Food- The Journey (Part 1)

Hi again.

It has been an interesting week and I'm excited about what comes next, but this blog is about my past Journey.

We all have a story, and for some of us, food, is a big part.

As far back as I can recall, I thought I was fat.

The only time I thought that perhaps I wasn't going to stay fat was when I was in the army at age 17.  

I think the larger problems started in high school.  An incident when I was young (13) affected me and my confidence and that's when I started to eat..and eat..etc.

I internalized everything that went wrong and ate to feel better.  I believe though my experiences that any attempt to fill an emotional void should be considered an addiction (an illness) and should be treated that way.

I think you can see the direction this is heading, so I will skip many of the details.  

What happens when you are trying to compensate for a perceived inadequacy is loss of confidence and it can send you looking for an escape.

Food was one of my escapes, and I was good at it.

In my early teens, I won a contest where I won 2 visits to McDonalds each week for 52 weeks.  Now, let's be clear, while many people eat there, and have no issues and enjoy the food, they don't eat as often as I did.

In order to feed the addiction, I changed the dates on the meal coupons and ate there every day for at least a couple of months.

Can you imagine the impact that would have on a teenager? I think many teens would love it, and some may not gain weight, but I did, and it got worse from there.

In short, I was unhappy, ate the wrong food frequently and then, I isolated myself because I was unhappy, left high school twice, and it all ended with me leaving home at 17.

Many people have great childhoods, mine was not so great, but believe me, many others have a worse time.

Food is an energy source which should be used properly and not as a long-term crutch to deal with life.  I hope that anyone who sees this will know that they can move forward and have a good life even after a rocky start.  Life is not always easy, but most of the time, mistakes can be corrected.

Part 2 coming soon, Be well, talk soon.

Derrick