Surrounded

I was just looking at a Facebook post from Huffington Post.  It listed the 10 favorite food bloggers of the month.  Then I looked through my timeline and found dozens of pages devoted to food-paleo diet food, gluten free food, desserts, product pages, etc.  My Twitter feed is filled with the same thing.  My inbox always has recipes or links to blogs that tout certain ingredients.  And I wonder why I have such issues with food!

We are a nation surrounded by paradoxes in food.  Fast food vs fine dining, gluten free, lactose free, paleo friendly, vegans and vegetarians.  Price Choppers vs Whole Foods.  Food, food everywhere in this nation of abundance.  Is there any reason why we should wonder why so many Americans are overweight, have poor diets, run like hamsters on treadmills, or pop pills for ailments that can be traced back to what we consume?  We have tv networks devoted to food, hundreds of magazines, cooking segments on the news.  We are surrounded.

The question I ask myself is: WHY?  It's just food.  Food is fuel for your body.  Thankfully it comes in many wonderful wholesome forms, which we insist on transforming and recreating into countless recipes.  Food nourishes us and provides us with vitamins and minerals that our bodies need.  Food, in its simplest forms, is just plain beautiful.

Food is not meant to cure our ills.  It shouldn't take the place of anything.  It shouldn't be a bandaid for emotions, or a companion for boredom.  It should be consumed when you're hungry and when you are full, you should stop.  Seems so simple, doesn't it?

Then why am I, and many other people, plagued with thoughts of food?  It's like an addiction.  It is an addiction-but one you can't just stop.  You can give up drugs, alcohol, or smoking, but you can't stop eating.  It's a disease of affluence.  I can walk a half a mile from my house and hit a McDonald's, a pizza joint, two diners, and a sub shop.  Not to mention I have 3, count 'em, 3 grocery stores within a mile of my house.  Talk about a junkie's paradise.

I grew up in a family where food was love.  You celebrated with food, you gathered for special dinners, you went out to eat for....well, for no reason at all sometimes.  And while every culture feasts when they celebrate a victory or a marriage or a holiday, I think we take it to an extreme here.

For me, personally, food has to step off center stage.  I have to stop letting it dominate my thoughts-there's no need for that.  There are so many things I can worry about than what to make for dinner.  I can do so many more things with a friend than meet them at a restaurant.  And while bookmarking recipes has become a favorite pastime, it has to be replaced with something more worthwhile.  Only then will I get over this addiction and start to gain back my health and well being.