Made to Crave - Chapter 16: Why Diets Don’t Work

~ I'm sharing the high points that I found in each chapter and then I answer the questions at the end of each chapter with my honest feelings. I'm reading the book on my Kindle, so I don't have page numbers for any of the thoughts I have taken from the book. This has been a journey that has spanned at least a decade for me. I'm not where I want to be, but I'm farther along than I used to be. Walk with me and feel free to share your thoughts. Be kind. Be blessed.

• Diets don’t work for me. I seem to be able to sacrifice for a season and then I get tired of sacrificing. I hit my goal weight and then slowly slip back into old habits. The weight creeps back on and I feel like a failure.
• So, I’m not on a diet. I’m on a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self-discipline for the purpose of holiness.
• Deciding ahead of time what I will and will not eat is a crucial part of this journey. I also try to plan my meals right after breakfast when I’m feeling full and satisfied. Deciding in advance keeps my thinking and planning rational and on track.
• Here’s a biblical perspective on temptation: “If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13, NLT). The way out the Lord provides for me is deciding in advance what I will and will not have each day.
• Keeping these verses in context, verse 14 of this same chapter goes on to say, “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry” (NIV).
• Expecting anything outside the will of God to satisfy us is idolatry.
• Idolatry, in the case of food, means the consumption of ill-sized portions and unhealthy choices because we feel like we deserve it or need it to feel better.
• We are to flee the control of food can have over our lives. If we flee from the pattern of idolizing food and stop depending on food to make us feel emotionally better, we will be able to more clearly see the way out God promises to provide when we are tempted.
• (From the section called “Two Elephants in the Room”) Elephant 1: “It’s my party, and I’ll eat cake if I want to. Don’t tell me I have to give up all treats for all time” I’m not saying we have to give up all treats for all time… I did give up sugar and starchy carbs for a season… when I reached my goal weight, I added some things back to my eating but did so very carefully.
• I’m not saying that enjoying these occasional treats is wrong. Now that I’m at my goal weight, if I were to decide in advance to have popcorn at the movies, when I would have a small popcorn (no butter). For the next several days I would be more careful with my healthy eating regimen and pass on adding in any treats.
• The realities of diet failure speak loudly and clearly that returning to old habits will cause the weight I’ve lost to return as well.
• Diets are not effective as a long-term strategy for weight loss, in part because people regain most or all of the weight they lose.
• Elephant 2: “I don’t think this sounds like a spiritual journey. I think this sounds like a legalistic approach to eating.” I am not writing this book to set forth legalistic rules about eating. I am writing this book as an invitation to consider the freedom found when we bring one of our most basic needs – food – before the Lord and allow Him to guide and guard us in this area.
• Putting all of our hope in religious adherence to a human-designed diet can create a false sense of prideful self-effort, harsh treatment of the body and, in the end, usually failure.
• Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules, “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2:20-23)
• Dr Floyd Chilton, a physiologist who teaches at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, puts it this way: Your willpower is in constant battle with your genes and your calorie-excessive environment. Often your best efforts are no match for your genes and environment which is why so many diets fail so miserably… Willpower alone is not enough to bring about this change; start by realizing that you cannot do this alone. If you are a person of faith, use that connection to help you change.

Personal Reflections

1. Have you ever been lured in by the promises of an infomercial or fad diet? I’ve tried slim fast, but that was the only “official” diet I have tried. What was it about the diet that appealed to you most? It was easy and fairly affordable to by the shakes. Did it guarantee quick results? I believe it did Promise you could eat whatever you wanted and still lose weight? Yes What about it made you think, Maybe, just maybe this one is a sure thing? It seemed like something I could do so it had to work. How did you feel when it didn’t deliver as promised or you gained back the weight you’d lost? Sad, depressed
2. Lysa describes her experiences of diets as sacrificing for a season and then regaining the weight when she gets tired of sacrificing. Instead, she says she is now “on a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self-discipline for the purpose of holiness”. What do you think about this distinction between diets and a journey with Jesus? I hate diets because I feel like I’m missing out on something, so I love this distinction. How might your decisions about food and healthy eating change if you could really see them as part of a spiritual journey rather than a diet? I think if I focus on filling up with Christ and making lifestyle changes that I may be able to stick to it this time!!! Is this an idea that feels possible for you or unrealistic? Why? Its very realistic. My husband is starting to get on board and my kids are old enough to understand. Both of these should make it easier!
3. “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). This is a promise with which many of us who grew up in the church are very familiar, maybe too familiar. Do you believe, really believe way down deep, that this promise applies to you and your temptations with food? Yes, I do. For Lysa, God’s “way out” is to plan in advance what she will eat. How hard is it for you to look for a way out when temptation catches you off guard? It’s getting easier. As I make more lifestyle changes, making right decisions is not as hard as it used to be.
4. “Idolatry, in the case of food, means the consumption of ill-sized portions and unhealthy choices because we feel like we deserve it or need it to feel better”. Do you agree with this definition? I do. If so, when was the last time you committed idolatry with food? This weekend, I grazed on crackers and cheese and fruit and quick bread. On their own, a little at a time wouldn’t be a bad thing, but I was doing it mindlessly just because I wanted to. And I wasn’t super hungry. What prompted you to do so? It was there and I was too lazy to find something else or put it away. If not, do you believe it is possible to make an idol out of food? Why or why not?
5. There are two elephants in the room when Lysa talks about feelings of deserving certain foods or needing a treat to get by:
• Elephant 1: “It’s my party and I’ll eat cake if I want to. Don’t tell me I have to give up all treats for all time.”
• Elephant 2: “I don’t think this sounds like a spiritual journey. I think this sounds like a legalistic approach to eating.”

With which elephant do you most resonate? Elephant 1 Do you feel you can eat treats as you usually do and still make healthy choices? It’s getting easier, but I’m not in a place of total freedom yet. Do you resist the idea that your battle with food can become a liberating spiritual journey? No. What past experiences inform your views? The better relationship I have with God, the better relationship with my family. My family is one of my triggers for emotional eating. So by drawing close to God, I am in better control of myself