Sweet Savor

Read 2 Corinthians 1-3

2 Corinthians 2:15 "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:"

When someone’s nose is plugged so they can’t smell anything, supposedly an onion tastes no different from an apple. Once that person is allowed to use his sense of smell again, hopefully he does not pass out if he has been unlucky enough to be the one who ate the onion.

If we are missing the great tastes of our formerly favorite foods, we may be able to enhance the smells of the foods on our diet so we miss the former foods less. Or, if we are having a hard time choking down allowable foods, maybe we could downplay the smells and make it easier.

Once we have done all we can to augment the smell of our food, whether to make it better or lessen the offence, we can create a sweet savor elsewhere. We can make the room where we eat smell better or maybe eat outdoors, weather permitting, to take advantage of the good smells of fresh air.

Exercise

Read 1 Corinthians 7-9

1 Corinthians 9:24 "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain."

Setting aside time to exercise isn’t always easy. Our schedules are already full to overflowing.

But we will lose weight better if we work aerobic exercising into our lives. Some of the best aerobic exercises, like running, may not be a possibility for us because of other health or time reasons.

If we can’t earmark some time for exercising into our day, we may need to use tricks. We can try things like parking at the back of a parking lot to force ourselves to walk or jogging back and forth to the kitchen to meet our diet’s aerobic exercise needs.

Purging Old Leaven

Read 1 Corinthians 4-6

1 Corinthians 5:7 "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:"

When we get ready to do some serious cooking, whether it’s making a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings or a marathon baking of Christmas cookies, we will want to take stock of what we have before we purchase more supplies. We may be surprised at how many of the things we need we already have.

We may be more surprised at how many duplicates we have. It seems easier to just buy from a list than to take stock of what we have beforehand.

We may be even more surprised at how old some of the spices and other ingredients in our pantries and freezers are. We will want to purge out old, expired leaven, yeast, and any other old ingredient to make room for newer ingredients and to keep from accidentally using something that no longer works and may not be safe.

Able to Bear Meat

Read 1 Corinthians 1-3

1 Corinthians 3:2 "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able."

There are vegetarians who don’t eat meat on principal. For the rest of us, our meat consumption is only curtailed by two things.

Our food plan most likely limits the kind of meat we eat and how much we can eat. There are some fad diets that allow unlimited amounts of meat at meals, but they are unlikely to be considered healthy.

The other thing that limits meat is our budgets. No matter what our food plans allow, we can only get the kinds of meat we can afford.

Greeting With Food

Read Romans 13-16

Romans 16:15 "Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them."

One of the best ways to greet a new neighbor is with a dish in hand. Baked goods are one of the most popular dishes to bring, but other foods will do, too.

If we are starting a new job, we may want to bring some goodies along—though probably not the first day. Once we see how to share food with our new fellow workers, we can bring our specialty and either set it in the kitchen, the lunchroom, or in the office.

We don’t even have to cheat on our diets to greet others with food. We can bring something delicious and diet-friendly that we have found and share both the food and the recipe with others.

Reasonable Service

Read Romans 10-12

Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

Not everyone is born healthy. Some may battle health problems all their lives.

It may be harder for those of us with health challenges to lose weight. Food choices may be dictated by a disease and exercise all but impossible.

But even with these issues to deal with, we can figure out a way to lose weight and be as healthy as possible. We can’t let our limitations define us—we will want to find out what we can do, not worry about what we can’t do.

Contrariness

Read Romans 7-9

Romans 7:19 "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."

This spells out the dieter’s dilemma: we eat what we shouldn’t and don’t exercise when we should. It should be a lot easier to lose weight than it is.

Why is it so hard to resist temptation? If we know we only have to deny ourselves for a little while, shouldn’t we be able to stick to a diet for a few months or so?

If we know how good exercising is for us, shouldn’t we embrace our workout time each day? Unfortunately, our contrariness has us acting the opposite of our own best interests.

Stretch a Meal

Read Romans 4-6

Romans 4:17 "(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were."

The day before grocery day often is a time when there is little left in the pantry. We could run to the store and get a few things or we could see what we can make out of what we have on hand.

