Thanksgiving without indulging

It is more than tradition to eat more food than one can withstand on thanksgiving. It is the 11th commandment or the 3rd amendment. Whatever you want to follow, we all spend our thanksgiving putting massive amounts of food in out mouth.

This thanksgiving was going to be different for me. I just had my surgery a week ago and was not permitted to eat anything.

There would be no turkey (smoked or roasted), no mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallow, no cranberry sauce, no stuffing, and no wine. I was going to spend thanksgiving without eating. This was going to be my first real test. I have spent the past week since having surgery primarily alone traveling and had no real opportunity to feel what I was missing. Now I was going to be with 10 other people who were going to enjoy their thanksgiving.

Food would be endless. There was breakfast, there was snack all day, lunch was a must, followed by more snacking, and then there was the thanksgiving feast for dinner. My wife's uncle made his usual 2 types of turkey and all the fixings. My father in-law did his usual bakery shopping, and bought his usual candy for snacking.

I survived. I had my water every 15 minutes. my sip of cranberry juice every 2 hours and a few ounces of clear broth during thanksgiving dinner. I sat and held my 5 month old daughter at the table while 10 people around me indulged themselves. I past my first test. I was able to sit at a table with people who were eating and not even think twice.

It was an incredible feeling to not want to eat all day.

My life obsession with food

For as long as I can remember my life revolved around food. I loved to eat. I would wake up and eat. I would go to school and eat on the way. At school I would already be planning on what to do for lunch and counting down the minutes from as soon as I walked in the door.

I love food. Who doesn't? Most of us love food, but we love it as we are eating it. I had a love affair with it. I let it control my life and my days.

At 29 years old it was time to change that. I have tried to diet, I have joined the gym and even had a trainer. Nothing worked. Now it was time to do something different. I decided that I had to take extreme actions and get surgery. I couldn't do it on my own. After all I loved food. How can I part with the first love of my life? How can I leave the food behind?

Its easy. I decided that I want to live longer for my kids and my wife.  At 29 I am a father of 3 beautiful children ages 5, 3 & 5 months. I have been married for nearly 6 years to my beautiful wife. And now it was time to think about the long term.

A friend of mine is a life insurance salesman and has been on my case to get life insurance for the past 2 years. 2 years ago I finally agreed. I filled out the paperwork and went for a medical evaluation. I couldn't afford it nor should I pay what they were asking for. As a result of me being fat they wanted me to pay more than I do a month for my mortgage. The insurance company knew what I had known for years. That at the rate I was going I wouldn't live forever.

Not that I ever planned on living forever, but I want to live to see my kids grow, get married and have kids of their own. The insurance company and their doctors who evaluated me were willing to bet against that. They bet that at the rate that I was growing I wouldn't get to see all of that.

I decided that I would ignore my friend and not buy insurance until a later time. But how long can I wait? I am the primary earner in my family. If I had a heart attack tomorrow or if I got hit by a car crossing the street I would leave my wife and kids with nothing. But I can't get insurance now. I just can not afford to spend so much money on something that hopefully I will not need till many years from now.

I have been blessed to have the opportunity in life to be on track to where I want to be professionally. I work really hard and travel more than I would like to. But I am at the stage of building my future while being happy with where I am in life.

So I have a great family, a great career, a wonderful life...

But I am fat and it was time to change.