I just read this evening in a popular diet magazine that "It's not a party without cake!" Well I beg to differ:) Parties without cake for me means no obsessing about how to eat as much as I'm craving without totally humiliating myself or obsessing about how fat, ugly, and stupid I am. I can truly celebrate the occasion now because I am enjoying a reprieve from my disease. I'm focused on the people, not the food:)

I remember a few years ago hearing a food addict struggling with whether or not to have birthday cake for a birthday. To hear someone else talk about it (rather than hearing me talking about it in my head) gave me a while new light on the subject. It occurred to me how much like a child it sounds to build up in my mind this great importance of having a birthday cake and what kind it would be, on what kind of icing and what kind of (edible) decorations would be on it. I used to live like that every year. And I thought of older family members (not food addicts) and it seems they could care less about having a birthday cake, it doesn't even occur to them. My mom sounds surprised when I bring it up (for her). Who are these people?!? LOL

Grateful to not need birthday cake these days. One finger full of frosting was what got me started on my last relapse (someone else's birthday cake had so painstakingly planned and ordered, as I had just finished cleaning up the kitchen and when no one else was around). "I can just have a little bit of this" and I was off, gained 50 pounds in three months and was miserable.

Today I have more "mature" options for celebrating a birthday, like jumping out of an airplane. Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly! LOL It does occur to me as I am writing this that I still way overemphasize my birthday celebrations, though these days they are more right-sized (one day, not a month). Thanks to you all for showing me the way.

Steve in GA