IT BREAKS YOUR HEART
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things
that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover. –Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Some blogs are heartbreaking. People are really suffering from adverse effects of poor eating habits. No, a lifetime of poor eating habits. No, it’s even worse than that. A lifetime of binge eating that they are powerless to control. Binging born of what is known as emotional eating. It seems rampant, a product of our overabundant society.
I have to confess that I don’t really understand binge eating. When depression has me in its maw, I have no interest in eating much of anything, and will peck at minimum nibbles just to keep going. I am truly moved by some of the blogger’s writings. And my heart breaks. And I want to offer some solace or solution or something.
With so many people suffering so, how can the professionals not know how to treat this? There is a psychological component, one that is not always shared in the blogger’s online confessions. Is it easier to confess to eating a whole box of cookies than to own up to feelings of professional failure or lack of friends or loneliness more unbearable than physical pain?
But the blogger seems to have friends. They post pictures of laughing people crowded around birthday cakes, everyone mugging for the camera. These are not professional actors; you can’t fake having fun in front of the lens. And how can anyone who is surrounded by rooms full of friends think of themselves as a failure?
The blogger considers their failure to control their eating their worst nightmare, one that they live with every day. A good day or week of “sensible” eating is inevitably followed by a worse week or month of binging. Two steps forward and three back. I wanted to respond to one blogger, to offer some way out of the futility to which they are tied. Sometimes a view from outside can result in a different way of looking at the issue that can provide an untried inroad. But I chickened out, not wanting to intrude with my opinion to someone I didn’t know. So I’m posting it here.,
DEAR BLOGGER,
From reading your blog, you seem to be a loving person with family and friends many would kill for. You are also sincere and heartbroken in your struggle, one that is shared by many. I relate in a different way, having discovered that I am wheat-intolerant. A few things I’ve found helpful:
- Total elimination conquers cravings. It is far easier to avoid eating something if I don’t ever eat it. Cheating a little brings back the craving, full force. Avoiding it altogether allows me to stare down a doughnut without feeling tempted.
- Self-imposing my own rules help. I don’t eat or buy wheat, or have it in the house. I find substitutes for myself and family. Thoughtful friends surprised me with a (wheatless) birthday flan that was enjoyed by all. Sabotage is no friend to anyone on a difficult road.
- Eating things that make me feel good in the long run is better than eating things that make me feel good right now. So, results trump taste. I will NEVER regret NOT eating a doughnut; I will ALWAYS regret eating a doughnut. (See #1.)
- The food industry is run by the people who ran the tobacco industry. They have specialized in finding ways to addict people, beginning with chemical additives in cigarettes to increase the power of nicotine addiction. Now they are doing the same with our food. We don’t naturally crave salt, sugar or fat unless we are deficient in them. Eating these things to excess is not only harmful, it trains our bodies to crave them. Big Food puts in lots of these salt, sugar and fat to addict us so we will buy more and eat more. No surprise why American children are struggling with food-related health issues: allergies, attention deficits, early-onset diabetes, obesity, heart conditions and shortened life expectancy.
- To avoid refined wheat (and other assorted mukhwa) in food products, including most restaurant food, cooking is a good solution, and it doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. Excessive amounts of salt and sugar paralyze our taste buds so that, without it, food tastes bland. By cooking our own food we can rediscover what real food tastes like, and that real food doesn’t need salt or sugar, certainly not excessive amounts. By eating real (unrefined) food, we can avoid becoming addicted to unhealthy ways of eating. This is the path to good health.
Sorry to go on so. Since January, I’ve been researching the many things that sabotage health, and exploring solutions for maintaining healthy eating habits in a daily blog.  I would love to continue a dialog with you about the complex struggle that so many Americans face. By the way, I thought that the earlier comment made by the skinny bitch was unwarranted and cruel. You should delete it.
Today’s Elaboration focuses on a dozen or so things to do to divert eating attention away from foods that are toxic. These are different for everyone, so tailor your regimen to one that suits, and alter when necessary. I hope this helps.
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