Ok…I have to ‘fess up. It is time to “come clean.”
I have been reading another book. One that wasn’t even written by Judy, or anyone at Thin Within.
This book has been the best thing to come down the pike in…well…a LONG time. Maybe since Thin Within! Actually, if I can be quite truthful, lots of things I wish we had said just a bit differently when we were writing the Thin Within book, have been said just right in this easy-to-read treatise.
Book titles aside (and I wish it wasn’t called what it is, but I think I understand why Zondervan and the author chose it), The Eden Diet by Dr. Rita Hancock is well worth the read. Absolutely! Dr. Hancock consistently demonstrates that she knows her medical “stuff,” and we are reminded of some basic bible truths as well as her take on what really does make good nutrition sense. You might be surprised, in fact.
This lady isn’t just one of those MD quack-type people either. She was an undergraduate at Cornell University and did some intensive studies of “gastric diseases.” She has studied nutrition until the cows come home. And well, you can read more about her at her website. I won’t repeat it all here.
More than just an expert from afar, however, Dr. Hancock has also struggled deep in the trenches of obesity–she knows what it is like to have a HUGE hurdle ahead of her and to rise to conquer it! She has allowed God to transform her thinking, has lost a boatload of weight and has kept it off “imperfectly” for 25 years. This lady has a lot to say and she knows of what she speaks.
How, you may wonder, if I was the collaborator (writer) for the Thin Within book, can I possibly so unashamedly declare the praises of “the competition?” The way I figure it…the reality is, we are all in this together. If someone can say it in a way that I think is helpful, then I am ALL for it! Especially if every page holds truth that is consistent with my life’s message and, more importantly, what I believe God wants for his people. He calls us to freedom–listening to our bodies, engaging our brains, and using the spiritual insight he has given us.
What is the difference between this book and Thin Within? Why might someone enjoy reading this book? Well, Dr. Hancock is very NO-nonsense in her approach. She cuts to the chase in a point-blank sort of way. There is no pussy footing around. If you find yourself a bit tender or a sensitive person, she may be a bit “harsh” for you. But what I found was that, for me, she was downright practical. Don’t get me wrong…she blends this with plenty of biblical wisdom and spiritual insight. She just doesn’t mince her words.
Where Thin Within has chapters chock-full of invaluable exercises that have helped many of us get to the root of our overeating and obsessive behaviors, Dr. Rita is more likely to say, “Sure, you can ask why, but the point is, you have to STOP it. To STOP it, you have to retrain your mind to think and believe differently! So HOP to it! Oh…and here is HOW!” (This isn’t a quote, so please don’t email me that I misquoted her…it is her tone I am trying to capture!)
For the record, I didn’t find one word of condemnation in The Eden Diet. I haven’t launched into the workbook study yet and plan to soon.
Anyhow, in the days ahead, I will likely share some of the nuggets of wisdom I have gotten (and will continue to get) from reading The Eden Diet and working through the workbook. In the meantime, let me say this…where I needed a drill sergeant to sort of call me to HUP TO and to RISE UP and DO that to which God has clearly called, God provided Dr. Rita’s voice in her book. In the past two weeks that I have spent reading this book, I have found myself seeing all my many excuses (more than I thought!) for what they are…SIN! 🙂 Not only that, but well…I have been STOPPING it! WHOO HOO! My size 16s are fitting better now. But the best part of all is the clean conscience that I have as I stand before the Lord…obedience IS possible, one baby step at a time.
This book gets 5 stars from me…HUGE thumbs up! WHOO HOO! Thank you, Dr. Rita Hancock and thank you Jesus for providing someone to say it short, sweet, to the point but purely! Pointing to you!
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
~ Psalm 103:11-13
People say that this time of year…about a month after Christmas…is one of the most depressing times for many. The joy of the Christmas holiday has passed, the bills from Christmas spending have arrived, and resolutions eagerly made on January 1st have already been broken. Apparently, many of us feel like failures and our hope for a “new beginning” is gone.
Although I have shared previously that I don’t make resolutions due to the arrival of the first day of a new year, nevertheless, on January 17th, I wrote about a Babystep Challenge. This was a promise, plan, commitment of sorts. That was just over a week ago and, today, I want to sort of “debrief”…maybe you will be able to identify. In fact, maybe you made your own “Babystep Challenge” commitment of sorts. Let’s evaluate how we have done.
My over-arching desire in having some sort of “commitment” to reach for was to see if I could do so without becoming obsessive, prideful or self-condemning based on “how I was doing.” Hippity skippity! I think that has actually happened! I am aware of my need to be mindful of my tendency, but so far so good. I have a bit more of a “normal” mindset than in the past when I might have created a graph or chart, pinned it to the wall, and marked each meal where I left two bites on my plate or in my dish. I might have then given myself a grade for the day and even averaged out the week and circled it on a calendar or some such obsessive nonsense. Then, depending on if it was an A, B, C or F, I might have celebrated or spent appropriate time in self-abasement. :-/
Boy, I have come so far by the grace of God! No charts have been created, no color coding or grade averaging! WHOO HOO! And better still, no self-flagellation! YAY!
