How to Defeat Harmful Habits (Counseling Through the Bible Series) (43 page)
•
Drink
vegetable juices.
– Tomato juice is a source of nutrients, including vitamin C, folate, and potassium. Tomato juice and other tomato products contain large amounts of lycopene.
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– Carrot juice is an “excellent source of antioxidant compounds and the richest vegetable source of the pro-vitamin A carotenes.”
44
– Beet juice contains “powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects, and certain cancers, especially colon cancer.”
45
When it comes to our spiritual needs, the only thing that will truly satisfy is “living water” (John 4:10). Jesus communicated this truth to a lonely Samaritan woman who came to draw water at a well. He offered her the gift of salvation—
Himself
—and said the water He provides quenches thirst not just temporarily, but also for eternity. Read Jesus’ words:
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again
,
but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst”
(J
OHN
4:13-14).
The current “evil” word in the world of weight loss is
carbs
, something seemingly to be avoided like the plague. Carbohydrates have been blamed for the obesity epidemic and have been targeted as the source of increased health risks and disease. But not all carbs are bad.
According to many health experts, it is vital to incorporate
unprocessed, high-fiber
carbohydrates into a well-balanced diet of whole grains, lean meats, fruits, and vegetables.
46
God has certainly blessed us with an abundance to choose from:
“I give you every seed-bearing plant
on the face of the whole earth
and every tree that has fruit with seed in it
.
They will be yours for food”
(G
ENESIS
1:29).
The most nutritious foods to eat are found in six categories: fruits, vegetables, nuts, protein, dairy, and grains. Notice the absence of candy, cookies, and cakes! But we also need to realize it is possible to prepare healthy food in an
unhealthy
way. Likewise, some vegetables are healthier to eat than other vegetables.
•
Eat
fresh and/or frozen fruit.
–
Avoid
canned fruit that contains high fructose corn syrup.
•
Eat
darker vegetables, which have more vitamins than lighter vegetables.
–
Avoid
iceberg lettuce, which has no nutritional value.
•
Eat
vitamin-rich sweet potatoes.
–
Avoid
white potatoes.
•
Eat
the skins of food.
–
Avoid
peeling the skin of potatoes. The skins contain vitamin C, vitamin B6, folic acid, beta carotene, and iron. When preparing mashed potatoes, cook the potatoes with the skin on to add vitamins and fiber.
47
•
Eat
food with natural sweetness (fruit, sweet potatoes).
–
Avoid
sugar, fructose, and sucrose.
•
Eat
nuts in their natural form.
–
Avoid
nuts that are honey roasted or prepared with saturated fat.
•
Eat
broiled or baked meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables.
–
Avoid
fried foods, which are high in fat.
•
Eat
whole grain bread and English muffins.
–
Avoid
white bread and items with bleached white flour that remove the beneficial vitamins. (Croissant rolls are very high in fat.)
The Lord created you to need food, to have hunger, and to eat. Your responsibility is to be wise and eat the proper foods at the proper time.
“The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their
food at the proper time. You open your hand and
satisfy the desires of every living thing”
(P
SALM
145:15-16).
We’re all tempted—and too often, we succumb. We’re standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, surrounded by racks of candy bars, chips, and many other products dripping with saturated fats and sugar. As the cashier totals up the cost of our asparagus, bananas, and ever-so-lean chicken…
plop
…a big, fattening candy bar winds up in the mix.
How did I let that happen?
we later lament.
Along with planning ahead and predetermining not to give in to unhealthy foods, the following tips will equip you to resist when certain cravings crash upon you outside the home. And when you commit your desires and goals to the Lord, you will find success.
“Commit to the L
ORD
whatever you do
,
and your plans will succeed”
(P
ROVERBS
16:3).
P
LANS FOR THE
R
OAD
• Avoid ordering junk food, which is high in fat and low in nutrition.
• Don’t eat at restaurants without planning ahead.
• Eat at restaurants that offer a variety of healthy foods.
• Keep a small cooler in your car so you can carry healthy snacks with you.
