Thoughts about Food and Some Food for Thought

A note here.... before you read the following post, or if you have already read it, please understand I am not in favor of doing away with food, good meals and the like, but that we think a bit about how food is often the center stage, when perhaps it should take a second place to friendship, celebration and family togetherness. Food should not be our comfort, its too temporary and too shallow. It gives back only a numbing feeling and no resolve.
Living in a country that "boasts" a 67 % obesity rate, and that is OBESITY, not just fat, it makes me very aware of how many people are suffering from over indulging. Weight Watchers is full of people hoping to change the focus from food being center stage in their lives and the gym is full of people with the same issues. I saw a car seat with a lable that said, up to age 4 or 80 lbs. On the news they said they had to make car seats with bigger seats due to so many overweight children. That is what makes me want us to stop the insanity of eating too many goodies, super sizing everything, doubling recipes, desserts more than just a rare special time.

This morning I was laying in bed thinking about food. Not that I wanted any, but how food can take over our lives and become the center of attention to every holiday, celebration and even the merit badge of our being a "good wife".
I saw a lady on Oprah yesterday that had by-pass surgery. She said that for the first three months after the operation she cried because she missed food. She had found love, comfort and enjoyment from food for so long that now she was lonely without it.
It sounds silly at first until you start to think about it a bit. Most of us can't even imagine Thanksgiving or Christmas without the food aspect. How could we enjoy cold winter days without some goodie baking in the oven ? A homemaker gets a lot of validation from the quality of her cooking and baking. But wait, isn't there so much more to her abilities ?
When I mentioned these thoughts today at Weight Watchers, there was a strange reaction.... so many women stiffened and rebelled to the idea that a holiday or even life could be enjoyed without the food of plenty. Instantly it reminded me of folks that have a drinking problem and cannot imagine a party without being drunk. Our children love baked treats, but are we addicting them to the sugar, the idea of joy and comfort from food, so they can later struggle with this issue.
What if you had Christmas without 10 baked goodies ? Or just made 1 gingerbread man for each child ? Could you survive ? Sure you could.
Treats are just that, a treat. Not over doing and making desserts all the time.
I remember well taking a class and hearing some startling information. In the early days of Alaska's history with the United States, scientists wondered how the native women would give birth in such frigid conditions, bringing into the world a naked wet baby and not have the baby compromised health wise.
The scientists would hurry to see a birth take place when they heard of one, only to find each time, they missed it. The babies were born quickly and with no complications. As the American food infiltrated the native culture, particularly white flour and sugar, the labors of these women grew longer and longer, and with more complications. It was a "no brainer" to everyone that the change in diet was the cause.
So here we are, doing the very same thing to our children. To our daughters and grand-daughters.
Filling them with home baked goodies trying to be the good old fashioned moms and grandmothers, but we are hurting them. We are hurting ourselves too. Stuffing emotions with food and often not being real with our own feelings.
We are taking the true reason for holidays, such as religious significance and national celebrations and placing the real reason under plates of food.
We have lost some of the real reasons to celebrate and gained some bad health and some bigger waist measurements.
I sure have given myself a challenge here. My children laugh at how when they were little they thought raisins were candy and amaranth crackers were cookies. We didn't give them sugar except in tiny amounts and on special times. Neither girl cares much for sweets. But I was raised so differently....if I had a bad day, a cookie or something was handed to me. When my girls had a bad day, their needs were met with mom or dad sitting with them, holding them and talking with them. Emotional needs should be met with emotional connections, not food to make you feel good for a moment, then the feeling comes back and you need another goodie.
Food for thought, don't ya think ?

The picture, this morning on my land. Heavy dew covering the grass.