I’ve had food issues forever. The problem is that those issues seem to have affected every other area of my life. It’s not just the food. It’s the whole fear of never having enough. It’s why I have 10 goats, 40 chickens (give or take), 6 ducks, 2 turkeys, and a peacock – not to mention the dog and a couple of cats. I really don’t need that many farm animals….plus, did I mention I was lactose intolerant.
So I now have 30 dozen chicken eggs in the fridge and the turkeys and ducks have recently started laying as well. Those eggs don’t fit very well into regular egg cartons. I also have 3 gallons of goat milk – not bad since I just made cheese and used up 6 gallons over the weekend. Did I mention the lactose problem? I also made soap, because one can only make so much cheese and I have lots of goat milk. And this isn’t even my full-time job.
About 15 years ago I had gastric bypass surgery because food and sugar were my drugs of choice. I didn’t realize they were addictions or even really understand what an addiction was. I was always told I just ate too much and didn’t exercise enough. I was also told, “you would be so pretty if only you would lose weight.” What a crock. Food had a power over me that I didn’t understand until a few years ago when I went to rehab. Yeah – they don’t send you to rehab for a food addiction, but wine is just fermented grapes and that’s just another sugar. All of these things were my unconscious attempt to fill a hole inside my soul that I could never seem to fill.
So now I try to fill that hole with other things, hence the goats etc. And did I mention the dragons…but that’s a blog for another day.
I told my daughter that I would write a book someday. Maybe this is the beginning. Maybe it’s just whistling in the dark. I just know that I have lots of stories to tell. And if anyone tries to tell you that food is not an addiction, try eating one potato chip or one Thin Mint.
I Have Food Issues 
Wow, I can relate, I was just looking in my cabinets at all the “ingredients” to recipes that I must keep and have kept for years, but not used. My grandmother, my mother and my sister also have a similar problem. Sometimes I think keeping everything, including food came from the depression era and then passed down generations and is a good thing because we may need to be this resourceful again someday. I’ve read books on de-cluttering, keep a small home and consider minimalism, but it’s hard to get the husband on board with getting rid of all of this unnecessary stuff. I feel like all of these things lying around require so much of my attention (dusting, cleaning, fixing, moving, storing) and I’d rather focus on the people in my life rather than maintaining the things. Now the farm animals, garden and fruit trees, keeping those, I feel great about what we’re overproducing when we give away food to family, friends and our community.
Nice to hear your voice, I mean read it :), hope that all is well.
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My grandparents grew up in the depression, so I can relate. It’s not exactly the Mormon stores of food, but I do have stuff that is probably inedible at this point. I also have lots of “Grandmotherisms.” Maybe that should be another post…
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Tell it!
*side note, “woot goat cheese!”
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