Gluttony

If I were ever to be guilty of one of the seven deadly sins, it would easily be gluttony. No, this is not a post about body issues, but a post about my love of food. I love food. I think I also love the act of eating, and it's comforting to me. When people are sad or depressed and say, "I just can't eat," I just don't get it. I can always eat, and I don't really have a "full" switch.

Until three days ago.

I don't know what my body is doing, but it isn't hungry. I'm not sick, I don't feel nauseous...I just don't have any desire to eat. I can think of some brides that would think, "Sweeet! Now I can lose 5 lbs. for the wedding!", and I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth but the truth is, I have a dress, and I need it to fit, and I don't need to lose any weight.

But, in the spirit of living life to the fullest, I've been trying to ride this wave of non-hunger, and see what it feels like to be a normal person, for whom thought of the next meal are not constantly on one's mind. In a way, it's kind of cool -- I feel like I can get more done with one less thing on my mind (and believe me, there is a lot on my mind this week!). It's also given me a chance to reflect on my regular eating behavior and mindset about food, and whether or not that's really healthy. On the one hand, I enjoy that I don't freak out about food and don't have those body image problems I did as a teenager (can you say "unfun?"). I enjoy being able to tell my students (especially my girls), "I love food," hopefully normalizing food for them and making it a not-scary object, giving them a different point of view than they may see in the media. On the other hand, from a health standpoint, I probably should eat a bit less, and I do ride that fine BMI line between "healthy" and "overweight" (this is, mind you, strictly medically speaking. Once again...I am not complaining about my body). In the end, I know it's all about "making healthy choices," a mantra that is repeated ad nauseum at work.

So, we'll see how long this little streak lasts but of all the times for food to become less appealing and less time-consuming, I suppose this is a good one. I have programs to print and errands to run and checks to mail and family and friends coming in this week to entertain.

I just hope that my appetite returns for the wedding cake.