I don’t interpret my kids’ rejection of certain foods as a failing grade on my “good mother” report card. I am, for the moment, free of food-related anxiety…

‘Tis the season of dietary overindulgence, which starts with Halloween and lasts through New Year’s Day, when many resolve to undo the damage inflicted by too many Christmas cookies.

Seeking a balanced perspective on food in this unbalanced season, I eagerly read Christianity Today’s cover story on the food movement. Leslie Leyland Fields argues for thoughtful food choices governed by our belief in a God who rules all creation, while cautioning against seeking perfection through our diets.

Fields introduced me to the term orthorexia, an eating disorder characterized by an unhealthy obsession with healthy food. While I don’t know anyone with orthorexia, I know plenty of people who are anxious about what they and their children eat, myself included…

When I pack an especially healthy school snack (hummus and pita, for example, instead of the usual cheddar Goldfish), I secretly hope the teacher will notice that I’m following the school’s healthy snack policy to the letter…

Anxiety drives out gratitude. When I’m worrying about whether my kids’ snacks contain trans-fats or how many servings of fruit they’ve had today, I forget how fortunate I am to be able to feed my children when they are hungry.

Ellen Painter Dollar is a writer who focuses on Christian reproductive ethics and disability theology. She is writing a book for Westminster John Knox Press (forthcoming in 2011) about the ethics and theology of assisted reproduction and genetic screening. She writes regularly for Her.meneutics

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Read More: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/novemberweb-only/56-31.0.html?start=1