addictions
I have to admit it: I am addicted. Usually, it’s only “other people” who have life-altering dependencies. But this time it’s me, addicted to food.
When I see people with addictive behaviors, I wonder, “Why don’t they just…stop?” Are they just so nebbish that they can’t just say “no” to their cravings? They know they should stop, they kinda want to stop, but they keep on going. But now, I realize how hard it is. And I’m not even going cold turkey—I’ll continue to be a social eater, have a few burgers with the guys, but what is a problem is sitting alone in my apartment, scarfing down food. I start with a plate of food—”one plate should do….” and I eat it, and then I get some more food, and eat it. And I know I should stop, but I still feel…empty. And then in a few hours, I get hungry again. It never lasts.
So, I’ve failed again. Got home at 10pm after spending the day at the pool, and then frisbee, and then evening service,,,and I keep from loading up on food until after my shower, but then I heated up some enchiladas and ate them, by the light of my computer monitor. And I’m still hungry, even though there is something in my stomach. Guess everybody is doing it. A little more food won’t be much worse, while I’m off the wagon already…I’ll quit—tomorrow… and what do you know? The Verse-of-the-Day from two places each say something pertinent:
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
and,
Hosea 7 : 5
On the day of the festival of our king the princes become inflamed with wine, and he joins hands with the mockers.
August 17th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
i am one of the many out there just like you! you should start a support group so people like us can find help.
August 17th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Dear Me! I am moved immediately to consider not the effect or the act of this “addiction” (which, in its simplest form is merely survival), but to wonder about the cause(s) and cure(s).
I am recently enamored with, and thus want to “namedrop”, one of Kierkegaard’s basic outlooks as laid down in Stages on Life’s Way, a thick and daunting book which can thankfully be summarized in three points: Man naturally preceeds from the Aesthetic - one totally involved in sensory or intellectual pleasures - to the Ethicist, concerned and engrossed by the Right and Wrong in life. The life of the aesthete is taken up with simply “doing what comes naturally”, whether it be art, sex, food, or war. The Ethicist is awakened when the realization hits that this simple formula is destructive to all that is truly valuable: health, peace, relationships… The struggle ensues in which there is no true hero, only the self-serving vs. the self-righteous.
The third and final stage of life is perhaps rarely reached: the Spiritual - his Leap to Faith, in which the sense and sensibility (Hey, that would make a good title for a book!) are lost in the immediate experience of Faith.
All this just to say: I recommend you neither ignore your realizations about food’s attractions, nor seek to curb them. Instead, try my formula for “Peace on Earth, Good Will To Men (and Women, by the way)” Don’t worry about it. Just get more Exercise and Sleep. To these two delicious alternative to over-eating, add the development of relationships, and you will find… I’m not going to give away the story’s ending!
August 28th, 2007 at 11:53 am
well, having alot of experience with this hunger thing.. remember when we went in to st . louis to this naturopath, up a skinny flight of stairs to a cheap office occupied by a skinny young man freshly graduated from somewhere, who heroically and nervously took our large entourage in stride (if you are gonna be that kind of doctor you have to put up with strange people) and asked me lots of questions and the only advice that i remember is that he suggested that i get this green drink. . first i used green magma, reccommended by david showwalter, and now i take dr. schultzes green food because it has lots of b vitamins and was reccommended by rebecca wiltberger who i would also highly reccommend. with daily doses of the green stuff, which i often fail to remember untill i’m falling off the wagon regularly, i find that my chronic ’starvation’ sensations, which i have lived with since i was alot younger than you, are alleviated. my brillient conclusion is that the body lacks some essential nutrient(s) and calls for food, if we listen very carefully it may tell us what food, but generally all we hear is “more carbohydrates!” or “CHOCOLATE!!!” or perhaps the cry unheard is for mental stimulation, or a good laugh, a warm body or a warm heart..
August 28th, 2007 at 11:57 am
the comments above were not by the grand ofld man but by his grand old wife who couldnt find the place to identify herself and ended up falsely labeled, which is a shame becaise her life experiences have been quite different from those of the grand old man even tho they have lived under the same roof for 30 plus years