Food for Thought: November 21st

Moods

We used to allow our moods to determine what and how much we ate. If we were feeling good, charged up with enthusiasm, we were usually able to focus our energy on some activity other than eating. Perhaps being in a particularly good mood made it possible for us to stick to some kind of diet for a few days.

When the bad moods struck, we invariably turned to excess food for consolation, and we attempted to make the bad moods go away by eating to excess. Any sort of psychic distress became a signal for food.

Then, too, some of us found ourselves overeating in times of elation, because we had no other way to express our joy.

When we are committed to abstinence, we have a rock like foundation for our eating habits, which no shifting mood can destroy. No matter how we may feel at a given moment, we abstain from eating compulsively. Moods change and pass away, but abstinence remains.

Make firm my commitment to abstinence.

From Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters by Elisabeth L. ©1980, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation.

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When my inner brat was in charge, I ate & behaved according to my moods. My immaturity and lack of willingness to accept discipline allowed me to do whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to do it.  The result was obesity, bad health, and a toddler attitude that had me stamping my feet when I didn't get what I wanted.

When I found OA and the structured Food Plan is when I became willing to give UP my immature ways & embrace a new way.  The old way wasn't working anymore...........the food & booze was no longer giving me the 'high' I was seeking, in spite of the binges getting larger & the booze consumption increasing weekly.  No matter HOW much I ate or drank, I was STILL not finding the escape I sought, so I knew it was time to try something different.

Committing myself to an abstinent way of life allowed  me to finally grow up, and to accept my place in society as an adult.  My childlike ways were set aside, and a new, structured lifestyle took its place.  I've been on this journey for 5 1/2 years now, and I'm still growing and learning.  It's not 'over' one day, when everything magically changes, either. It's a process.............a journey............a solid path to follow that leads us OUT of addiction and into freedom, one day at a time, one step at a time.

For today, I reaffirm my commitment to abstinence. When I put it first in my life, all good things flow from there.