"Women, Food and God"

I recently picked up this book by Geneen Roth called "Women, Food and God". I have never really had issues with food (I have many other issues..way too numerous to go into here, let me tell you!!) but...Oprah was raving about this book and since I am a huge Oprah fan, I decided to read it. Boy, am I glad I did! I think this book is for everyone, really. It combines eating with a spiritual approach. Roth speaks of how, as women, we are generally full of self loathing about our bodies. She speaks of how we should be "full of ourselves" so that we can, then, fill others up. She speaks of how so many of us are not present in our lives or our bodies. How we associate food with love, comfort, acceptance and are not in touch with our true spiritual nature. If we were truly present...as the Buddhist saying goes "The path to enlightenment is this...When you eat, eat. When you walk, walk, When you sleep, sleep".  In other words, be present. I am only halfway through the book  but it is an amazing look at how women, especially in our culture, associate our self esteem, spirits, self worth with the number on the scale. Roth directs us to ourSELVES...that is where true peace, love and acceptance lie. It is not outside of ourselves whether in food, culture, materialism etc. Here is a picture of an Indian stone sculpture circa 1117 CE. Not to say that this is the ideal female form (how many of us look like this?!!) but I like the fact that she isn't just standing there looking pretty...she is shooting a bow!! Yikes!

(Woman with Bow-Belur)