Today’s post is from a guest blogger. When I ran across this post yesterday, I knew I had to share it with you all! WOW! So with her permission, please meet Amber Benge! To get to know her a bit more, visit her here.
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When I was about 18, I went through a fight with bulemia and the struggle has followed me since then. My weight has gone up and down, but mostly just up as fertility treatments and hormone replacement has caused my body to go nuts. I found a great doctor who finally got things straightened out with my hormones and the weight has started to come off again, but it’s not easy. I recently pulled out the workbook I did back when I was 18 to help me keep my mind in the right place with all of it. It’s a Christian based weight “control” program called “Thin Within”.
The foundational principle of Thin Within is that you live life between a 0 and 5. Let me explain. When you are totally hungry and have that gnawing, completely empty feeling in your stomach, you are at a 0. When you hit a 5, you aren’t full. But at a 5, you aren’t hungry any more either. You are just comfortable. If you go beyond a 5 and keep eating, you can end up at a 10 which is the top of the scale. When you are a 10, you have that stuffed to sickness, can’t breathe, need a nap, after-Thanksgiving kind of feeling.
Thin Within teaches that you need to stay between a 0 and 5 at all times to lose weight. You don’t eat until you are at a 0 and you stop when you are at a 5. It’s as simple as that. You learn moderation by following your body’s signals. If you eat from a 5 to a 10, you are going to gain weight. You will end up with a sick stomach and a larger waist line as a result of your binge fest.
The principles of living between 0 and 5 also apply to the rest of our lives. I’m learning that I need to reject the lifestyle of gorged abundance that we have so readily in America. The dozens of shoes and purses, the big screen television, the clothes I never wear, the clothes I only wear occasionally that someone else might need… these are all areas of my life where I am living beyond a 5. These are more than I need and frankly, I feel like they are weighing me down.
I have an overwhelming urge to simplify my life. I don’t want to leave the 0 to 5 principle in my eating habits only. I want to start applying it to the rest of my life. I want to stop using food and things to fill me beyond my basic needs. When I make it a habit to fill up on these things, I am substituting them for Christ and His role in my life. When I choose to stop gorging myself on all the pleasures we have here in America, I can let the Lord fill me so that I can be used by Him.
Today, I am making a commitment to life between 0 and 5. We’ll see what that looks like in the coming months, but I have a feeling there are others that will do this with me. I have read your comments and your emails. I am so honored that you choose to pour your hearts out to me so openly. It seems that there is a common theme among all of them. We want to live for Christ. We want to give Him our everything. We just don’t know how to get there or where to start. So maybe this step of simplifying is our first move. What do you think?
©2010 Amber Benge – All Rights Reserved
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What about you? In what ways is God leading you to live all of life between 0 and 5? What do you need to do to simplify your life? Will you…today?
