I’ve started reading the book Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories by Lorraine Clissold not because I want to stop counting calories – I never have and never will – but because, while flipping through the book, I saw that Clisshold addressed more than just calorie consumption…

I’ve known that my (and Western culture’s) approach to food has always been wrong. Not innately wrong, but definitely steering away what the approach to food should be. I’ve also been searching for things to help me deal with the stress and emotional issues in my life.

Already, on the first page of the first chapter, I have had to stop to contemplate.

“When you eat, you should not worry.” – Sun Si Miao (581 -682 AD)

You may think I’m fairly easily impressed if the first quote of the book gives me pause, but… well… I don’t care if you do.

Sun Si Miao’s statement struck me as something so simple and yet so profound. Why? Because almost every overweight person always worries when they eat. Especially when it comes to binging.

“Should I be having this?” “I shouldn’t be having this.” “How badly is this going to reflect on the scale tomorrow?” “I wonder if this will go to my hips or my butt…” “Here we go again. I’m failing. I’m going to have to start the diet all over again.”

I have worried so incredibly often when I’ve eaten. Back when I hid my binge eating, I always worried I would be caught. Even after that, there were worries that I wasn’t making the healthiest choice of meal or worrying whether I would regret this particular treat in the morning.

How much nicer would life be if we could take a stance of acceptance instead of worry?

“Okay, so I had that brownie. I enjoyed it. I accept that. Back to the usual tomorrow.”

When I talked about the certain kind of peace last week, this is the kind of thing I was talking about – acceptance. And yet, I still never connected it with the nearly incessant worry I have done with so many meals.

I haven’t beaten the habit by any means, but I am going to keep trying to stop worrying less while I’m eating so I can simply enjoy the nourishment I’m putting into my body.

I have a feeling this book is going to make me pause and think a lot about things as I’m reading it. If they are all as meaningful and motivating as this simple quote, I will come out a much better person in the end.