A few years ago, Geneen Roth wrote a book about “Empty Heart, Empty Stomach” or something like that.
It really is true. We eat emotionally. Then use rationality to justify it.
We eat because we feel unsatisfied with so much in our life. We can’t blame it on bad sex, because…well, you know the reasons we can’t blame it on that.
Unsatisfied, sometimes fearful, sometimes vaguely discontented, we search for comfort. Food, especially the kind that is fattening and sugary, makes us feel comforted. At least until the first serving is gone.
But we can’t tell anyone about our dissatisfaction, can we? “I am Woman”, as Helen Reddy sang:
I am woman hear me roar
in numbers too big to ignore
I know too much to go
back and pretend,
cause I’ve heard it all before
So, you see, if we are going to be roaring, we can’t be complaining. So, we eat the second serving.
Life can hurt sometimes. Disappointment can run deep. Third helpings on the way? But joy can run deep also. Deeper.
Love can hurt. But love also heals. Enlightens.
Making love creates anew a sense of fulfillment. A deepened sense of self. Satisfaction.
But in our daily lives we forget about making love. We go on a love-making diet. We become love-famished. We run on love-reserve. Run on love-empty. We are love-anorexic. So we become food indulgent. Almost food gluttonous at times. It’s not because we love food more. It’s because we feel less love.
Make love more. Eat less.
How Do You Control Your Appetite?
Conclusion 6: Making Love is the Antidote
Next to come…
How do you control your appetite?
Rule 7: Blame It on Mom
©2009 Laura Gontchar. All Rights Reserved.
4 thoughts on “Making Love is the Antidote: Rule 6 to Control Your Appetite”
Visiting for the first time, following now from MBC
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It’s so true! When ever I have a bad day I have to get a latte to self medicate. Or, I go grocery shopping and buy the expensive items I don’t normally buy so that I can go home and cook myself something complicated and fantastic so that I have something to keep my mind off of things.
In reality though, the only thing that makes me feel better is to be vulnerable with my husband, my girlfriends and God and seek their help in overcoming what I’m facing. I think we’re so encouraged to put on a happy face, but forming relationships that run deep enough to be true to yourself is vital – I’ve always been an “up” person, but when I was pregnant I dealt with depression like I’d never felt before and being able to be honest about what I was going through was priceless.
In short – I’m a big fan of relating to self medicate – I just need to remind myself that a latte craving is really a relational craving 🙂