Week 39

Create new food triggers and memories. 

Certain smells and songs and even foods can bring to us nostalgic good memories of happy times with loved ones.  Unfortunately for most of us, the foods that are associated with these memories are junk food (birthday parties at McDonald's?) or sweets loaded with processed sugar.  So this week's challenge is to become aware of your food triggers, and if they are not good ones involving FoodsbyGod, work on establishing new ones.

We discussed food triggers at our September class last year.  I brought the bowl of fresh fruit salad above.  This is one of my good food triggers, but not all my food triggers are good choices like this one.  I told the class that though I have not had any sweets with processed sugar in years now, I absolutely LOVE a good white wedding cake and that I was not sure if I would have the willpower to pass that up!  (As you might know from previous posts, I am a sugaraholic and have been very addicted to processed sugar in the past).  Wedding cake was the first thing that came to my mind when mentioning food triggers and the strong desire for a piece of white wedding cake that this memory produced was amazing to me.  

Since the class, thinking more about why white wedding cake sounded so good, I realize it is not the taste that is so appealing (it would be so sickly sweet to me now - yuck) but the emotional feelings associated with it.  I thank God for showing me this because after recognizing the emotional pull of this food this last week, I know that I now could easily pass it up if offered some.

I pray that each of you can piece together these connections too and bring them into your conscious mind and become free of them.  I think my love of white wedding cake stems from my two older sisters' weddings - I was in both.  I was a flower girl in my oldest sister's wedding at the age of three and watching all the preparation and seeing my big sister in her beautiful white wedding dress was magical for me at that age.  Ending the night with a piece of the sugary sweet bakery white wedding cake planted deep memories into my mind of fairy tale happiness. 

Joanna brought this idea of food triggers to my attention the weekend before our class (thank you, Joanna).  Her food memories are of special times at home with her family after a long tiring day indulging in an endless supply of store bought sweets: cookies, cake and ice cream. Her family would eat away while they relaxed and laughed together.  What great memories of family bonding but all wrapped up with wrong food choices.  

Thus the pull of wrong food choices is difficult to overcome especially if you are unaware of the emotional connection.  If you come home tired after a busy day, you don't want to reward yourself and your family with this kind of unhealthy food.  This is the type of food trigger memories that one needs to realize and break. 

The bowl of fresh fruit salad that I brought to the September class is an example of one of my good food triggers.  For several reasons, a big bowl of fruit salad brings back wonderful memories for me.  Even more special would have been placing the mixed fruit salad in a watermelon bowl rind.  This is a good food trigger which I have and fortunately will be one of the 'happy' food memories that my sons will probably have.  The memory of relaxing summer morning bonding with the family and eating fruit salad on our screened porch.  It is also a standard that I fixed for their birthday parties which hold happy memories.

Another 'good' food memory that we have established in our house is popcorn and Izzie nights.  We have an air popper in which we pop our organic popcorn, and then I drizzle it with homemade sweet creambutter and season it with freshly ground good quality sea salt.  We would watch a movie together and take a break half way through to make the popcorn.  Then we would put a tablecloth down in the center of the living room floor (just eating food outside of the kitchen area was a special treat) and finish our movie night with popcorn and 'soda'.

So my challenge to you this week is to begin to replant good food memories into your mind and into the minds of your children.  Be intentional and claim victory.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will."  Romans 12: 1 - 2