Holiday Straight Talk

It was the first year we had the family over for the holidays.  With our house situated near a hospital and a fire station, we were accustomed to the occasional wail of sirens. But the sound of emergency vehicles racing by with increased frequency on this holiday was especially unsettling.  What was the reason?  Accidents?  House fires?  

The next day, I read in the newspaper that the emergency ward was busy tending to people who had decided to celebrate the holidays by taking a break from following doctors' orders "just this once."  Heart patients, who didn't want the side effects of their prescribed medications, didn't take them "just for one day"; diabetics ate too much sugar and made themselves dangerously ill; and alcoholics ended up sick or violent from out of control, celebratory drinking.

When I think I "deserve" to overeat during the holidays, I know I am in denial about the insidious nature of this disease. Sugar is my cocaine, my alcohol and, ultimately, my poison.  I fool myself if I believe I can magically turn the switch on and off at will.  The disease never takes a holiday.  My body reacts the same way to food as it did yesterday, as it will tomorrow and 365 days a year.

Do I really want to deprive myself of a sane and happy holiday?  I don't think so. Not his year.

This article appeared in Lifeline, November 2009, p. 18.  Copyright Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.