Food = Comfort & Love

From my perspective, Paige seems to be doing amazing so far!  We are coming up on 2.5 weeks since our journey began, and my expectations are already being exceeded, both nutritionally and exercise wise!  I was nervous that Paige wouldn't be sticking to the meal plans as well as she is.  I know she's craving her "meat and potatoes,"  her cheese and dairy, snacks and baked goods of all sorts.  Even when she made her quinoa tabbouleh salad, full of veggies and fresh herbs, she would have rather it had feta cheese on it (as would I, but that's not going to help us reach our goals right now, and yes, in the future, she'll be able to add some cheese back into her diet.)  Of course there are other tastier foods we can add to our meals, but right now, we need to break the bad habits of just automatically adding those foods to our meals.  In the future, they will be "treats" that get added in once per day.  Paige didn't get to her current health condition overnight. It was years of poor food choices, and adding that "feta cheese" just because it would make the food taste better.

  I know that baking is one of Paige's loves.  In fact, for many folks all around the world, baking goodies is perceived to be sign of "love."  We are always baking tasty (unhealthy) treats to give our friends to show our love.  When someone dies, is born, is going through a rough patch, we make them meals and desserts that generally aren't healthy.  Food = Comfort and Love.

If you think about it, it's true.  We show our love via food.  I remember going home from college, and eating all of the "fat foods" (that's what I call the foods I ate when I was a fat girl too).   My mom would make our favorites.  We'd have homemade Mac & Cheese, all sorts of canned-soupy-type casseroles, pasta galore, a freezer full of desserts, etc.  To my mom, at no fault of her own, making those "favorite" meals was her way of showing us love.

But we're looking at it all wrong.  When you truly love someone, don't you want them to be healthy & energized?  You'd probably die for someone you loved, so why are we killing our loved ones?  (Slowly, and legally, through our food).   We should actually be showing love via healthy foods, the kind that will keep us around longer with healthier bodies, minds, and spirits.

So, to anyone out there reading this, next time you're making someone a dish of some sort, think whether you're actually killing the person you love, or if your food will help to heal and nourish them.

Think of this every time you eat.  Is the food you are eating nourishing your body? or is it an act of self-suicide.  (morbid, but true).