In church this morning, our pastor was talking about how our enjoyment of eating is God-given. Sometimes in my quests to lose weight, I view my desire to eat as a bad thing. I view it as a wild beast that must be restrained, locked away, lest it destroy me. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
God created us to enjoy the process of nourishing our bodies. That sweet tooth is there so that we’ll seek out the ripe peaches and berries. When I eat more of God’s cuisine, I find that it’s easier to stick with a healthy diet. It’s when I use that sweet tooth & other senses to eat over-processed foods that I find myself eating not for enjoyment, but for sheer mass consumption. Sure, the first few potato chips taste & smell wonderful, but after the fourth or fifth handful? Am I really enjoying them at that point in the way God intended us to enjoy food? Honestly, no. By that point it’s all about feeding the salty dragon.
For me, cooking from scratch is a way to enhance the pleasures of eating. I enjoy a meal more when I’ve made it myself. The meals that I just reheat in the microwave or empty from a plastic bag onto a cookie sheet just don’t have the same effect.
So my challenge to myself for the week is to search for the enjoyment of eating healthy, the way God intended it. I’ll be trying to ask myself when I’m eating, “Am I enjoying this?” If I’m not, I need to find out why.
Happy health!
Good words, Lorri! Thanks!
Yeah…I’ve been pondering something similar in thinking about sweeteners and the whole “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude…” thing. If we look at the foods God created - we see meat, vegetables, dairy and fruit…. And the Bible says “If you find honey, eat just enough. Too much of it and you will vomit.” I don’t think God intended us to live a life laden with sweets. (or excess salt for that matter)
Comment by blestwithsons — July 30, 2006 @ 3:20 pm
those are both excellent points. I have realized that a lot of my weight gain and reflux has been caused by enjoying food too much. By that I mean, eating larger portions and having seconds on foods I really like. That is a problem for two reasons, at least, I tend to like foods high in sugar and carbs, and I rush through my firsts to get to my seconds etc. I have been concentrating on learning to eat, and like, healthlier foods. And to slow down and enjoy the first normally sized portion.
Comment by Maria — July 30, 2006 @ 5:27 pm
Thanks for the provoking thoughts. I really enjoyed reading your post!
Comment by Kat — July 30, 2006 @ 6:21 pm
Very true … that’s a good perspective on things.
Comment by stephanie — July 30, 2006 @ 7:57 pm
Great words. So true, and a gift to read. Thanks!
Comment by Tracy — July 30, 2006 @ 9:29 pm
Exactly! I did a post a while back in my “In Relation to Food” series where I researched the purpose of food in our lives (from a Biblical stand point). If you want to read it it’s at
http://blog.atih.com/archive/2005/10/31/2292.aspx
Enjoyment is definitely one of them - as we can see by the different tasting things He’s given us. Great post!
Comment by Blair — July 31, 2006 @ 8:50 am