Food, Food, What is Food?

So, what exactly is food? Why do people have such an unhealthy relationship with food? because really all it is, is:
a : material consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat used in the body of an organism to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy; also : such food together with supplementary substances (as minerals, vitamins, and condiments)  (Websters online)
So, why do people become so obsessed with it... whether it be the eating too much of it, or the purging of it, or the making yourself not eat this vital part of what makes our bodies function?

Here's my take:
 To the over eater.... Addiction... Addictive personalities.. I feel that often we may be predisposed to addictions, good or bad. Whether it be exercising, working too much, playing video games, food, computer etc.. That perhaps somewhere along the line we learned that it was okay to overindulge in something. As long as it's not drinking, drugs, porn, gambling, or sex, it can't be wrong right? That we felt it was a way of life.. something that we have no control over.

Then following was taken from askmen.com I am sure there are more reliable sources out there but I felt it fit to what I was pontificating about.

[QUOTE]Family history: Adult children of alcoholics may choose to abstain from liquor and narcotics completely, but might develop a different addiction. Their drug of choice could be excessive exercise, workaholism or over-the-counter pain medication. Could this mean that addictive personality traits are hereditary? [END QUOTE] 

I think back on my family history... My grandfather was an alcoholic, my mother and father(although my dad was in the Army, so he had to do his crash diet crazy run in the heat of summer with layers of clothes on before his next testing, to make sure he met his weight limits) turned to food intstead of alcohol  later in life, my one sister chose to abstain from food, and my older sister and I chose to use food as our drug of choice. My little sister decided to get a degree in Psychology to get her head figured out or so we like to say:) So, with this being said- and mind you this is totally not an excuse for my behavior, but I think that deep down somewhere I felt it was ok to treat myself this way. It's food. We all need it to live right?

Food is not what makes us overweight!! Food is what gives our bodies the energy they need to survive. Food is not something that should make us feel good or bad about ourselves. Food in moderation is what I needed to learn and am learning every day on this journey. It is the amount of food that we place into our bodies that make us overweight. I learned that our body needs fuel and I can choose to give it the good fuel it needs, or I can choose to give it the kind of fuel that will actually zap our energy and make us feel yucky! I am learning that this is all a choice. This is not a diet, because diets don't work!! Trust me. I've tried plenty, and as soon as you drop the desired weight you go right back to your old habits. Its a choice to feed your body the fuel it craves, not the unleaded kind that will leave us wanting more...

This is what I ask myself: am I going to choose to eat that bowl of sugary cereal that is going to leave me hungry 20 minutes after I eat it, or am I going to choose to take the 2 minutes it takes to cook two eggs and 1 slice of whole wheat toast? Which is going to leave me full for hours and not craving something sweet in an hour. I am going to choose to only eat half of the meal I order at a restaurant instead of the whole thing and dessert.

Because there are foods that are better choices than others, I also had to realize that all foods have calories. I can choose to eat the ones high in calories or I can eat the ones with a smaller amount. I started by eating a smaller amount of food, and believe it or not: I was satisfied. I choose to cook at home as often as I can, because I realized just how many calories are in a given dish when you go out to eat. For instance... The chicken ranch sandwich at Chili's has 1400 calories. This does not include the french fries on the plate or the chips and salsa I would eat prior to the meal. If you cook at home, even if you aren't making stir fry tofu, your calorie intake will be NOWHERE near the 2000 plus calories of your favorite restaurant food. Making better choices, that is all you have to decide to do. Don't tell yourself it's the "D" word. Change one thing today and one thing next week. If you look at your plate and think, "I can't let this go to waste because there are starving kids in Ethiopia," tell yourself: "If I only make half as much next time I can donate the dollar that I saved and didn't eat" Then you will feel so much better. Really, it's a choice, not a "HAVE TO". I am choosing to eat foods that nourish my body and will let me live life to my fullest, now, not waiting like my parents did to really start living. They are now in amazingly great shape. They snow shoe, kayak, bike, hike, and camp... all because they want to. They have started living. I am sad that they decided to wait until they were 50, but WOW, what amazing healthy people they have become. I am choosing to change now, so I can live each day to the fullest. That is what the Lord would want me to do. He would want me to enjoy each and every day of my life, not dream about what it would be like to be thin. Nor would He want me to get into a rut and close myself in and hide from the world. Rather, He wants me to really enjoy all that He has created and all that He loves.

Live NOW, not when your kids are all grown up!!

I found this cute comic I wanted to share... too cute!