Food Should be One of Life's Simple Pleasures

I love food. I love everything about it. Talking about food, thinking about it, planning it, recipes, cooking, and of course, eating.

But some people just can't allow themselves to enjoy food. It's just too scary. They may feel that if they eat food they like, they are sure to be out of control. And out of control probably means they will overeat, and get fat, and that would be just too horrible to contemplate.

Other people feel they don't have "the right" to enjoy food. Somehow it's just too decadent to allow food to make them happy.

One of my patients put it really well. She told me that her life feels very out of control right now, and food and her weight feels like the only thing she CAN control. She spends a lot of time thinking about how to control what she eats, and planning what NOT to eat. For example, she loves fried chicken, but would feel awful if she ate it. She is sure that just eating this once would result in a binge and weight gain.

It's just so sad that our culture of thinness has made life with food so hard for some people.