My mom recently told me about a speaker she watched who used to be a compulsive eater, and who now counsels people with their out-of-control eating addictions. He pulled a potato chip out from a bag and ate it, acknowledging that potato chips are delicious on many levels—their saltiness, their fatty flavor, and their crispiness. In the end, however, it’s just food. It’s a potato. He plunged a second chip into a glass of water. Within minutes, the chip was soggy and totally unappetizing.
That’s what I’m eating when I have a potato chip, and it’s probably what it looks like in my stomach! Yuck! So why do I eat potato chips? I actually don’t eat them very often, but I eat other things that are probably just as fatty and look just as unappealing once it’s traveled down my gullet.
The truth is, I eat sometimes because it makes me happy. Have you ever sat in front of a banana split and thought, “Life just doesn’t get better than this!” You might be thinking that for the first seven bites or so. What about after 30 bites? Are you feeling happy?
Chances are, happiness has flittered away and feelings of disgust, guilt, and disappointment are in its place. So when does that emotional shift happen? Wouldn’t it be great if we could find the magical place where food stops making us happy, and quit eating just before that point? I am determined to find it. There’s no reason why I can’t have a little food-induced happiness in life, and I don’t want over-eating to ruin it.
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