• Predetermine the best foods to order when eating out (fish, turkey, chicken, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, etc.).
• Take healthy foods with you when you are away from home (fruit, nuts, low-fat cheese).
As you consider your strategy for eating on the go, remember that both planning and implementing are necessary for success. And remember that you are not alone in making plans—the Lord Himself makes and carries out His plans:
“‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the
LORD,
‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you
,
plans to give you hope and a future’”
(J
EREMIAH
29:11).
Reducing Body FatQ
UESTION:
“Should I eat only once or twice a day in order to lose weight?”
A
NSWER:
No! You can optimize your body’s fat-burning ability by eating five or six times each day: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner (with an additional snack if you have an early dinner). Keep portion sizes no larger than your fist. Remember, caloric intake for women will need to be lower than for men of the same height and weight because women have a naturally slower metabolism.
The priests serving God’s chosen people were to follow strict instructions concerning the fat of offerings, as recorded in the Bible:
“He shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is
removed from the fellowship offering”
(L
EVITICUS
4:31).
No one approach to overcoming well-established patterns of binge eating can effectively address all the issues involved in this complex disorder. The soul (mind, will, emotions), body, and spirit all work together to create and support eating patterns. Therefore, all these elements need to be engaged and working together toward the same goal of healthy eating if treatment is to be successful. Seek wise counsel as you consider all of your options.
“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed”
(P
ROVERBS
15:22).
F
OUR
O
BJECTIVES FOR
R
ESTORING
H
EALTH
48
• To progress toward emotional, physical, and spiritual healing and wholeness
• To adopt healthy attitudes toward body and self-image
• To initiate sound eating habits that limit the possibility for binge eating
• To reach and maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle
F
OUR
A
IDS ON
Y
OUR
P
ATH
T
OWARD
H
EALTH
As you take steps toward better health, here are some different options for you to consider in your effort to stay on the path to wholeness:
• Professional counseling—Working with a therapist to reveal hidden issues that may have contributed to binge eating or other destructive behavior patterns may help you to make important life changes.
• Medical intervention—You may need to speak with a doctor and nutritionist about options for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, including diet, exercise, lifestyle changes, and medication.
• Individualized strategy—Evaluate the benefits and weaknesses of beginning a weight loss program, attending a support group, or visiting a health club to determine whether this would help you reach your goals.
• Spiritual dependence—As you consider your options for reaching your goal of a healthy body, you need to include taking the time to cultivate your relationship with Jesus Christ and make sure you remain dependent on His strength to help you in your weakness.
“But he [the Lord Jesus] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’
Therefore I [Paul] will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me”
(2 C
ORINTHIANS
12:9).
Listen and LearnQ
UESTION:
“What is involved in listening to your body?”
A
NSWER:
Listening to your body is somewhat like listening to a friend—you listen for what is meant and what is felt, what is needed and what is wanted. Your body is in constant communication with you regarding its needs and desires, its pains and pleasures. Your body knows when it needs to be fed and when it needs to be held. It knows when it needs fuel and when it is full. Listening means knowing when the desire for food means you need nutrition and when it means you need nurturing.
Here are three helpful hints for listening to your body:
•
Eat because you are hungry
, not because you are bored, stressed, or lonely.
– Eat when your stomach is growling.
– Eat when you have a headache.
– Eat when several hours have passed since you last ate.
•
Eat what you want
, not what you dislike.
– Eat in moderation.
– Eat appealing, enjoyable foods.
– Eat what your body both needs and desires.
•
Eat until you are content
, not until you are full or stuffed.
– Eat while sitting down.
– Eat slowly and methodically.
– Eat purposefully, focusing on the tastes, smells, and textures of your foods.
If you listen to your body and love it by responding to what it truly needs, you will find that overeating will become a pattern of the past and healthy eating will become your present pattern.
Remember the words the Lord spoke to the prophet Isaiah as you begin treating your body in a new way:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past
.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland”
(I
SAIAH
43:18-19).
