This is My Love/Hate Letter

"Dear Food,

Why must you torment me so?

You know how I feel about you. Instead of being grateful and returning the unconditional love, you toy with my emotions. I think you look for my weaknesses and specifically target them to cause my inevitable downfall while you stand on the sidelines, laughing ruthlessly at me.

I've lusted after you for years. I've had dreams about you. I've lied for you, thrown up on purpose because of you, cursed your name, and sworn up and down that you'd never get the best of me again.

I've even cried because of you.

You'll be my friend one day, then give me a horrible stomachache the next. I'll make good choices and feel amazing, and then one sidelong, come-hither glance from you, and I crumble with my admitted lack of willpower. Lack of a spine. You reduce me to a quivering, frenzied, hungry animal desperate for nourishment in the form of anything high-calorie, high-sugar, high-fat, and low in essential vitamins and nutrients.

When our relationship is good, it's unbelievable. When it's bad, I feel completely powerless. With all the physical activity I'm doing, I have to come to terms with you. I have to figure out how to embrace whole grains, lean proteins, leafy greens, fresh fruits, and nutrient-dense vegetables. I have to learn how to balance the part of me that wants to inhale desserts and processed snack foods with the other part of me that wants to perform better as a long-distance runner. I have to turn a blind eye to your eternal taunting, and become deaf and dumb to your siren call when the ravaging hunger takes control of every fiber of my being.

I have to let go of your stronghold. I hope you can respect that.

With love,

The Novice Marathoner"