight.” It’s just TACKY. I also find the fact that The Food Network is always on at my gym to be tacky as well.

I wondered how many of my fellow gym goers gave in to that temptation and ate the bread. Did they feel satisfied? Or did they feel like they had to work out extra long and hard that night in order to work off that extra piece of bread and butter? The temptations we face are literally everywhere, it’s nearly impossible to avoid. The last place we need to try and “be strong” against temptations is AT THE GYM where we are trying to be good!

By the time I finished my workout, the table was gone (thankfully!). I went home and Michael and I had sandwiches for dinner. Ironic, huh? But I’d been fighting off a cold or something for awhile so I just wanted something quick and easy so I could just go to bed.

The sandwiches were on wheat bread (not Great Harvest, unfortunately), with mustard, turkey, slices of Swiss cheese and a few pieces of bacon. He grilled them up and I had some raw broccoli with my dinner and enjoyed every bite! The sandwich was great.

Then the sickness took hold and I was in bed by 8:15. Sinuses, swollen glands, runny nose, body aches, the works. Sick as a dog and home on the couch with Season 2 of Justified, a box of Kleenex, herbal tea and the Neti Pot. Boo. 🙁

QUESTION: How do you feel about samples? How do you feel about food at the gyms?