Image Source: Stock Exchange

Image Source: Stock Exchange

Food Restrictions…

….No, I’m not talking about diets.

I now—praise God—believe that all foods are permissible. And I have left dieting behind me. But here’s the rub for me – all foods are definitely not beneficial for me. For health reasons, I do have to exclude all foods that contain gluten from my eating.

About 5 years ago, I experienced several health issues and I was so relieved, after a year of misdiagnosis, when I was finally diagnosed with gluten sensitivity. In fact, I was happy to be told not to eat food with gluten. You see, this diagnosis occurred before I was freed from the diet mentality. So, I thought when I eliminated foods with gluten (bread, crackers, pastries, packaged foods, cookies) that my extra pounds would just melt away. I did experience resolution (slowly but surely) of all of my other health issues, but I was so disappointed that the weight (gained during this time of health issues) did not disappear. But the Lord met me in this place of despair and fatigue and freed me from so many strongholds. But, that’s another story for another day.

Now that I have been delivered from diets and am free to eat all foods, I have experienced frustration because I can’t really eat all foods. I have experienced the following thoughts:

“Well, since I can’t eat the __________ (bread, sandwich, cake, brownie), then I will eat the _________(ice cream even if I’m not at 0, gluten free sweet even if I’m at 5).”
“This isn’t fair.”
“I’m not really getting what I want to eat.”
“I don’t get to be satisfied by what I really want.”
“Everyone else is eating all of the meal and I can’t” or “They have the delicious bread and I have the mediocre GF bread.”

As you can see, many of my thoughts were about fairness. Well, as our parents told us, “Life isn’t always fair.” And if life were fair, the sinner that I am would be condemned to an unsaved life/death. But, unfair as it was, Jesus took on my sin and I am now offered the abundant life.

So, now I try to focus on the truth that I am actually allowed to eat all foods, but I choose not to eat the ones that aren’t beneficial to my body. Eating gluten-free is not a diet at all. It is a choice. I choose to treat this temple of the Holy Spirit well and choose to decline foods that will make it not work well.

I rarely whine about the foods that I “can’t” eat and I simply make substitutions. It is just food, after all, and there is a bounty of delicious foods available to me that don’t harm my body.

So, if you have food restrictions for medical reasons and wonder if the Thin Within approach is feasible for you, it is! You can have freedom! Be grateful for all of the choices you can make and the wide variety of “allowable” foods. I certainly had more restrictions when I was on a diet!

~ Carrie (Not South Africa)

How About You?

Are there some foods that you know your body doesn’t tolerate well? Are there even categories of foods, like those that include gluten, that your body does best without? What if you were to make a list today of all the many foods you can enjoy that are whole-body pleasers for you—foods that you enjoy and that leave you feeling energized, without any negative side-effects? Might it be worth it to make some adjustments to your food selections today, given all the many options that remain?