“In some ways my compulsive eating years were a waste. But now that I have had the courage to face those years head on and heart on, I do not look on them with regret. I believe nothing has gone to waste; it has all been transformed. I am glad my compulsive eating years are behind me, but I am even more glad they have happened. Now I can eat normally, I am not on a par with those who have never had the struggle that I have had to get there. For there is something even better than never having had an eating disorder, and that is having an eating disorder redeemed. Now that I have emerged from the compulsive eater’s tunnel and a chocolate bar and I can share a room together, now that I no longer respond to every situation by walking into the larder, I can see that my disorder has saved me.
Who would I have been if I had never been a compulsive eater? The experience is now so much a part of me that any answer can only be speculative, but I do not think I would have been the kind of person I like to know.
My compulsion has given me a grateful softness. It is the softness of knowing deep down that I am who I am because of those who have loved me.
I had fought against my eating disorder. I had to learn to embrace it. In embracing my weakness I was rescued from what I perceived as my strengths. I was saved by my weakness.”
excerpts from the book Fat is a Spiritual Issue – My Journey, Jo Ind.
It seems only fitting that I share someone elses words as if they could have been my own, especially at this time of year being the festive, Christmas season. It’s been “the best Christmas ever.” 
