I have noticed a very peculiar reaction that comes forth at times. I call it my diet rebel. This thing will come out whenever I sense the threat of dieting. Sometimes it’s diet talk that triggers it. Sometimes it’s just me trying to process what I actually want to eat. If I somehow perceive that I might be falling for diet mentality, I react.

This reaction might mean eating something I don’t really want simply to prove that I’m not on a diet. Obviously, this is not a terrific reason to eat because it’s not hunger directed, it’s rebellion directed.

For instance, one day recently I was in the judge’s lounge of a speech tournament. There were finger foods set out… veggies… fruit… and little mini chocolate muffin things. Well, I wasn’t interested in the chocolate muffin things until a man standing there commented that he was looking for some calories. He said more than once that he didn’t want the veggies, he wanted “calories”. I looked at my plate and realized that I only had veggies and fruit. Suddenly I thought, “am I trying to diet?” To this thought, my diet rebel decided I needed to “prove” I wasn’t dieting so I got a chocolate muffin thing and some crackers for good measure.

This isn’t happening nearly as much as it was, but when it does, I am surprised by it. I do think that eventually my body will believe me when I tell it I’m not going to starve it, but for now, I guess the diet rebel hangs around just in case.