Empowered and Determined

We're working through a bible study called Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst right now.  She challenged us to not just write down what we're eating as we're eating or after we've eaten but before we eat.  And not just before we eat a meal but to write down what we're going to eat for the whole week in advance.  Then to grocery shop and pre-plan and pre-package as much as we can so that when we do get hungry we already have what we need ready for that meal or snack.

With the challenge in mind, I sat down last night and planned out breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks for the next four days (through Friday) and found that it takes a lot more effort and time to figure out what you're going to eat and to keep it within your appropriate calorie level.  Actually I found that often my basic "go to" meals and snacks are under what I should be eating on a daily basis.  That means that all the unplanned eating and second (and third) helpings are doing me in.  So today I ate exactly what was on my eating plan for the day and while I occasionally experienced a twinge of hunger it was nothing I couldn't deal with.

Now I have to make it through the evening.  But this gives me the opportunity to practice the last lesson which deals with the way we think.  I can choose to be deprived or empowered.  Deprived because I can start thinking negative things, like "I can't have that" or empowered because I can remind myself that, "Everything is permissible--but not everything is beneficial.  Everything is permissible--but not everything is constructive" (1 Cor. 10:23 NIV) or in a more common vernacular I can say, "I can, but I think I won't."

This verse speaks to the freedom we have as Christians to eat anything, there are no forbidden foods.  But with that freedom comes the understanding that just because we can do something doesn't mean it is beneficial to do it.  By shifting the way I look at my choices I can change the way I feel about making better food choices.

Now that doesn't mean that I might not feel hunger this evening but really that's a good thing.  It forces my body to draw energy from my fat stores, thereby helping me to lose weight.  I have had all the calories that I need to lose weight today while also maintaining a healthy and balanced diet.  And after today I make the same choices tomorrow until this becomes a lifestyle and not a plan to follow.

So here's to the first day of a new way of eating.