Comment: Food, Glorious Food

Okay, so I’m trying some new ways of behaving and thinking in regards to food. I’ve never officially been on a diet before, but I’m getting to the point in my life where what I eat tends to stay with me, if you know what I mean.

And I love to eat.

So action must be taken. And I’ve got a few things going on. I exercise a lot, so that’s good. I just read “Such a Pretty Fat” by Jen Lancaster, which basically touts being fit versus fat, and not worrying about every little thing you put in your mouth. Reasonable. And damn funny.

And now I’ve also got “Thin for Life” which is supposed to be filled with people’s success stories of keeping weight off. So once I read some of it, I’ll let you know.

And awhile back I read “French Women Don’t Get Fat.” Which is an arrogant, though apparently somewhat true, aphorism. The author’s main thesis was eat small amounts of what you like, eat slowly, drink lots of water, walk everywhere, and basically don’t be a pig. Which is not as easy as it sounds.

Our whole nation is into piggery, and I for one am as piggish as the next person. I eat when I’m hungry, I eat when I’m stressed, I eat whenever anything remotely palatable is put in front of me.

Which brings me to the other book I have, “”The Writing Diet”. What writer with a muffin top could resist that title? Come on! It’s by Julia Cameron, who became quite famous for her “Artist’s Way” books which ended up helping a ton of people get happier and more creative, myself included. She occasionally borders on what I would deem “New Age” territory, but she’s not pushy about it and she’s very non-denominational.

So far, I’ve read about ten pages and already I’m getting some nuggets of wisdom. (Some would say common sense, but isn’t most common sense a form of wisdom we just tend to gloss over when we should pay attention instead?) She tells you to ask yourself questions before you eat, as in, is this the time, is this what you want, are you even hungry, etc. Already today I noticed that every time my stress level spiked (hearing news about the economy, husband calling that he’ll be home late, kids bickering) I’d crave and reach for a chocolate chip. Now if that only happened once or twice a day, big deal; I mean, it’s a freakin’ chocolate chip!

But when you feel stressy 100 times a day, that’s a lot of chocolate that I don’t need and nor does my metabolism. Food as comfort is not a new concept, of course, but this is the first time that I am honestly looking at what I’m doing and seeing that I eat to feel better and that maybe I should find something else to do to feel better.

Also, you’re supposed to write down everything you eat. I may or may not get to that in the next few days. It sounds scary, but it might be very instructive and/or effective.

So stay tuned. There's bound to be humor found here.