Gosh. It occurred to me that some may come by this blog wondering not about MY story, but how they can have their own!

So, today begins a series of posts about getting started with a new (non-dieting) approach to eating and to life! 🙂

First a word about what you do NOT want to do!

1.) You do NOT want to weigh yourself! Our desire to weigh ourselves or to track things is often rooted in our dieting pasts. If you don’t like the idea of not weighing yourself, consider how weighing has served you. Has it worked? Has it helped you to realize your goals? Beyond the physical ones, evaluate what weighing has done to your insides–to you as a person. Has it been a part of obsessive thoughts? Has it deprived you of joy? Has it helped with pride or condemnation? Then why not try doing without this time! If this seems IMPOSSIBLE to you, then take the plunge and just give your scale to a friend or family member. Tell them to give it back to you in three months.

2.) You do NOT want to write down what you eat. If our goal is to become “normal” eaters, people who are naturally thin eaters who don’t think or obsess about the next meal or the last meal, then we have to be willing to break free from all the trappings that have gone with diets in the past.

3.) You do NOT want to do this independent from the Lord. If you struggle with believing that God cares about what you eat, search the scriptures to see for yourself. He speaks of food numerous times. Consider the fruit in the garden of Eden in Genesis. Consider Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. At the end of the bible, consider the marriage supper of the lamb. From cover to cover, the bible speaks of choices made relative to food and so many things that are wrapped up in it. God attaches much meaning to the things that go on surrounding the act of eating. Surely if he says that whether we eat or drink (or whatever we do) do it all to the glory of God in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that means there are things to learn regarding how I can eat or how I can eat that can glorify God. I want to find out what HE says about this. Does it glorify him when I OBSESS about what I will eat, the nutrients in it (or not) or what I have already eaten?  Matthew 6:25 seems to indicate that this is NOT what he wants for us! So as I approach this new journey or this leg of the journey or as I begin again, I want to find out what God has to say about it. And not just what he has to say about eating and drinking, but about ME and about HIM. I want to go to His Word and see if I have an accurate picture of HIS character! By prayer and waiting on Him, by plunging into the Word of God and studying what is there, I will journey with Him and in the strength He provides.

Points 1 and 2 might leave a void in your life if you have been heavily in “dieting mode.” So I would encourage you now…really dive in deep into #3 above. I will share more about what you can to do begin tomorrow.

Summary:
1.) Don’t weigh
2.) Don’t write down food
3.) Don’t operate independently of the Lord — LEAN ON HIM! 🙂