"Women Food & God" ~ Chapter 1

First, let me clarify how I am reading this book in order to get the most out of it. To analyze and truly absorb the information, I read through a chapter first then ready my pencil and pink highlighter, tackling the chapter once again only this time annotating points and relevance to my own life. Finally, I write important quotations and bottom lines in my journal, along with my reactions and thoughts on the impact of Roth's words. That's my method in a sort-of-nutshell.

Highlights from Chapter 1:

"I turned to food for the same reasons people turned to God: it was my sigh of ecstasy, my transport to heaven, my concrete proof that relief from the pain of everyday life was possible. Then it would be gone."

"Dieting was like praying. It was a plaintive cry to whoever was listening..."

Roth's definition of God:

"One that uses this human life and its suffering... as a path to the heart of love itself."

This is how I've seen God for years, I've just been unable to put it into words. I am still a Christian yet I've always felt God as this great expanse and a being who loves even the worst part of ourselves.

God teaches me to love and forgive not only others, but myself as well, while teaching me to embrace flaws and love weakness. Easier said than done, no? Forgiveness of one's self is, I think, the hardest type of Forgiveness out there. We might ask God to forgive us (and He will) but we refuse to forgive or even ask it of ourselves. If we won't forgive ourselves, how can God?

Roth's Discovery:

"... understanding the relationship with food is a direct path to coming home after a lifetime of being exiled."

As first chapters go, this is powerful stuff. Reviewing my notes has opened my eyes to more self-revelation, while lighting a fire within me to change my sad course of life. Furthermore, I'm inspired to dive back into my own spirituality and relationship with God.