Diets Don't Work

Quiz time!

Q: What was the first recorded diet?

A: The all-you-can-eat except the apple diet.

God put this restriction on the apple. You know what happened. Adam and Eve couldn't resist. It was so tempting. Had to have it. There will never be another one like that. Why doesn't God want me to enjoy myself? I deserve it. So, they ate the forbidden fruit.

And we've been eating forbidden food ever since. Think about it. What does a kid do when you tell him not to jump on the furniture? Have a bouncing on the bed party! When something is forbidden our minds dwell on it all the more. And what is a diet? A list of food that you cannot have. They're forbidden. And we think: If I don't eat such-and-such, then I'm a better person. I may be fat, but at least I'm working on it and have some self-control.

Yeah, right.

Then darkness falls and no one is watching and you're pulling out all of the food that was on the "X" list, eating in secret and feeling 100% lousy.

Diets don't work.

How many diets have you tried? Did some give you moderate weight loss? Did the weight stay away?

If you're most people, you've been on more diets that you can count, had a little weight loss at some point, but gained all of it back and more. And maybe you're at the point of throwing in the towel. And to that I say, good!

Really, I was there. I had tried to exercise away my extra pounds, tried diet after diet, and nothing. I felt cheated. I spent so much time and energy planning how I was going to get the weight off and then never got the pay day.

If not a diet, then what? Give up and eat anything you want in copious amounts? Just let yourself go? Absolutely not. Instead, how about treating the source? If you're like me, your relationship with food is just a symptom of an overwhelmed, ignored heart. I'm on this journey, too, right now, and by reading this blog, you're joining me on that journey. Part of my healing has been to share what I'm learning.

What I've learned so far:

1. Me-bashing is a waste of time. Do you call yourself names when you look in the mirror? Do you talk down to yourself when you don't meet your expectations? Is guilt a resident in your heart? Maybe you don't even realize you're doing it. Next time you're getting dressed, try talking out loud. Everything that goes through your mind, say it. You're probably not going to like what you hear. That's the point. Stop being mean to yourself. No where does God give brownie points for self-degradation. Learn to be gentle with yourself.
   
2. Misplaced the gentle gene? This is where God comes in. Why do we think that all of the passages in the Bible about love only apply to us loving others and God loving us? Lost is the message that we are to love ourselves, too. And when your heart is heavy and calling you fat and ugly, remember that God is greater than our hearts (1 John 3:20).
   

   1 John 3:18-20
   

   Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
3. Be patient with yourself and God. He will show up if you do, and he will do things differently than you ever expected, but it will be good. In the meantime, start participating in the life that God has given you today. Don't sit on the sidelines when everyone else is swimming because you don't want to show your thighs. Don't let another summer go by with you kids not knowing you love to play volleyball. Stop saying no and start saying yes.
   
4. Tune Out. Consciously ignore the messages that society throttles you with. Turn off the TV. Stop reading Cosmo. Replace that time with other stuff that feeds your heart...reading the Bible, hobbies you love, family time, etc. Recognize that you get to decide what messages come in and which ones you'll believe.

The list goes on, but I have to save some more for later :)

Seriously, I pray that you will find peace with food, your body, and your place in God's world. And even if you think I've just written a bunch of baloney, pray it over. Find some quiet and sit with this. I have faith that God can bring good out of anything, even baloney.