So how did I do? I did very well with my babystep commitment (that of leaving food on my plate each time) on some days and “blew it” at other times.
In a nutshell, I have come away from the week with a thought: When I “blow it,” when I don’t keep my commitment–whatever it is–be it one “little slip” or six months worth of “slips,” so what? I mean, does the world stop? Do people die? Am I ruined forever? Am I before God, now suddenly having rendered the provision for my sin on the cross impotent?
NO.
…neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~ Romans 8:39
No matter how great my error, rebellion, “slipping” from my commitment, I can observe and correct, confess and repent, shake the dust off my feet, allow the Lord to restore me and move forward again. In fact, God seems to indicate I can do this as if I never messed up. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed my sin from me!
When I “flake” or rebel against what God has called me to do, when even a babystep was too great a leap, the carnage left in my wake need not be permanent!
Whoa…really? LOL! For me, this almost seems revolutionary and profound! But it is true!
This past week, I discovered that I would literally somehow “forget” my commitment only when the food I was eating was sweet…a dessert of some sort. Interesting thing to discover! As I have prayed about this, I realize that sweet foods still have quite a hold on me and I am, in fact, greedy about them!
My Babystep Challenge for this week will be to continue to leave a bit of each kind of food I have on my plate or in my bowl or in my hand, uneaten. I will be especially mindful of “favorite” foods like brownies or ice cream.
This verse says it so clearly. Food isn’t for filling all the empty spaces in my heart.
It isn’t for numbing out when I can’t handle the emotions I feel.
It isn’t to fill boredom.
It isn’t for celebrating.
Food IS for my stomach…for my physical body. Period.
So why do I insist on using food, which God intended for His specific purpose, for my own purposes–those which run counter to His will? Is it any wonder that doing so runs me into a bunch of trouble?
Today, when I am tempted to use food for something other than my stomach, my physical body, I will choose to look at what is really going on, what is really needed, and invite God to show me His solution–what has He ordained to fill the need for this particular emotion, thought, challenge, experience.
Thank you, Lord, that you have provided food for a purpose–for nourishing my body. Thank you, too, that you have a million other things that you offer to me to meet the million other “needs” I have in my life. Help me to use food the way you intend and when something is going on that I am tempted to feed with food, help me to turn to you and invite you to bring yourprovision to that situation. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
If I want to break free from unhealthy eating habits, I have to be willing to prayerfully evaluate what place my emotions have in my choice to eat. I can be as practical as anything, but when it gets down to it, there are times when my compulsion or drive to eat something is like a run-away train–there is no stopping it. No promise to pray to overcome temptation or to look for a way out, to sing praise songs, to journal seems to keep the inevitable from happening. In times like those, I want the craziness more than I want to be sane…what is that about? Why can all my godly and good intentions be overcome in a moment of intensity? What place does my anger (or other emotions) have in driving my eating?
I don’t really know the answer to this yet. I know that God has graciously exposed moments when my thinking is heading in the direction of *becoming* that run-away train…before it happens. I continue to pray in my moments when I *want* that–that I will see it before it happens so I can derail it…take my thoughts captive rather than be taken captive by my thoughts.
I have seen that much of the “inexplicable” agitation or angry feelings that seem attached to more compulsive eating are often due to unresolved issues in my life. If I haven’t forgiven my husband for a careless remark he made on vacation, then when he does something that triggers that memory, I tend to give him “what for”…or turn the equivalent amount of anger inward…and allow it to drive me to eat. If I don’t take these things to the Lord and work to forgive and release my wounds, unmet needs, and anger, it is almost surely going to bite me in the rear…
I must sit with the Lord and ask him to search my heart and know me. Show me if there is anything in me that needs to be brought out into the light. A survey like this daily is helpful. It keeps that unresolved anger at bay and compulsive eating because of it at a minimum.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
The question is often asked, “Does God really care about how much I eat? Does overeating really bother him?”
Recently, I was struck by just how MUCH Jesus seems to care about meals. When I think about him attending the wedding meal at Cana in Galilee, or eating with “tax gatherers, prostitutes and thieves” and walking through the fields and munching on grain, when I remember that he did much of his ministry around a meal, well, I know that He cares about meals. In fact, I am blown away by the fact that after his resurrection, when he greeted some of the apostles on the beach, he made them breakfast! So, I guess I am finally able to wrap my mind around how God does care about food and meals generally. He definitely does.
Then when I think about how Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount “Do not worry about what you eat or drink or what you will wear…” I begin to get a grasp on how he doesn’t want these things to cause me worry.
When I diet (a thing of the long ago past, I am thankful to say) or over-eat (something that is more and more a thing of the past), *I* am caused grief…I worry. I either worry about what I WILL eat or about what I HAVE eaten! He definitely doesn’t want that.
