Wish I knew about this prior to recovery. They got better in recovery, but not by much. They still had me in them. I didn't know what love was. I just knew what it was not.

Have to work on this, I like too much. Having said that, I like the food I like to eat. I am a picky eater. Not always good choices, but ones that tickle my palate. I have a big problem with texture, especially stuff that is mushy.

We have freedom of choice. I can learn to work a program or not work the program. Just for today, I choose not to use anything that will abuse myself and/or others.

When I think of home sweet home, real or imagined, we think of comfort and a safe place to be. Food can be a comfort, until it gets to be too much. When we want to stop we can't. When I find myself reaching for more, I have to ask myself, am I hungry or am I stuffing my feelings?

Food For Thought

October 29

Truth

Overeating covered up the truth. We fed our illusions with food, which harmed our bodies. The illusions grew bigger and stronger until our minds were fog bound by the illusions instead of illuminated by truth.

Giving up our illusions is frightening and painful, but in the long run it is less difficult than trying to live with them and by them. It is impossible to get rid of our illusions by ourselves. The Higher Power leads us to truth by means of the Twelve Steps and the OA program. Abstinence from compulsive overeating is necessary in order to stop feeding our illusions and let the truth come through.

Knowing the truth sets us free. We no longer have to cling to old dependencies and self-defeating habits. Our Higher Power gives us as much truth as we are willing to work for and accept. We are not overwhelmed, but are gradually able to assimilate the reality of our situation. By accepting reality and refraining from using food as an escape, we are able to live with truth instead of illusions.

Lead me by the Power of truth.

Living in the now is how I connect to my Higher Power. As I heard in the rooms, if you are in the past or projecting into the future, you won't find your God there.

When ever I notice them, I try to remember to say, thank you, thank you, thank you.

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Just because I love my food, doesn't mean food is love. Most times it doesn't love me back and love is an exchange of positive energy from one soul to another. We may not acknowledge that love and often take it for granted, but it is there. It is to be nurtured and expressed.

Important to give with thanks that we have it to give.

My drug of choice was always more. In recovery, I have to learn to say, `Not so much.`

For me, I cut down on the quantity and started using a smaller plate.

It is so important to ask and not take for granted. I need to accept and respect myself. Recovery begins with me.

Food For Thought

November 6

Pain

Living without the narcotic of excess food means learning to cope with emotional pain. Uncomfortable feelings, which we have covered up by eating, begin to surface as we abstain. At first, our emotional reactions are often vague and diffuse, since we have not yet acquired enough insight to identify what it is that is bothering us.

If we are willing to stay with the emotional discomfort and pain, we will eventually gain understanding. Sometimes we have to spend time hurting before we are able to pass through one phase in our development and move on to the next. Whatever the suffering, it is preferable to the agony of a binge. Facing emotional pain is constructive; trying to bury it under food is destructive.

Our pain is often associated with events in the past, which are still troubling us unconsciously. When we are able to identify the source of the pain, we can examine it in the light of our present maturity and begin to put it behind us. As long as we avoid feeling the pain, we deny ourselves the healing which our Higher Power can give us.

May I accept the pain that is necessary for continued growth.

Food For Thought

November 6

Pain

Living without the narcotic of excess food means learning to cope with emotional pain. Uncomfortable feelings, which we have covered up by eating, begin to surface as we abstain. At first, our emotional reactions are often vague and diffuse, since we have not yet acquired enough insight to identify what it is that is bothering us.

If we are willing to stay with the emotional discomfort and pain, we will eventually gain understanding. Sometimes we have to spend time hurting before we are able to pass through one phase in our development and move on to the next. Whatever the suffering, it is preferable to the agony of a binge. Facing emotional pain is constructive; trying to bury it under food is destructive.

Our pain is often associated with events in the past, which are still troubling us unconsciously. When we are able to identify the source of the pain, we can examine it in the light of our present maturity and begin to put it behind us. As long as we avoid feeling the pain, we deny ourselves the healing which our Higher Power can give us.

May I accept the pain that is necessary for continued growth.

Thought for the Day

Wednesday, NOV. 8

From the book: Food for Thought

Cleaning Up

Cleaning up after a meal and taking care of leftovers is a hard job for most compulsive overeaters. What makes it so difficult is our old habit of putting leftovers in our mouths instead of in the refrigerator or the garbage. Once we decide that we will have nothing at all after our measured meal, the clean up job becomes amazingly easy.

If we are not spending our energy fighting the temptation to have a bite of this or that, the energy is available for the task that needs to be done. Cleaning up is accomplished with much less time and effort when we are not arguing with ourselves about what happens to the leftovers.

In the past, we may have felt that cleaning up was a demeaning job. As we work our program, we begin to get more satisfaction from all the work we do, and we are less concerned about the relative status of the jobs that fall to us. There is satisfaction in cleaning up after a meal, just as there is satisfaction in cleaning up our lives by means of the OA program.

May I not be too proud to enjoy cleaning up.