Is it Time to Divorce Your Food?

I am going to strike a nerve with you today because I am going to talk about one thing that no one wants to talk about; divorce.  Divorce is unfortunate and often very ugly.  The two sides disagree and there is little if any common ground left.  As ugly as it is, sometimes divorce is necessary.

Now let me be direct, I am in no way an advocate of divorce.  I am very happily married to the most wonderful woman I know.  But divorce is a reality for many, and should be considered by others.  Are you starting to scratch your head and wondering where I am going with this?  If you think the option of divorce is totally off the table for you, let me share something with you that you may not know.  In the great book of Jeremiah in the Bible, the Lord issues a bill of divorce to the people of Israel for not following his commandments.  Yes, even the Lord, whom we should build relationships around, is in favor of divorce.  So acknowledging that, I am going to ask you, is it time you consider a divorce?

What does any of this talk about divorce and the Bible have to do with food?  A lot in fact.  More so than you probably ever knew.  First, think about what divorce is.  On one level it is the emotional separation to something that you were once attracted to or involved with.  This definition should start to give you some insight as to where we are headed.  When the relationship is unhealthy and detrimental, divorce should be on the table.

You Lost Your Connection

Without fully acknowledging it, your connection to food has been lost.  Remember the time when you used to seek out quality food.  You went out of your way to find the best options.  Even better, you felt empowered by having done so.  Yet with time, a busy schedule, a family to consider daily, your priorities have slowly taken a different order.  That connection you once had to food has been lost.  As with nearly all aspects of your life, if you don’t purposefully choose your direction in life, it will be chosen for you.  Food is not an exception, if you don’t go out of your way to connect to food, you will connect to the wrong food.

When you are not connected to food, you are just eating.  It may be for the sake of the next meal or snack, but it is done without connection.  This is an unhealthy and detrimental routine.  It leads to making the wrong food choices and becoming stuck in a pattern of negative habits that continues to build on itself.  You cannot stay in this pattern and expect any long term quality of life.  Food is life and the wrong food is going to rob you of life.

Is it Time to Divorce Your Food?

So I ask you, “Is it time to divorce your food?”  With the pattern that you have been in recently, and for longer than you truly care to admit, your choices around food are wrong.  They are not empowering you.  So let me offer my support as you begin wholeheartedly considering divorcing your food.  It is time to divorce your food?

You deserve the best possible relationship you can have.  Those feelings of connection you have are normal, but they are not real.  A true relationship must be two ways.  You must give and receive.  Unfortunately, the food choices that you have been making are only taking (your health and enjoyment of life away from you).  There is no giving.  Just as the brokenness that comes along with a marital divorce heals over time, so too will your body.  The cravings and urges that you have developed around food will slowly begin to fade away as you continue to make the optimal choice.  You know divorcing your food is the right choice, starting right now.  As unsettling as it might be, be strong.  I am here to help you through this.

Re-Marry Food and Become Merry

There is a silver lining I want to share with you.  I know that divorce places a heavy feeling in your heart.  I understand.  It does for me also.  I don’t like talking about it at all.  In fact, I won’t even let the word be used in my home.  Yet I felt that it was necessary to share this with you in this context for you and I to explore how real the bond to food can be, but not in a healthy way.  The bright side however ironically also parallels a marital divorce.  The time after a divorce is a time of reflection where questions are asked about what could have been done different and how I could have been a different person in the relationship.  This is a good process to undergo and one that often leads to a stronger next relationship.

Use this exact same mentality going forward in your relationship to food.  Re-Marry food and become merry.  Foster a relationship that allows you to have a wholesome connection to good food.  Rather than allowing yourself to just grab what is quick and easy, nurture your body just as you would a human relationship.  Make the relationship emotional, yet in a positive way.  Just as you want your significant other to nurture you, and vice versa, the same can be accomplished with food.  Nurturing and building relationships should not be isolated to human connections.  Foster the relationship with food just as you would human interaction.  The potential for increased health and emotional stability is unlimited.  Make the commitment to divorce your food this one time and have the satisfaction of knowing that the next relationship you have with it will be the best relationship.

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