Along with taking advantage of therapy options, practicing self-care gives you a greater sense of control over your choices and a sense of personal responsibility for your ultimate success. Since control issues are often related to binge eating, exercising control in a positive, productive way is critical to and compatible with overall good health. By developing a healthy eating plan and persevering with that plan, you can enjoy God’s best for your physical body.
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly
rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done
the will of God, you will receive what he has promised”
(H
EBREWS
10:35-36).
You can customize your own self-care treatment from these suggestions for conquering binge eating:
S
ELF-CARE
S
TEPS
49
•
Don’t diet
unless you are supervised by a professional dietitian, nutritionist, and/or medical doctor.
•
Don’t eat when bored.
Engage in some other activity that will distract your thoughts away from food.
•
Don’t eat just to eat.
Eat foods that contain essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
•
Don’t sacrifice your sleep.
Try taking quick power naps and getting a good night’s sleep so your body will shed fat faster.
•
Don’t withdraw from others.
Instead, reach out and share your specific struggles and strengths with trusted individuals.
•
Don’t store food.
Buy only what you need for a specified period of time.
•
Don’t skip therapy.
Work your plan and stay accountable to yourself and others.
•
Don’t toy with temptation.
Pledge to never shop when you are hungry, upset, frustrated, lonely, or feeling down so that you will make good choices when you do shop.
•
Do exercise
in appropriate ways, for reasonable lengths of time, and with another person.
•
Do test your hunger
to determine whether you are hungry for food or for love.
•
Do love yourself
by not eating whatever you want, but by engaging in activities that are fun, relaxing, and energizing.
•
Do be kind to yourself
by rejecting critical, accusatory, and demeaning self-talk and by clinging to your identity in Christ. Remember, you have been made a child of God and His Spirit is within you, helping you to conform to His character.
•
Do eat breakfast
so that you will not feel the need to consume calories unwisely during the day.
•
Do learn your eating triggers
and develop a plan of action for countering them.
•
Do keep a record
of the times you eat, what and how much you eat, and your emotional state when you eat in order to identify your eating patterns and triggers.
•
Do snack smart
by eating low-fat, low-calorie snacks like fruit or vegetables with a fat-free dip.
Should you engage in emotional eating, quickly accept God’s forgiveness, forgive yourself, and then start anew. Learn from experience by identifying what triggered your emotional need to eat and devising a plan for responding differently in the future. Rather than dwelling on your failure, focus on the successes you are having as you replace your unhealthy eating patterns with healthy ones. Thank God for the good work He is doing within you and cooperate with Him by leaning on Him and drawing on His resources.
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to
man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted
beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will
also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it”
(1 C
ORINTHIANS
10:13).
As you customize your self-care program, keep clinging to Jesus, your constant companion, counselor, and comfort—your refuge, strength, and ever-present help in times of trouble.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble”
(P
SALM
46:1).
Many people are physically unable to make weight training part of their weight loss program. Others place too much stress on exercise. But most people try to strike a good balance between burning calories through exercise and consuming fewer calories through proper meal planning.
The apostle Paul compared physical training to spiritual training, and his words serve as an encouragement to us all to subdue our bodies through self-discipline, not just for physical reasons but also for spiritual benefit:
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get
a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a
man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the
air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have
preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize”
(1 C
ORINTHIANS
9:25-27).
Haven’t we all watched acrobats or other athletes with lean, powerful muscles perform what seem to many of us to be physically impossible feats? Haven’t we found ourselves momentarily envying their immense energy and muscle power, admiring their physical prowess and perfect precision as they perform some rigorous routine? And haven’t we all felt a tinge of guilt that we huff and puff after walking up the stairs at work or watering the yard at home?
If you want to turn your envy into positive action, then consider the ways weight training can…
• Improve basal metabolic rate (metabolism)
• Produce strong, sinewy muscles
• Multiply muscle power
• Lessen body fat
You may not be interested in performing hair-raising feats, but you will appreciate having additional muscle power that makes it possible for you to do the maximum amount of work within the shortest amount of time.
You will also want to consider the ways strength training can…
• Improve the strength of your general body structure
• Increase the thickening of your tendons
• Build up the density of your bones
• Lower the possibility of injury
Weight training can also help you maintain good blood pressure, body posture, and general appearance.
