Women, Food, and God

I recently read Geneen Roth's book Women, Food, and God, which I found amazing. 

It contains the best explanation that I've found as to why it's necessary for our emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual well-being to feel and accept our feelings. The alternative, according to the author, is we (women, specifically) will use food (or some other "drug") as comfort from boredom, rejection, loneliness, emptiness, heartbreak, etc. This is emotional eating at its core. If we eat when we're not really hungry, we need to ask ourselves why. How are we feeling at that moment? And, a bit more strangely, where is this feeling (chest, head, heart, belly)?

The author opines that a woman's eating style and what she eats reveals everything else about her, including her spiritual view (or lack thereof) of God. Fascinating stuff!

The true cure for weight loss that lasts (not to mention total lasting well-being), writes Roth, is to face and validate your feelings. All our feelings want is to be accepted openly. Once they are, their power is lessened and they no longer control us.

Also, we have a tendency to unbury past pain and traumatic memories when we face present pain, though this is often scary. We might say or think, for example, "I can't handle this pain." Or "I won't be able to function if I feel my own pain." (I know I think these thoughts!) 

But the key is to recognize that we are bigger and greater than our pain. (As is God.) We can feel our feelings without being destroyed by them. We need to stay in the moment and find peace, joy, and beauty in it, the author writes.

I'm so thankful that I found this book. These thoughts are exactly what I've been pondering throughout the past few months, but she explains them in a deeper, more cohesive way than I've thought them. 

 Eating should be healthy, normal, and nourishing, never an attempt to fill a void.