Unpacking a lie

"The lie is that food that is actually bad for you has the power to comfort, nurture and sustain you." Wow! this hit me.

Even before I started the exercises. I just have to take time a list those bad foods - chips, cake, ice cream, cookies, take out, bread pudding, roast beef sandwiches on kaiser rolls, snickers, pie, fast food, danish, pancakes, bacon and egg sandwiches, marie callendar's chicken pot pies, TGIFriday's smoked glazed chicken, butter, chocolate, rugalucha, whole milk cheese, soda, beer, wine, mixed drinks, - (as I am making this list, I am walking up and down the isles of my local grocery store as if I am shopping) chicken tikka masala, nann, Whole food whoopies pies, cupcakes, samosas, french fries...... I could go on and on - so to get to the other points

These foods don't have the ability to comfort, nurture and sustain me - it is going to take some time for me to wrap my head around this - off the cuff it sounds counter intuitive to me. Part of me says "I like these foods, even love them, when I have them I really enjoy having them. It is the nurture and sustain part that is sticking for me. It is food - it provides calories for our bodies to function it helps keep the body running along with sunlight, water, excercise, sleep, creativity - if you don't have food you die - so the nurture and sustain part is still catching me - I don't have to eat food that is 'bad' for me - but I do have to eat food and I would like to eat food I like.

This one sentence really is getting at a relationship to food.

Comfort is the next word that I keep tumbling over in my mind. There is so much that happens around food and there are many layers to connection between comfort and food. Rituals with preparing food and eating food that can be comforting - it is something I do everyday and there are certain patterns I have with food, some new, some old - that are just part of life. Holidays have there comfort foods - for me it is eggnog stolen chocolate - these are the foods that help make the holidays special for me. There are foods like pancakes and roast beef sandwiches on kaiser rolls that go back to childhood and hold special meaning and cherished memories that perparing and eating brings up and feel good. For me the chips and ice cream that I sometimes buy when I am upset for some reason - or that I want to celebrate something - these are my standard go to comfort foods or binge foods for me.

Okay - so I maybe over thinking this - but I think it is good to sit with the ideas to see where they lead. 

Last thought - why call it bad food - part of me wants either to say unhealthy food - rich food - special occasions food - I want to find a better description so maybe I can have these things I like on special occations and not banish them from my eating repetoire entirely. Okay I get the feeling if I stay in this line of thought I am going to start sounding like a whiney kid.

With all this rational thought - maybe this is something that shouldn't be thought of so rationally or to do exegesis on the sentence (there is a word I haven't used since seminary - exegesis) - but rather spiritually and wait to see what the book has to say.