I had lunch yesterday with a friend who told me as we sat down that she was in the mood for something "really decadent."

"I walked two miles today," she said with satisfaction as a giant slab of cheesecake arrived at the table. "I earned it."

Since I make a point of not discussing calories while I'm eating, I didn't tell her that those two miles burned only a fraction of the calories on her plate. I was more interested in her feeling of having "earned it." It got me thinking about our ways of negotiating with ourselves.

Here, I realized, was a creative new way of rationalizing bad choices: by deserving them!

It works like this: I make a contract with myself to live a healthier life, but I write in a big loophole: the Entitlement Clause. The Entitlement Clause is my compensation for all the supposed "hardships" of a healthy lifestyle. It

states that if I take a stepping class, I get a slice of pie. If I walk up the stairs to work, I've earned a doughnut. If I play tennis on the weekend, I'm entitled to two margaritas and a plate of nachos afterwards.

Now, don't get me wrong. I know it's not realistic to expect to make healthy choices 100 percent of the time. Life without dessert? I don't think so! The problem is that the Entitlement Clause gets us thinking that healthy choices are somehow unfair -- an injustice for which we deserve restitution.