Using Food Inappropriately: Not just for fat folk

My mother has a skinny friend who stops eating when she is depressed. Stops. Doesn't eat. Quits. No food. This can go on for days.

Me, when I'm feeling low, all I can think about is what I can eat. It doesn't have to be all that good either. Grocery Outlet or Cheesecake Factory: makes no difference. As long as I can keep the food coming.

But you know what? I think both the skinny chick and I are using food inappropriately to handle our frustrations. I overeat, bringing temporary satisfaction and long-lasting health problems related to obesity. Skinny Chick under-eats, bringing temporary satisfaction and long-lasting health problems related to starvation. Neither of us is dealing with our problems appropriately.

The thing is, in this culture you. . . well. . .you look better if you're too thin, than if you're too fat. You do. I'm sorry and I don't mean that exactly. Truth is, society--America of the everylasting food supply (that society)--tells us we look better when we are thin. So we begin to think that eating too much to deal with problems is worse than starving ourselves to deal with our issues. Well that's just silly. Because food is not therapy. Food is not a self-help program. And most importantly to me, Food is not God.

Both my mother's friend and I reached out for control and we found it in our diet. The friend controlled her diet in one unhealthy way, and I control my diet in another. What if, instead, we both relinquished control? What if we gave up?

That is, what if we decided control was just an idea, not really a state of being? What if we realized that control is like perfection--an unatainable goal? I think if we did that, we could both make more healthful choices regarding our diet. More importantly, I think we could both learn more heart-healthy ways to cope with life.

And then maybe, just maybe, God would increase, and I would decrease.
Aileen