You’ve tried your best, and you’ve done well: you’ve kept all the crap out of the house, you’ve been making your workouts consistently, making smart choices when away from home, and clued in all your friends and family that you are trying to make healthy changes.

You’ve done everything right, but then somehow something sneaks into your house.  Maybe its come cookies left over from your kid’s school party, a jar of candy canes from the office, or a yule log the neighbor pawned off on you brought over.

Great, no it is in your home, probably staring you in the face on your kitchen counter, and tempting you at every turn.  What do you do?

Depends.  Is it there because no one else wants it and is hoping someone else will eat it?

If yes:

Give it away. Pawn it off onto someone else, pronto.

Throw it away. Junk food is a waste anyway, so you can waste it by eating it and ruining your efforts, or you can waste it by throwing it out.  The last one? Calorie-free.

Ruin it. If the cookies on a paper plate wrapped in cellophane is too tempting, even in the trash (it didn’t touch anything!) ruin it.  Pour water on it.  Or coffee grounds. Or crumble them up in make sure they fall deep into the trash.

If no, and it’s something the rest of your family wants, if you don’t devour it first:

Make it hard to get to. Wrap it up extra tight.  a few dozen times. Then  put it in a tupperware.  Each layer is a second chance to say no.

Out of sight, out of mind. Put them in a high cupboard, deep in the pantry, or under some crap in a drawer.

Individually package everything. You can allow yourself one treat, but where people usually get into trouble is when they go back for another one.  And then eat the crumb that dropped which means you have to eat the next one it touched, etc.  If you want one, grab one, but just ONE.

Freeze it. Frozen cookies or brownies are still good if you let them defrost- it just takes a little time and patience. Patience is the enemy of an impulse snack, so the longer something takes to prepare, the less likely you are to inhale it.

Just say no. To someone else.  If you think you might eat it, tell your significant other to keep you away from it, or rather, keep it away from you.  Why should you be in charge of something that is going to tempt you?

Never say “oh well” when temptations try and trip you up.  Get rid of it, or do your best to keep as much distance between it and you as possible.  The occasional treat is fine, if you really want it, but never ever eat something just because its there.