Food is a Good Thing

It can be really difficult for a Food Addict to get into the mindset of thinking of food as a good thing.  

It seems that all our battles and problems come from food and we certainly developed the habit of attributing food as being good or bad, giving food a power over us that it cannot possibly have. 

I have to eat for my body's nutrition, for optimal function, for energy, for health and healing.  Without food I will surely die. So how do I reconcile my addictive issues with food if I cannot actually just put it down and stop eating? 

For me the way forward in recovery from compulsive overeating came when I recognised the following as true:

• It was ME that was overeating, not the food that was doing it to me
• I had lost the ability to know what real hunger felt like
• I was not actually hungry when I was overeating
• Food was not my problem, it was my solution
• I would eat to 'feel good' 
• I would eat to numb emotional pain.  My instinctive 'go to' response to emotions was the fridge, the pantry or the shops for high sugar, high fat content foods that gave me an instant 'high'
• Food is a good thing.  Excessive food is an emotional thing
• Food is fuel, it is not a friend or an enemy
• Food has no power over my emotions, it is not relaxation, comfort or security

When the torture of trying every single way possible to stop my compulsive ways (and failing) became unbearable, I then became teachable and was able to see the truth of my situation.  

I had to become mindful every time I was about to eat. So much of my compulsive eating was mindless.  At one stage I actually believed I didn't eat that much!  It's a good thing the body doesn't lie!  The way I looked physically and the physical pain I was in was all down to excess weight, which is caused by OVEREATING!!

I had to change my mindset around food and see it as an essential and good thing for me to live my best and healthiest life, in conjunction with surrendering my will, thoughts and actions around food to my higher power. 

I had to become willing to face the fears/emotional blocks that caused me to 'use' food for the wrong reasons instead of eating for the love and health of my body.  

I had to stop running myself ragged in diet circles, trying to control the way and speed with which I would lose weight.  I stopped thinking, carbs were bad, fats were bad, grapefruit was good, cabbage soup was the best.  I totally SURRENDERED that obsession.  The only thing I do today is eat as my higher power revealed 'eat as you did when you were a child - balanced and healthy'.  

Today I love my food, I eat a healthy and balanced diet that includes all food groups and I am grateful I have the awareness to no longer attribute an emotion, feeling, power or personality to the food that I eat.  Recovery has taught me that food really is a good thing.