Eating without guilt- or "man, those are good muffins!"

“Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we die.”- American Proverb

I am in love…with the pumpkin cream cheese muffins at Starbucks.  They are sweet little cakes with cream filled centers  topped with salty pumpkin seeds.  They not only taste divine,  but instantly invoke the good feelings fall- my favorite season.

I take small nibbles around the edges, sipping warm coffee in between bites- saving the gooey center for last.  Almost immediately however, a sense of guilt creeps in and I start calculating: 340 calories, 13 grams of fat and 28 grams of sugar.

My food issues go back to a time when I was about 25 pounds heavier than I am now and recovering from an on and off and on and off and on and off again relationship.  In an effort to find myself again I started exercising and eating healthier.  The weight came off quickly. 
Soon after, I became a runner and learned  that “food is fuel”.   I knew that meant I could be leaner, faster and more “bad ass” if I cut back on the Swiss Cake rolls and ate more kale.  And of course for me anything worth doing is worth doing to the extreme.  Let’s just say that my family likes what they get to eat when I go out of town. 

But this morning as I sat in the coffee shop and tasted the muffin  (instead of scarfing it down on the car ride home), that muffin spoke to me.  It said (I heard it):  “Enjoy, be thankful, and move on with your day.” 

And you know what?  I did….as I scribbled the notes down for this blog on the back of my 2000m swim plan for this evening.