{Be Nourished} 3 Tips for Diet Success
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (Isaiah 46:4)
When I talk about a diet at this point in my life, I’m talking about a way of life. Changing my eating habits for the better, so I can live healthier. But not too long ago, the word diet had a totally different meaning.
It mean struggling, doing what someone else told me was best, and not listening to my body. It meant feeling horribly about myself if I gained a couple of pounds, and feeling like I had to live in a constant retribution-based life. If I did something I shouldn’t in regards to food, then there was a horrible consequence. And then maybe that would get me to stay in line. With myself. Lots of circular thinking going on there.
What happened to grace? Is it ok for us to lavish God’s grace onto others, but beat ourselves up? To give something we struggle with to God in total surrender, then go pick it back up and wear it around?
That’s like saying, “Thanks God, for your unending grace. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice, for dying for my shortcomings. For my sins. For everything. But I’m gonna carry this around, even though you already paid for it. I’m gonna pay for it a little more, too. Oh, and here…I forgot, I am also going to slap you in the face.”
We do this with our bodies. With the food we eat, and how we self-flagellate afterwards. Emotionally beating ourselves up, then doing something physically in response to those emotions.
My usual physical response is to binge on sugar. Namely, cookies. Namely, cookie dough. Mmmm. Just typing it makes me smile and start to plot.
I can recognize now that I do this, and when it begins. It took me awhile to see it. I could see it in others way before I could see it in me.
What is the right way to respond? What is the alternative to overeating (or not eating, or cutting, or any other negative response to emotions)???
Surrender. Total surrender.
We are to come before the throne as we are, not as we think we need to be. We shouldn’t feel like we have to clean up our act before we talk to God. There isn’t anything to be ashamed of. He knows it all already. He loves you despite it, because of it…he loves you around it and through it. Every fiber of your body and every synapse in your mind, He loves. Unconditionally.
Once that is done, leave what you brought before God at His feet, and walk away refreshed. Don’t pick it back up again.
This is really important, because you can’t change the way you eat or the way you respond to food and nutrition if your emotions are out of whack. You will fail if you are responding physically to those emotions, like a knee-jerk reaction. It’s a tough cycle to break. It takes continually going back to God in surrender. See, this is what grace is all about, and it takes awhile to understand it. Understanding comes through our actions of surrender, through experiencing His mercy time, and time, and time again.
This is just one of the reasons that some diets are so destructive. While the diet itself might not be good for you, it’s really the emotions that drive us underneath that make it harmful. What lengths will you go to for a flat belly? To lose 20 pounds? To look a certain way?
This once a month diet series isn’t just about trending diets. It’s also about you, your temple, and your God.
I might talk about a trending diet, but the word diet actually means “habitual nourishment.” It’s the regular action of taking in food and drink. Doing something for a week or two to achieve a temporary result? That’s a fad.
And in the meantime, I do have 3 steps to diet success. Three things you can work on doing habitually to impact success in other areas of your life.
- Get right with God. Surrender your worries, your anxieties, your cares, your hopes, your dreams, yourself. Surrender it all to Jesus.
- Exercise regularly. Whether that is crossfit at 5am, soccer after school, and weights, followed by a 5k over the weekend; or a walk around the block three times a week, the point is to get your heart pumping more than normal and to move. Get some fresh air.
- Sleep more. I bet the vast majority of you don’t get enough sleep. Teenagers should be getting 9 ¼ hrs a sleep every night (according to sleepfoundation.org) and women in their early 20’s need at least 8-9 hours as well. Sleep can make or break a diet. It doesn’t matter what you are trying to achieve. If you want to lose weight, sleep more. If you want more energy, sleep more. If you want to exercise and get the most out of it, sleep more. Sufficient sleep is one of the most important aspects of wellness.
Write them down, or print this picture. Put it on your mirror or above your bed or on your computer screen. Remember and do!
I will be featuring a diet every month, talking about the good in it and the pitfalls of it. If you have one you’d like me to research, email me {Katie} at jkdommel47@gmail.com – I’d love to hear from you!
