Food is not your friend

I went to a birthday party yesterday and three of us there were "on a diet" . A fourth person just had surgery and was able to eat her first solid meal.  Her meal was one turkey dog without bun and 3 noodles from the pasta salad.  She looked good but it was weird, it was like food and diet talk was taboo.  The got me thinking about the other two ladies that were with me.  We were laughing and joking abot who was going to lose the most and such. They are a great support and encouragement to me.  They are not only relatives but friends too.

We need people to support us, to cheer us on, to cry with us, and to understand that this is a trial we are going through. I think for many of us, food was that “friend”. The friend that was there when we were lonely, or anxious, or bored, or hurting, or even celebrating. The friend who never talked back, argue or hurt us (little did we know). It is very important to understand that food is not a friend. It is not meant to fulfill any emotion. It is there to sustain this body and only that.

I had a friend in high school that understood this even though she didn’t know it, but her body did. We would all go see a movie and after, go to Denny’s restaurant for a “snack”. For many of the group, this snack was a whole meal at 11pm with milkshakes. But for Heather, this was a side salad and a coke. Go figure, a 16 yr old who ordered salad every time. She also had the smallest bill every time, lol. Heather ate to live not live to eat. Food was not her friend, we were.

We need a support system around us to be successful. Otherwise, it is too easy to give up and for many of us, we can’t afford that option anymore.

This wks scripture: Proverbs 17:17 A friend is loving at all times, and becomes a brother (sister) in times of trouble.