WHAT’S A CALORIE?

Monday, October 17, 2011 - Comments 2

By Valerie Cunningham

There we were, standing in the checkout line at the grocery story, when my almost 9 year old daughter asked, “What’s a calorie?” Trying not to over-react, I calmly replied, “Excuse me, what did you say?” She then pointed out the bold advertisement on the seemingly innocent box of popscicles we were purchasing.

Despite my well meaning attempts to shelter and protect her from words like calorie, fat grams, and gluten, among others, inevitably the day would come when she would hear or read them. And in my opinion, that day came too soon. I’m hyper-vigiliant when it comes to anything related to eating and body image issues, most obviously because I was held captive to my Eating Disorder for more than two decades. The word calorie was one I knew at an early age and it was a “bad” word. There was nothing good associated with it. I remember a little calorie-counter book that lived in the junk drawer of our kitchen in my childhood home. I had memorized every calorie for every item in that book, well before my Eating Disorder began to play out in my life. 

It took a lot --- treatment, therapy, and learning to eat intuitively --- but thankfully, today I don’t view the word calorie as “bad”. In simple terms, it means energy. Necessary energy to fuel my body to perform and function the way God intended it to.

That day is not far off, when I will have to sit my daughter down and have a painfully honest conversation of what I went through and the bondage I was in for all of those years. But until then, the answer to that premature question is, “Nothing you need to know about now….nothing at all.”

Valerie Cunningham is a wife and homeschool mom. She is in her 6th year of recovery from a 22 year battle with anorexia. Currently she leads a support group for disordered eaters at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.