We've already briefly discussed the diseaster we've made out of food and how I've reconciled it in my mind with a new attitude. (If you missed it along with my newest recipe, read this post: Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze.) We've squelched a blessing God created for pleasure and purpose with our cultural attitudes, 'food rules' and emotional self-sabatoge. Too many of us experience a broken relationship with food by fighting it every day. And when it wins the battle at the bottom of a bag of chips or in flaunts at us from the fast food line, we fall further from what God intended when He gave us real, whole foods.
Ladies, we have to choose to do this eating thing differently! Instead of argueing with packaged and processed food, let's take back the blessing of real foods! Let's learn to mend our minds from the bad habits we've built. And let's focus on how we feel about our great God instead of allowing what we eat to alter our emotions.
I've said it once and I'll say it again:
I can’t imagine God intended His gift of human nourishment to harm us!
But how do we begin taking back the blessing? How can we give the glory back God in our own lives when it's already lost in our cultural translation of food? Start simply with these three steps... (then follow this link for more... Draft Each Day into Real Wellness)
STEP 1: Give God the glory! It's time to approach matters of this world differently. Let's be honest, many the world's answers to dieting and health haven't worked! So, perhaps we need to take a step back and start with our souls, the very essence of us.
Instead of viewing food, nutrition and eating issues as isolated from our spiritual selves, let's give these issues to God! When you withhold any part of yourself, you also guard your heart from the God who wants ALL of you. But when you offer your whole self up to Him, including matters of mind-body wellness, you give Him what He wants: the inseperable mind-body-spirit YOU! And ladies, when you allow Him to capture your entire life, you glorify the God who gave you everything.
When you walk the aisles of the grocery store or when you sit down for a simple snack, thank God for the good gift, always aware of how you can honor your body with what you eat. Soon it'll become such a habit you will no longer need to fight with food. You'll see it as a part of the whole, lovely life He gave you. You'll respond to His will and see His reason for giving you food was for health and not harm. Start enjoying food's nourishment and tastes instead of focusing on it's temptation.
STEP 2: Give THANKS! Here’s where we get on our knees and give thanks for the sustenance we receive. Express appreciation for His awesome creativity in what we consume and commit to caring for these vessels by using food in the way He intended: for health and happiness! When we constantly eat mindlessly or too often dump junk into our systems, we demean the precious creation we possess in our human bodies. Instead let's remember our bodies are HIS, on loan for this life, and always give thanks!
Think about this: When gratitude becomes the main ingredient in our meals, God nourishes our hearts before food ever fills our bellies. That's what I really want.
Instead of wrestling with a broken relationship with food, give thanks that God knows your body better than you. After all, He created you! And if He formed all kinds of delicious wholesome foods to eat well and enjoy, thank Him for the blessings of variety in textures, tastes and besutiful colors to consume.
Step 3: Think and DO differently. Our culture has, in many ways, hijacked our perceptions of how we should eat. I wonder what it'd be like if we all erased our contaminated beliefs about food for a little while. What if we stopped striving to attain a certain aesthetic and instead emphasized choosing pure, health-promoting, palate-pleasing foods?
As His children, we are invited to His table! HIS TABLE where the feast overflows and eternity awaits, not a spot we sit for to look a certain way. HIS TABLE where He gifts us with body, soul nourishment, not where guilt floods our plates or our minds fight with food. So instead of rushing through that fast food line one more time or rather than weighing every single little calorie and monotonously counting carbs, sit down at His table in thanksgiving with the real, whole foods He intended us to eat.
Once your mind is right, start doing things differently. Take small steps to savor wholesome ingredients and prepare foods that will bless your body with God's creative array of unadulterated foods. Embrace the idea that God gave us nourishment in the form of food to bless us, indulge us and even entertain us! And let that be reflected in the foods you eat.
If you like what you've read here and want a tangible tool to help you get started, follow this link for a free printable: Draft Each Day
Now, let's go back to right where we started, with cake! There’s nothing better than a healthy-made cake to start practicing this new attitude, is there? In fact. I've come up with a few to show you just how we can, with a small slice to savor, be blessed by whole food indulgences.
Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Take your pick and tell me what you think! Oh, and, if this intrigues you, consider checking out the Member's 30 Day Challenge! It's all about clean eating from an inside-out perspective infused with faith: 30 Day Challenge
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