It’s That Time of Year Again: Resolutions

How many times have you heard, “I’d do anything to lose weight!!!” Well, this is the time of year when many people do.

With good intentions, they’ll buy prepackaged meals, purchase all kinds of dietary gimmicks, sign up with weight loss companies, and even have their stomach stapled.

They might lose a few pounds but within the year, 65% regain their weight and 23% gain even more weight within 2 years.

Dieters frustratingly whine and wonder “why?” They’ll feel discouraged, then perhaps try something even crazier, or believe they have no willpower.

Of course you have willpower. That same willpower that keeps your mouth in control when supervisors anger you, is the same willpower you talk yourself into denying fattening, unhealthy food. So why do you fail?

As a Christian counselor specialing in nutrition, I encourage my patients to tackle your emotional attachment to food first. Figure out what the voids are in your life that only food with its specific chemicals fill.

If eating an entire bag of Oreos still leaves you unsatisfied, you have a ‘love hunger’ no food can compensate for. You must discover why food fills an emotional void because rolling the dice on every diet plan doesn’t discern the root cause.

Psalm 27:11, “Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me.”

The devil wants nothing more than to destroy your temple of the Holy Spirit. Don’t let him win. One Truth regarding our bodies, is that in all we do, it should be for the glory of God: 1 Corinthians 10:31.

With our individualized physiological/chemical structure, it is impossible to lump each of us into one specific weight loss program. In addition, our personality affects how each of us should approach a diet plan.

Some people crave structured menus/packaged foods, while others want more independence to make their own choices. Many need education or encouragement daily, while independents only want to be well trained and left alone.

Since everyone is unique, certain diet plans might work for one but not for another. Some do well on a low-fat, vegetable enriched Mediterranean plan for example, while others on the Atkins,  Zone, or South Beach Diet.

I’ve known some dieters, so adamant that theirs is the only way, the diet procures a cult status. I repeat: no one plan works for everyone.

If a diet plan doesn’t detrimentally affect someone’s health, then I look on it similarly to ‘non-essential liberties’ in Christian doctrines.  If it doesn’t affect our Salvation, why argue over something we’ll only discover as Truth in heaven?

I distinctly remember once discussing different diet plans with my patient, Edie. She had been on a myriad of popular fad diets. When I attempted to discourage her from implementing the Rice Diet because it wasn’t a good fit for either her  personality or physical needs, she blurted out angrily, “Oh NO, Ellie! THAT one worked for me! It worked for me three times!”  She failed to see the irony in that statement. A good diet is one that works forever, not one you go back to over and over again.

So what will work for you?

Tomorrow I will publish my Personality Test that allows you to question why you eat the way you do. That’s only the beginning. The following posts will present answers to those questions and help you succeed.

In the meantime, search out: Life’s too Short to Eat Bad Cheese: Nutritional and Life Lessons God Teaches Us. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SKQ3HYV

It’s available as an ebook or a paperback on amazon.com.(The paperback addresses emotional and spiritual reasons why we eat.)