If you were like me, when you were trying to stay abstinent, you tried to avoid keeping any of your “problem foods” in the house.  This was a lot easier when I was single.  Later on, when I did have a problem, I would ask my wife to put the foods that she ate (that I had quit eating) somewhere that they were not a constant reminder to me.  I wasn’t asking her to forego her pleasures, just to put them somewhere that made it a little easier for me to stay abstinent. 

Hopefully, you have made the same kind of arrangement.  Assuming that you have, there is one stone cold fact you have to admit to:  most of the time, if the urge to go relapse has happened, none of the foods on which you plan to relapse are going to be within arm’s reach.  There will be some concerted effort needed on your part to get up and get your food of choice.  Perhaps it’s just walking into the kitchen, but for me it was often going out, getting into a car, driving somewhere, picking up “the goods,” and bringing it home (probably eating some in the car on the way back).

The point:  the time from the instigation of the thought of eating to the eating itself is not instantaneous!  There is a time gap there and there are things you can put between those two events. 

This is where the concept of pausing and utilizing some mindfulness when the craving hits can come into play.