Abstinence is eating three nourishing meals a day, with life in-between. Dieting is having a goal weight, a goal day, clenched fists and gritted teeth. Abstinence is accepting powerlessness over food, relaxing and giving up the fight. Abstinence is accepting myself just as I am today, realizing that my worth does not hinge on the size of my body. Dieting is life-threatening.
Abstinence is life-giving.
Diets are something you start on Monday and go off Thursday. Abstinence is an ongoing daily reprieve from the disease of compulsive overeating. Dieting is placing all the emphasis on food, which must be controlled in order to solve the problem which is believed to be fat. Abstinence is knowing that fat is not the problem but only a symptom of an illness called compulsive overeating, and that the solution lies not in trying to control the food, but in practicing the twelve steps. Dieting is rigidly adhering to 700 calories a day because my boyfriend said he would marry me at 115 pounds.