Weight Loss is Complicated

Media bombards us with seemingly endless opinions – some good, some not so good – about food and diets. Daily, we are presented gimmicks and unrealistic quick-fixes to achieve ideal body weight.

It is exhausting. Exhausting!

Do you ever feel an aggressive push to “be” or “do” to fit someone else’s projected image, or your own projection, of how you must look…

…in order to be okay?

To be pretty?

To be thin?

Worthy?

Or even…loved?

If you seek suggestions for healthy eating, that’s an important, valid quest! I can help you! Learning to properly care for your body should be top priority because the foods we eat, in large part, determine the level of health we enjoy. However, for now, may I present to you a seldom discussed perspective on maintaining healthy body weight?

I believe it can carve a new pathway of thought for you to become the person of God’s design. 

God’s Spiritual Food for Healthy Weight

Could our thoughts possibly prevent OR promote a healthy body weight? 

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7 MEV

For every thought we think, our body produces a physical, chemical reaction. That’s Biblical. I by no means buy into the world’s twisted interpretation and new-age persuasion that “what you think about, you bring about.” I don’t endorse Karma and I don’t endorse mind-over-mattering your addictions to habit, thought or substance. Those ideas are perversions of the Truth.

There is only one Truth that enables us to conquer (NOT manage or co-exist with) our thought problems.

And so, in our application of weight issues, there is only one Truth we can apply to overcome weight battles. 

In the Bible, Jesus didn’t mince words during His tenure among us on Earth. Jesus didn’t waste time with small talk. He set the model for us to follow by going straight to the heart of a matter.

The heart of the matter is, the heart.

“For of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45 MEV

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23 MEV

There is both a scientific and a spiritual component to weight problems, to include overweight and underweight. In nutrition science, we often use a term with which you’re familiar: metabolism. Metabolism describes biochemical processes by which the body converts what we eat and drink into energy. Calories, the unit used to measure energy in food and drinks, are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function.

Simply put, the metabolism is like a furnace. Hot and fiery, it gives us stamina and burns excess calories. Cool and smoldering, it tires us and sluggishly hoards calories. A balanced metabolic rate is a good thing for achieving and maintaining ideal body weight!

In his book, A More Excellent Way, Pastor Henry Wright, PhD, states “The rate of your metabolism can be determined by how you think about yourself.” Dr. Wright goes on to describe that when we experience low self-esteem or conflict with ourselves and others, our brains physically respond to those emotional feelings by lowering serotonin levels. One’s psychological state can either slow or speed metabolism. He expounds, “Whenever you have a reduction in serotonin, you don’t feel good about yourself. When you don’t feel good about yourself, you go into insecurity. When you’re insecure, you start ‘sucking your thumb.’ The mouth is a contact place for love and security.” (1).

This concept makes sense. Just consider a baby with a pacifier. That physical object meets a need for comfort. And yet if allowed to extend beyond the season of babyhood, the source of comfort – the pacifier – becomes an inappropriate means of coping.

Comfort Food

Think about those two words:

COMFORT.

FOOD.

Comfort is defined as a feeling of relief, feeling less troubled in times of emotional pain, to cause to feel less worried. (2). Food is defined as nutriment in solid form. (3).

So, from those practical word definitions, I propose my interpretation of comfort food as a physical attempt to satisfy a spiritual need.

• Who hasn’t turned to the fridge for solace?
• Why do we return to artificial sources that are not our True Source? Wouldn’t that be idolatry?
• Will the physical behavior of eating brownies and pizza or drinking alcohol ever solve the spiritual problem from which we seek relief?
• Wouldn’t it be restorative to turn to the Father in our time of spiritual hunger?

Run boldly to the Throne of Grace for help! The Father cares about your heart, your cravings and your feelings of insecurity! He longs to help you overcome!

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 KJV

As followers of Christ, we understand the construct that our bodies do not belong to us. We are full of value and worth. Purchased with a high price, the shed blood of Jesus, we must seek to honor God in how we care for ourselves. We should well steward this marvelous gift of a physical body as we aim to serve God and others.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV

And yet, throughout the course of life, circumstances arise in which we develop mentalities that are contrary to the Word. It is a true saying that the voice we listen to the most becomes the voice we trust the most. Which begs the question:

Whose Voice Are You Listening To?

Oftentimes, especially for women dealing with weight issues, it comes more naturally for us to entertain to the pushing voice of the accuser as opposed to the leading voice of the Good Shepherd.

I like practicality, so allow me to demonstrate how this application of Scripture plays out in my life. Perhaps, it will help you begin to discern ways the adversary may be operating against you, causing you to have thoughts that do not foster an environment for a thriving metabolism and healthy weight.

For me, that accusing voice oftentimes sounds remarkably like my own thoughts! Does that happen to you? Do you catch yourself on thought-tangents that regard nothing of the Heavenly Father’s mind toward you and regard everything with the adversary’s? It might sound a little bit like this…

• “When are you going to lose that baby weight? Your little one is a Kindergartner!”
• “What on earth am I going to wear to that party? Nothing fits!”
• “He doesn’t like the way I look. I’ve changed so much since our wedding.”
• “If I take one bite of that brownie I’ll gain five pounds!”

The same voice that accused Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is the same voice speaking to us today! 

“And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked?'” Genesis 3:11 MEV

For our own benefit, our loving Father instructs us to take every thought we think and force it to line up with the the Truth of what He says about us.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 MEV

The point where I began to recognize and remove ungodly beliefs, thereby retraining my thoughts from fear-based accusations to love-based affirmations, was the point where I began to overcome! To overcome, one must understand the absolute necessity of filtering thoughts through the Holy Word of God, the Bible. I want my thoughts to line up with God’s thoughts. I don’t want to fear food or fat or fads. After all, fear is the opposite of love! That is to say, fear is the opposite of who God is.

“God is love.” 1 John 4:8

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment (torment). Whoever fears is not perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18 MEV

I trust you are beginning to understand the strong connection between our emotions and our physical wellbeing. And so in closing, I ask:

• Would you think differently if you knew your thoughts impacted your body weight?
• Would you think about what you’re thinking about?
• Would you surrender your thoughts to align with the Heavenly Father’s thoughts toward you?

the voice you listen to the most is the voice you trust the most

Listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. He gently leads. His voice brings peace.

The first step in any weight loss plan is to listen to Father God’s voice. His voice, His word, is our daily bread and the real food that satisfies.

We each are God’s fearfully, wonderfully made temples. We are His express image in the earth. Let’s glorify our Creator by loving ourselves, accepting ourselves and humbling ourselves to daily be changed into the likeness of Christ!

Love,

Jess

***For more information on this and other wellness topics, connect with Jessica at www.wellmadewellness.com.

“Again He began to teach by the seaside. A large crowd was gathered before Him, so that He entered a boat and sat in it on the sea. And the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. He taught them many things in parables and said to them in His teaching: “Listen! And take note: A sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and soon it sprang up because it did not have deep soil. But when the sun rose, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seed fell on good ground, and it yielded grain that sprang up and increased by thirty, sixty, or a hundred times as much. Then He said to them, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’” Mark 4:1-9 MEV

1. A More Excellent Way. Wright, Henry. Copyright 2003. Pleasant Valley Church, Inc.
2. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comfort
3. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/food