Food for Thought: August 10th

No Compromises

Where abstinence is concerned, there can be no compromising. In order to control our illness, we are willing to go to any lengths to maintain abstinence. Nothing else is as important to us.

If we are eating in a restaurant where the right kind of vegetable is not available, we can order two salads or do without a vegetable for one meal, rather than substitute a starch which will activate our disease. We learn what we can handle and what is not for us, and then we act on that knowledge in every situation. To compromise "just this once" is an invitation to trouble.

Just as we have a certain way of eating for the maintenance of our recovery, so we have a way of living based on the principle of rigorous honesty. Honesty in all of our activities is what makes us strong and effective. Where the core principles of our program are concerned, we do not compromise.

By Your grace, may I maintain my integrity in all situations. 

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

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Dancing With Gorillas

 

“The desire to stop suffering

is not the same thing as the desire to stop the behavior

we are doing which causes us to suffer.”

~Dr. James Golden

I may want the monkey off of my back, but the question is: do I want to stop the behavior that put the monkey on my back to begin with?

Some of us call ourselves ‘foodies’………we love food, we love to eat, we love to prepare food, dine out, etc. etc.  Isn’t this the very behavior that caused us so many problems in the first place?  

If we want to relieve ourselves of food obsession, then we have to take the necessary steps to relieve ourselves of it, do we not?

As an alcoholic, I wouldn’t work or hang out in a bar environment for obvious reasons. Yet, as a person with a chronic weight problem, do I apply the same rules to my food environment???  Do I sit around watching Diners Drive-In’s & Dives, salivating at the sight of all that greasy & fattening food?  Do I thumb through cookbooks, looking for new & tasty recipes to try out ‘on my family?’  The family who could care less about new & exciting dishes………versus me, who would wind up waiting until everyone else was asleep & then pig out on the leftovers?  I don’t eat a lot in front of others………I reserve that behavior for when I’m alone & nobody is watching.

I didn’t get fat by accident………..I ate & drank my way TO it, one binge at a time, and one bite at a time. And, for the most part, in secret.

If I insist on staying a foodie, I condemn myself to getting fat again.  I can still ENJOY food, and dining out occasionally, but I can’t allow food to be the central focus of my life anymore.  I’ve had to ditch that way of thinking when I embraced abstinence, much as I didn’t think I wanted to…..I knew I needed to.

If I start taking bites, licks & tastes of off plan foods, I’m likely to get back into the foodie mentality & have a full-fledged binge.

When you dance with a gorilla, it is the gorilla who decides when to stop.

What makes me think I can stop that behavior, once I involve myself with it? Once I wake up my taste-buds, who’s to say if and when they’re going back to sleep? Reminds me of the druggie who says he can stop ‘any time he wants to’, refusing to believe he has a problem to begin with.

I have a lifetime of vigilance on my hands here.  I can’t say Oh I’m Thin Now & My Troubles Are All Behind Me, because that’s a lie.  Weight management is a full-time thing……..it requires my attention, my commitment & my perseverance.  It requires me to make healthy food choices on a daily basis, and to look for reasons to eat right rather than excuses not to.  

An excuse is nothing more than a thin skin stretched over a bald faced lie.

When I’m stressed out, excess food won’t fix it.  When my husband & I have an argument, excess food won’t fix it.  When I’m faced with the task of managing my elderly parents’ final years, excess food won’t help me one little bit.

When I’m stressed out, I exercise. When my husband & I have an argument, I talk it out with him.  When I’m traumatized from watching the deterioration of two people I love, I cry.  I feel my emotions rather than eat them.  I face my stuff rather than stuff my face.  When I’m having a bad day, I realize it’s just a moment in time……..not a ‘bad life’.

When I deal with myself & my life honestly, with positivity, I feel that I can make it.  When I start looking at things with negativity, I feel like I will never make it. 

After a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, I’ve learned a few things, thank God. 

Wisdom is knowledge you learn after you know it all.

I am not saying I’ll never make a mistake or eat something I shouldn’t…………I just know that I have a food plan & a life plan in place, which keeps me focused…moving toward a healthier me instead of away from it. That’s all any of us can do………….create a plan & stick to it.  Because, without a plan, we’re likely to fall off track and stay off track, like we’ve done so many times before.

Figure out YOUR plan today, dear ones, and then stick to it. Let nothing & nobody stand in the way of your success.

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.

~Henry Ford