Food-centered life styles

"Come on in and have something to eat"

"We should go get something to eat."

"What do you want to eat?"

"It's a potluck."

"Bring food."

All statements that we hear in our lives daily.  We are a food-centered society with first world problems.  Which restaurant to eat in, what cut of meat to choose from the deli case, which foods do you pick as you walk down the buffet line?

When you are attempting to cut down on the amount of food you eat you begin to notice how every event centers around food.  This weekend we attended two music events and both had food offerings available.  "Go eat..." After church someone serves cookies, bars and now fruit and cheese because last year we choose a healthier initiative.

Food, food, food.  It seems to be necessary at gatherings, get-togethers, and everything we celebrate; birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. Reunions.  We are headed to a family reunion this weekend.  I've been working on cutting my calories way back and getting in more activities.  So this weekend I have to get in the car and ride for several hours to go to a gathering where people will have all kinds of unhealthy treats laid out on paint chipped picnic tables.

Even virtual gatherings are often food-related as we scroll food blogs, websites, and pinterest for tasty offerings.

I think it is going to be a new goal of mine to ignore the food at gatherings and just focus on the people.  I might even try and get together with people without food involved.  How would that even look?

We could meet for a walk in the park, or a movie (no popcorn), coffee (no biscotti + I don't drink coffee).  There's got to be a way to make this work.  Anybody else struggle with this notion?

I love food just as much as the next person but it's just not good for us to be constantly focused on food.  Angelle, Verda, and I did discuss this at the great reading retreat.  We didn't solve it there either.  We were eating cheese, crackers, and hummus while we were pondering this life question. We were outside at least enjoying the beautiful nature around us.

I'm going to test it out this weekend as the stuff spread out on that table will not be the healthy fare I normally ingest so it will be easy to walk past potato salad, green bean salad, and