Insight to my eating

I was brought up in an Italian American family, and while we weren't traditionalists about a lot of things, the food was always plentiful. My grandmother was always feeding people, and my mom continues that tradition. (not that this is an exclusively Italian trait, my French family did the same and I have seen many cultures do similar) I have the belief that if there isn't extra food, there wasn't enough food; which is fine if you're hosting a party, but isn't necessary for Monday night dinner.

I think traditions are important, and I do think a lot of family traditions have food involved. Look how many people have family recipes, and family cookbooks. (I have a family cookbook for both my mother and father's side) When my grandmother was dying my family sat around her kitchen table eating chicken soup and Italian bread. Some years later I found myself in a similar situation, sitting around the table at my husband's grandmother's house; the only difference was we were eating Portuguese soup and Portuguese sweet bread. Both of these memories are good memories, of family coming together to celebrate someone's life, and we bonded together while eating the food from that person's life.

I need to separate food from emotion. I emotional eat all the time. If something good happens I eat to celebrate, if something bad happens I eat to make myself feel better. I am sure some of this is due to my background, and the role food played in it. I'm not saying that family Holidays shouldn't have an overabundance of food and good times, I think I just need to remember that the people not the food make the good times. I would never blame food on a bad time, so why do I credit it with a good time?  And better yet, why do I try and replicate those good feelings with food, especially when I know that after I eat crap I will only feel worse not better.