The Bible gives these words of exhortation that apply to weight training:
“Strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees”
(H
EBREWS
12:12).
Excessive ExceriseQ
UESTION:
“Is it possible for me to exercise too much?”
A
NSWER:
Yes. Aerobic exercise that exceeds more than one hour in length increases your risk of injury due to fatigue. Increasing the frequency of aerobic activity beyond five times per week does not give your body a chance to fully recover and can even reduce your body’s capability to defend itself against illness. Listen to what your body is trying to tell you and heed what Scripture says:
“Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all
things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come”
(1 T
IMOTHY
4:8).
Life and death…blessings and curses…
God placed before His people, the nation of Israel, two distinct paths leading in entirely different directions. They were free to choose the path they would follow, but they also had to be prepared to accept the consequences of their choice.
God longed for the Israelites to choose “life”—loving Him, obeying Him, and thus receiving from Him boundless blessing. But should they choose “death”—forsaking Him and failing to honor His hallowed name—then curses and great disaster would befall them.
You too have two distinct paths before you. You can choose to seek God’s help in overcoming your overeating habits and find victory, or you can attempt to stop overeating in your own strength and face defeat after defeat. As with the Israelites, God wants you to choose Him, and you’ll soon discover that
success is just a choice away
:
“Now choose life, so that you…may live and that you may love the L
ORD
your God, listen to his voice, and
hold fast to him. For the L
ORD
is your life”
(D
EUTERONOMY
30:19-20).
My Daily Choices for Change
Decide each day to accept this challenge for change
.
Accept the challenge to make these daily choices
,
realizing that success is just a choice away
.
Life is a series of choices; therefore…
I choose to give control of my life to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I choose to change my eating habits through the power of Christ within me.
I choose to live to please God, not to please my appetite.
I choose to make wise choices when tempted to eat unwisely.
I choose to make right choices when tempted to eat excessively.
I choose to glorify God and reflect Him through my body.
I choose to focus not on food but on faithfulness to the Lord in my life.
I choose to let God be my God—not to let food be my god.
Although I’ve failed in the past, with God’s help I don’t have to fail in the future!
“My flesh and my heart may fail
,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever”
(Psalm 73:26).
There is only one God. So if food is your god, then God is not your God.
—J
UNE
H
UNT
“Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do
,
do it all for the glory of God”
(1 C
ORINTHIANS
10:31).
O
VEREATING:
A
NSWERS IN
G
OD’S
W
ORD
Q
UESTION:
“What happens to those who ignore discipline?”
A
NSWER:
“He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding”
(Proverbs 15:32).
Q
UESTION:
“Who is like a city whose walls are broken down?”
A
NSWER:
“Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control”
(Proverbs 25:28).
Q
UESTION:
“Should I worry about having food to eat or clothes to wear?”
A
NSWER:
“I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”
(Matthew 6:25).
Q
UESTION:
“What do those who live according to their sinful nature have their minds set on? What would be a better way to live?”
A
NSWER:
“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires”
(Romans 8:5).
Q
UESTION:
“What should my attitude be when I eat or drink?”
A
NSWER:
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1
Corinthians 10:31).
Q
UESTION:
“Is it wrong to eat certain things if it makes me or someone else stumble?”
A
NSWER:
“Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble”
(Romans 14:20).
Q
UESTION:
“What has God’s divine power given us?”
A
NSWER:
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness”
(2 Peter 1:3).
Q
UESTION:
“Who gives me strength to do what I need to do?”
A
NSWER:
“I can do everything through him [Jesus] who gives me strength”
(Philippians 4:13).
Q
UESTION:
“What can I offer as a spiritual act of worship?”
A
NSWER:
“I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God
—
this is your spiritual act of worship”
(Romans 12:1).
Q
UESTION:
“Everything is permissible for me, but is everything beneficial?”
A
NSWER:
“‘Everything is permissible for me’
—
but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible for me’
—
but I will not be mastered by anything”
(1 Corinthians 6:12).