Dear Dad

 My dad and his family can be something of an acquired taste for some - you either love 'em or hate 'em.  Over the last couple of years I have come to appreciate the "hate 'em" part with gusto.  My dad doesn't listen to anyone but himself.
"Dad, the car broke down at the 7-11.  It won't start." 
"No, it is fine" and it is.  He gets in, turns the key and away he drives.  Crazy I tell you.

My dad and all his family have been thin people all their lives.  Having spent some time with them you would say they eat whatever they want and they stay thin.  My dad eats a full breakfast every morning.  I would bet sausage and bacon are regulars.  Growing up my dad would watch Johnny Carson with a big bowl of buttered popcorn (oil popped only, we have a family joke about how many poppers he went through).  Last night my honey and I did the same thing.  Popcorn will always have a hold over me.

Over the last couple of years I have watched and noticed his eating habits.  When my dad is done he is done.  There might be one small slice of pie left and he will insist he is full.  He has a good relationship with his body and knows what it needs and wants.  I noticed over the course of a week he balances his bacon and sausage with things like steel cut oatmeal.  I know he is not consciously watching what he eats, he is just listening to his body. Our bodies really don't feel well if we eat bacon everyday, but those of us with food obsession have no understanding of this concept.  We lose the ability to feel our body - bacon is good and worth the pain.  Eventually our body adjusts and the uncomfortableness is replaced.  Personally, I think we train our minds to actually like that uncomfortableness - like when a kidnapped victim sympathizes with the kidnapper.   Ever heard people say that when they went off sugar and then tasted it again they didn't even like it?  What if all of food was really an acquired taste?  An acquired taste for an apple instead of a cupcake is the concept in reverse.

So, my dad naturally gets this concept and that is the concept that first blew my mind six or seven years back when I read the book about naturally thin people listed in my Amazon favs to the right.  It has been revised and I need to read it again but I loved it.  It blew my mind.  The thought of enjoying food and still being thin...crazy good!

  I am sure I never saw my dad stress eat or eat for comfort and, when I look back, my overall memory would say that my dad enjoyed his food way more than my mom did.  He brought home bags of candy (licorice was a must) when he brought home a rented VCR and some movies back in the day.  Gift food could last days sitting by his big leather rocker.  He was by no means an eater of only healthy foods and there was no obsession with food, any food.

Food is pleasurable like a back scratch.  It feels soooo good but too much and there is more pain than pleasure.  But, somewhere we got confused and since a back scratch comes with attention and is an indulgence and special we would never want to turn down a back scratch - that would be hideous, like turning down a million dollars.  My dad understood that enjoying, really enjoying, a good back scratch and ending just at the right time was more fulfilling.  There were no feelings of  "missing out" by stopping.  I found that I was only half enjoying and the other half was anticipating the end with a sort of fear behind it.  When I made the switch to my dad's way the light bulb exploded.  Boy, I need to hang out some more and pick up more of his traits!