Thinking isn't the same as Doing

I identify with the words of wisdom in this post by a member of a forum I frequently visit.

"When I think about overeating I remind myself that it is just a thought fleeting through my head, I don't need to do anything about it.

This helped me when I was struggling with emotional eating. I would feel compelled (it really was a compulsion) to eat when I wasn't hungry, to eat over my emotions and I finally realized just because I am thinking about it doesn't mean I have to do it.

Every Friday in the staffroom at work I face Friday treats. Just because there are a gazillion different kinds of cookies, cakes, donuts etc, does not mean I have to have them all (or even any). I’m working to remember: Food is not leaving the planet! I can have what I want another time … when I fit it into my eating plan. I don't need to eat something just because it looks good, and it’s there!"
 

There have been times in my life that I thought the only way I could get rid of a thought was to act upon it.  Like, I'd start thinking about eating a specific food when I wasn't hungry and it wasn't mealtime. The thought would persist in my mind, and I'd often act upon it....which would frequently lead me to eating quite a lot of that specific food, and then I'd usually follow-up with unplanned eating of whatever other available foods that seemed tempting to me at that moment in time.  Sometimes, upon reflection, it seemed like I ate that original food item just so I'd stop thinking about it.

Finally, I realized the Truth that is contained inside the post above:
It is just a thought fleeting through my head,
I don't need to do anything about it.