DD is at a Christmas Cookie party tonight. She called this morning while I was in the hall waiting for the nurses to finish a procedure on my Dad. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to go to visit with her friends from church. But she didn't want to be pressured to eat cookies.

I told her that part of her recovery from the compulsive exercise/eating mode she has been in will be learning how to be polite, be social, and be healthy all at the same time. The Blood Type/GenoType diet is the only diet I know that seeks to build overall health for the long term, but it is quirky compared to what is "normal in our culture".

In a social situation, you have to determine what compromises you can make and where you draw the line. No amount of social pressure will cause me to drink alcoholic beverages. Almost all of them are avoid for me. In addition I have religious and genetic reasons to abstain. I will not eat brownies, because I have a history of allergic reactions to chocolate. But if I was at a cookie party, I would scout the table for the best options - maybe a fruit cake that was mostly nuts and fruit or a rice krispie cookie. Perhaps if I saw an old favorite like a crème puff I would take one and eat it very slowly.

I told DD it was important that she not let either the BTD or her fears about her weight drive her into seclusion. She decided to go and enjoy herself, but not eat cookies.

Then, because the nurses were taking longer than expected, I got philosophical. I remember reading in a CS Lewis book - one of the Space Trilogy books if I remember right - that God creates some experiences to be rare, special and exciting - but not to be every day events. You can apply that statement to lots of things, but I apply it to food.

Sugar and honey are perfect examples. God created them, and they are good. But they are meant to be eaten in small amounts on occasion, not gulped down by the quart full every day. If you eat sugar cane, the way God made it, you would never have a problem with weight or diabetes. It's when it is refined that it becomes detrimental to health.

Macadamia nuts are another example. They are beneficial for me, and they are delicious. But they are too expensive to make into nut butter and eat with carrot sticks. They need to be relished a few at a time on special occasions.

What we have done in our culture is take the exceptional foods that should be rare and over eat them. Sodas, fried chips, cake, cookies, ice cream, crackers, and candy have become daily necessities. At the same time, the staple beneficial foods like vegetables, which ought to be eaten daily, have become snubbed by the culture and eaten rarely.

We have taken food the way that God planned it and perverted it. Thus we have cookie parties, but never veggie parties. "If I had an apartment," said DD, dropping a hint, "I'd have a veggie party." I laughed, because I think she would. And with her creativity, I think people would have fun.