Food for Thought: October 28th

Food Is Not Home

Breaking abstinence may be an attempt to go home emotionally. Since we associate food, and especially certain foods, with early experience, we may turn to food when we crave the emotional support of home.

Perhaps our early home life did not provide the emotional support and security we needed, causing us to attach a false significance to the food, which we were given. The habit of turning to food and eating as a substitute for love, acceptance, and security may be deeply ingrained in our psyche. We may have come to depend on food instead of people to satisfy our emotional needs.

The problem is, of course, that food is not a satisfactory substitute for love and acceptance. However much we eat, the emotional satisfaction will be only temporary and soon disintegrate into despair and self-hatred. The home we crave can best be built here and now by working the OA program and loving the people our Higher Power gives us to love today.

May I realize that food is not home.

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

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I'm sure I have attached a false significance to food.......considering IT to be love, friendship & acceptance.  When I feel emotional, I always turn to food for comfort.  I have to remind myself over & over again that no matter HOW much I eat, I will never feel satisfied when I use food in this manner.

 

Food is not a satisfactory substitute for love & acceptance, yet I still DO turn to it from time to time for this very reason.

 

Other times, it's simply habit that drives me to want to overeat.  Boredom is a big factor, as well as HALT: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.  All trigger situations that are a breeding ground to stuff myself senseless.

 

As an adult, I have an emotionally supportive home life, with plenty of security & acceptance. I no longer have to go back to my childhood, reliving all of the pain & isolation that I once felt.  I no longer have to stuff myself with food to feel love & acceptance. 

 

For today, I have a program to follow which insures my sanity.  A program that allows me to love myself, no matter what, and to stop living with the lies of the past.  

 

For today, I realize that food is not home.