And, as I ook at some of the reasons I tend to eat more than my body needs, I see that there are characteristics in my life such as greed, lust…and even idolatry. Why do I eat more food than I need? For me, it is because I *want* it…or because there is an emotional need in my life that I am not going to God to have met. Either way…these aren’t godly behaviors.
In these cases, I am going my own way. When I choose my own way over God’s way, it *is* sin…and it grieves the heart of God and it is why Jesus went through so much….
He cares about when a sparrow falls to the ground and he says I am much more precious than any of them…so I know he cares about me intimately…that includes the things that concern me, that feed my soul, that feed my body…the temple of the Holy Spirit and enable me to operate to the maximum potential He intends!
This morning, as I was reading my bible, I ran across the account of King Asa of Judah. At this time in Israel’s history, the entire nation of Israel was divided into the northern kingdom–Israel–and southern kingdom–Judah. In 2 Chronicles 16, Asa wants to be fortified…to have a guarantee that he will be the stronger as Israel attacks. To ensure this, King Asa makes a treaty with the King of Aram. As you may recall, God has forbidden treaties of this kind for a myriad of reasons.
King Asa is confronted by the seer, Hanani, who gets in Asa’s face about the truth of the situation. Because King Asa had trusted in man, rather than God, what appeared to be a victory, would be his downfall. By trusting in an earthly king who was supposed to be his enemy, instead of the Lord, Asa had guaranteed that he would always be at war. (See 2 Chronicles 16: 7-9 )
King Asa’s response to Hanani’s disclosure is intriguing to me. In my mind, I recall how David responded when Nathan confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba and his murder of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. David repented and humbly looked to the consequences that the Lord ordained as a result of his sins.
Instead of humility and repentance, Asa flips out. He loses it. Have a look:
Asa was angry with the seer because of this;
he was so enraged that he put him in prison.
At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.
– 2 Chronicles 16:10
There is so much in this portion of scripture.
1.) There are choices to make. What seems to make sense, or be prudent, is often a treaty with the enemy. How does this show up in my desire to become whole relative to food, eating, body image? Where does it show up for you?
2.) How kind and tender God is to put people in my life who will challenge and exhort me–face me about my sin. If I look around and can’t see people like this in my life, I may want to ask why? Do I intentionally cut myself off from people that can be used of God to challenge me in this walk with him…to be more holy, to make the difficult choices? Relative to my desire to be free from my former obsessions with food and diet and self-absorption with my body, what can I do now to connect with people that God might use to encourage and challenge me?
3.) When I am faced with the reality of my own sin through the Word of God, through a conviction in my heart, or through the loving words of a godly friend, what is my reaction? Do I react in anger and lash out at others like King Asa? If I have inexplicable anger “issues,” perhaps it is a barometer of my not having dealt with sin in my life in a godly way. I know this principle is true for me. When I make rebellious choices, I tend to handle my frustration with myself by being cantankerous and ornery with others! How much better it would be to deal with my sin, instead of heaping sin up on sin! Are there ways I see this in my life right now relative to my desire for wholeness? Gosh, in the past week or so, I have been pursuing learning obedience with so much more diligence. I see my general demeanor has changed SO much! I am much more light-hearted and chipper…not lashing out. Hmm…seems like I might want to remember this in those moments when I am tempted by the “little sins” that “won’t hurt anybody else…” :-/
4.) Sometimes there are consequences to the treaties I have made. Boy, does this ever ring true for me. I was faithful to a popular weight loss program in 1996-1997. For a year, I was the star pupil at all the program meetings, getting awards and applause for my steady weight loss of 100 pounds (I subsequently regained most of that back during 1998). But during that year, my heart was becoming even more chained to food. The diet program was just another way I could obsess…and I learned in that year how to obsess and fixate on food even better than I had in all the years of overeating that came previously. Though God has redeemed many of those years, I still see that the dieting mentality can affect me so much–it is a consequence of that “treaty” for me. It is, in fact, one reason why this week’s “Babystep Challenge” has been something I have had so many concerns about. What other consequences am I having to deal with because of former “treaties” I have made? What “treaties” am I in right now? Who am I trusting in, God? Or man? Yikes. What consequences may yet be ahead if I continue on this path and don’t change my actions/heart ties?
Wow, there is so much here to be found from the experience of ancient King Asa.
Lord, thank you that Your Word is so rich with historical accounts of Your people–not just their victories, Lord, but, also their poor choices. Thank you that you have given me Your Word and that I can learn from it. Thank you that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Thank you for your Holy Spirit who convicts me of sin. Keep me, Lord, from making treaties with the enemy. Give me people in my life who can help me to see when I am going astray of what you want, Lord and make me tender-hearted and humble so that when I am confronted about my sin, I repent instead of lashing out in anger. Thank you for the choices you give me. Help me to make choices that honor my desire to put you first in all things. In the blessed Name of Jesus, Amen.
