Tag: eating

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Transformation

Do you ever feel like you need a change?

Lately I’ve been more aware of the negative way I see my body and how I feel when I look at myself in the mirror.

I’ve been listening to podcasts like Compared to Who? (Heather Creekmore) and Intuitive Eating for Christian Women (Erin Todd and Char-Lee Cassel), so I know the answer isn’t going on a diet or trying to exercise my way to a smaller body.

I know God loves me just they way I am and I need to learn to love myself. I also am aware that I often run to the kitchen for a snack when I feel a range of emotions. It’s especially bad when I feel boredom, frustration, or sadness. Eating when I’m not hungry isn’t good for me, so I’ve been trying to figure out how to get out of those bad habits and be more balanced in how I feed my body.

I heard Michelle Rayburn interview Jennifer Smith Lane on her Life, Repurposed podcast in May and I decided to order two copies of Jennifer’s book Transformed: Eating and Body Image Renewal God’s Way. I just started going through it with a friend and I’m already feeling differently about myself after doing part of the first lesson.

The sentence that keeps coming to mind whenever I’m tempted to think negatively about my body is “I’m God’s masterpiece.” I would never put down a beautiful painting by a master painter, and I don’t have to critique the way God made me.

I can’t wait to see how my thoughts are transformed as I study the rest of the lessons. Maybe I’ll get free from my emotional eating and I might see a physical change happen to my body, but even if that doesn’t happen, I’m looking forward to a better mindset and more peace.

I want to look more and more like Jesus when people see me. That will be a wonderful transformation!

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV)

Do you need to be transformed? How can focusing on God help you allow the Holy Spirit to change you so you look more like Jesus?

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on a Restart

I hate it when I have to start over.

Whether it’s a writing project, an exercise routine, or healthy eating, it stinks when I get off track and let all of my hard work go to waste.

I’ve especially been noticing it in my eating habits lately. For a long time, I was making healthier choices and cutting out between-meal snacks.

For the last week or so, I’ve found myself in the kitchen way too often, consuming handfuls of M&Ms and marshmallows at all hours of the day. Why?

Is it stress? Is it boredom? It’s certainly not hunger. I guess I have some work to do as I look at what’s sending me to the kitchen.

But that’s not what I want to focus on right now. What I want us to consider is the fact that we can always start over, even if we do it fifty times in one day.

I don’t have to throw in the towel and pig out this weekend, telling myself I’ll start again on Monday. I can declare a restart right now and get back to making smart decisions about what I’m eating and when I eat.

If you’ve gotten into the habit of hitting the snooze five times in the mornings, you can declare a restart and get up the first time your alarm rings tomorrow morning.

If you’ve quit going to the gym or taking your daily run, you can declare a restart and do some kind of exercise tomorrow.

If you’ve fallen into the miserable habit of complaining about everything that happens to you during a typical day, you can declare a restart and start noticing things to be thankful for instead.

We don’t have to wait until next week, next month, or next year. Let’s declare a restart and get back on track!

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1–2 NIV)

Have you gotten off track in any area of your life? How can focusing on God help you to declare a restart and get back to better ways of doing things?