When was the last time being denied dessert really pissed you off?

For me it was probably just last night, after dinner. I rarely allow myself dessert. It’s just not part of my everyday eating plan. And yes, I do miss dessert when I don’t have it. But these days, dessert has become something that I save for special occasions. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I don’t want dessert. And it doesn’t mean I don’t crave it. It just means that I’ve gotten these desires under control. Think of it as ‘Mind over fatter,’ if you will.

But desserts and I certainly have done our time together. And it’s because of this ‘passion’ for all things sweet, that I find myself greatly amused with a recent news story about an angry restaurant customer in Amherst, New York.

According to recent reports, after a man didn’t get the dessert portion of his meal at Toni Pepperoni Restaurant, the man grew more and more upset – to the point of verbally assaulting workers, shoving items off of a counter, then even grabbing a broom and swinging it around in an aggressive fashion. I mean, clearly this is a guy who apparently gets really pissed off when he doesn’t get his dessert.

Haven’t seen the footage from the incident yet? Check it out for yourself:

Now, this might seem like ridiculous and over-the-top behavior to you. But to me? It’s like looking into mirror from my past. In other words, to say I was crazy about dessert would be a major understatement.

Back in the day, when I weighed in excess of 450 pounds, you can bet that I was having dessert with every meal except for breakfast (and sometimes I probably even had it with that meal, as well). As a binge eater, I taught myself that overeating needed to be followed up with something sweet (a vat of it, if at all possible). In fact, even when I was completely stuffed from overeating, I would still force feed myself something oo-ey and gooey – usually in the form of ice cream, so that I could get it down my throat, despite already being in pain from eating too much.

That was then. This is now.

Yet to this day, when I finish a meal, I feel a “hankering” for something sweet and gooey. This is when I have to remind myself that I prefer to be able to put on my “skinny clothes” without having to kneel down in prayer beforehand. You see, I don’t want getting my clothes on requiring a miracle – which, in the past, is just what getting dressed sometimes did require. Don’t forget that at my largest, I had a 60-inch waist belt that I was literally wearing out at the time.

These days, my desire for dessert passes after a few minutes and I’m left with a feeling of empowerment, having gone up against the ‘evil sweet empire’ and won. This triumph is nothing I take for granted. I know that going back “up” to 450+ pounds would be a real possibility if I were to ever let down my guard. It’s being constantly aware of this that has helped me keep the excess weight off for over a decade.

So I know dessert’s temptations are always lurking. And because of this, I build enjoying dessert into special occasions. Therefore I’ve committed to never saying “Never.” This is because I’ve learned that denial has always lead to bingeing in the past. Thus, knowing I can “Have it again when the time is right,” dessert is robbed of its evil powers and I am, at last, set free.

Can’t say as much for the man who went into attack mode after being denied dessert at Toni Pepperoni Restaurant. Watching the footage from his outburst, I can cringe, I can gasp, I can even be slightly amused. But at the same time? I can relate. It reminds me a mental state I’ve been in – not to mention a mental state I never want to experience again.