Food: My first true love.

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food."
A quote by the well known playwright George Bernard Shaw. This is one quote that I truly like as it is one about food; a quote that I can wholeheartedly endorse as my love of food is sincere indeed.

It is a known fact that we cannot survive for long without nutrition of some kind. For me I suffer when I go without food for more than 3-4 hours. My stomach grumbles & rumbles, gives me aches & pains of various kinds and feels hollow when I have not had something to ingest after three to four hours.

Being of Italian descent I was never allowed to go hungry especially when at my Zia (italian for aunt) or Nonna's (italian for grandmother) place. If my brother, my cousins or any of us kids even hinted that we wanted something to eat my relatives would be jumping to make sure our food needs were met. Sometimes a quiet little rumble of my belly would have my Nonna or Zia making their way to the kitchen to whip up something. They were even known to anticipate our needs by routinely offering us food every couple hours. Even if a main meal was soon to be served we would be offered a snack to keep us settled until the food was on the table. I am often amazed that I am not 300 pounds with all the food I was fed as a child. Even today when I go visit my Italian branch of the family I am often offered munchies within minutes of walking in the door.

Something that is common with people of European cultures is you will be asked 3 times if you want something. If you truly do not want what is offered you have to decline each time, and you have to be polite and firm when you say no. If you even slightly waiver in any way you have just accepted the offer and cannot say no after that. As a child I have no problem with accepting any and all food offers. As a growing child I could eat someone's cupboards bare with my appetite. My family loved me because of that. To them the phrase "Food is love. Love is food." means everything. Food often equated to love and they showed their love A LOT!

Growing up the word 'moderation' was not part of my vocabulary. I was allowed and encouraged to always eat my fill. Having second or third helpings at any meal was considered the norm for us. Even my mother who could not afford to truly raise her boys on her own would make enough to feed a small army so we could have our fill. She would always make sure we didn't go hungry.  As a grown man I still eat a fair amount. Moderation is a word I know and I do my best to eat in a healthy moderate way. It is just difficult when I was not taught to eat that way. Impulse eating and stuffing myself till I am full is such a deep ingrained habit that it is something I fight daily. I win some battles and I lose others.

I have been fortunate that I have kept my weight under 200lbs, just! There was a short period when I was at the 200lbs limit. I was not a happy man during that time frame. For me I usually stay around 180. I just need to tone up and lose my food gut. Besides my lack of moderation at times it is also my lack of physical activity that conspires against me. I like to sit and read a lot. I am on my feet all day at work so when I come home I don't want to exercise. I wanna be lazy and read my book or surf online while munching on some good food. My boyfriend does his best to 'encourage' me to be more active but he can be a slug sometimes too so that doesn't work too well!

It is so hard when you love food as much as I do. If I could I would eat all the time. Eating is more than just a necessity of life for me. I find that eating is an activity to enjoy and relish at anytime, anywhere with anyone. Food is one of the few things in life that all of us human beings share besides the need to breathe, sleep, drink and love.

In the end it all comes back to the Love!