If we have soup, stew, or chili, we could pour it over rice or potatoes. If we have flour, we could make some kind of bread depending on what other ingredients we have on hand, like baking soda, salt, eggs, etc.

Even if we have no pancake mix, we might be able to make pancakes, if we have flour, eggs, etc. We can take inventory or what we have and research on the internet what those ingredients will yield.

Excuses

Read Romans 1-3

Romans 2:1 "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things."

We don’t always feel like sticking to our diets. We don’t always feel like exercising every day.

When the situation overwhelms us, we fail and eat what we shouldn’t and skip exercising. We may make excuses because we can’t face our failure.

But we have to get away from making excuses and find ways to work some freedom into our weigh loss plan. If we allow ourselves a day or a meal to eat whatever we want or cut our exercise days down by one day, we can look forward to those lax times and not only stop making excuses, but stop feeling guilty and still lose weight as we buckle down on the rest of the strict regimen days.

Clashing Advice

Read Acts 25-28

Acts 27:11 "Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul."

Is bacon bad for us? It’s full of fat and even lean cuts and baking instead of frying doesn’t negate it.

Is bacon something our diets need? If we are on an all-protein crash diet, it might be listed as one of the foods we should seek out.

If we read widely enough, we will find clashing advice for almost any food available. It is up to us to use our common sense and experience to figure out what works best for our weight loss plan.

Food Vows

Read Acts 22-24

Acts 23:12 "And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul."

Dieting is hard enough without making crazy vows like the one in this verse. Chances are we don’t hate anyone enough to risk going to jail for killing, let alone starve to death over.

But we can spice up our diets with food related vows. We might vow to only drink water and no other fluids like diet sodas, until we reach a certain weight milestone.

We can try it whenever our motivations are wearing thin or when we want to challenge ourselves. We just don’t want to get into the habit of using it as a punishment for ourselves.

Eating Proof

Read Acts 19-21

Acts 20:11 "When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed."

It’s never been clear whether the saying is starve a cold and feed a fever or feed a cold and starve a fever. But it is clear that when we don’t feel well, our eating habits suffer.

Some react to sickness by being unable to eat. They don’t have much of an appetite and can’t seem to force themselves even when they know they should.

Others eat uncontrollably in a misguided effort to make themselves feel better. But once we feel better we have eating proof: we feel well enough to go back to eating healthy meals.

Soothing Food

Read Acts 16-18

Acts 16:34 "And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house."

When someone we know is hurting, there is usually very little we can do to make them feel better. We can’t undo whatever happened or go back in time and prevent it from happening.

So we do what we can to make their lives easier. Bringing food is often our go-to response.

If they have meals already prepared, at least they don’t have to cook. And if we have brought them food they may be more likely to eat, even if they don’t feel like it, if all they have to do is warm up something nutritious.

Fruitful Seasons

Read Acts 13-15

Acts 14:17 "Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."

Going into the winter and holiday seasons, most of us have a history of gaining weight during this time. We cozy in and cooking, baking, and eating just seems like a good way to spend our time, so the weight piles on.

Animals gain weight before hibernating, so why shouldn’t we? We may not plan on sleeping our way through the winter, but with less sun, sleeping also seems like a good way to spend our time—and more weight piles on.

We can have a fruitful season in the winter just as much as we will in the spring and summer. We can use the additional time indoors and holiday parties to use energy cleaning our houses, maybe for a party or for the Christmas decorating and doing more will help stop weight gain and may even mean a few extra pounds will come off.

Indulging

Read Acts 10-12

Acts 10:14 "But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean."

Hopefully after months of turning down the opportunity to eat certain foods that we have been known to overeat in the past, we no longer have a taste for them. We may still have cravings since we remember how good they tasted once upon a time.

We may have reached the point in our weight loss where we are simply trying to maintain the loss and don’t need to lose any more. Maybe we have decided to indulge in a food we haven’t had since our diet started.

The trick is, if the food doesn’t taste as good as we remember, we don’t want to keep eating and eating, trying to get the experience back. We will want to rejoice that we have lost the taste for the food and celebrate that one less food has a grip on us.

Finding the Bargains

Read Acts 7-9

Acts 7:12 "But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first."

It’s easy to find bargains. We have newspaper advertisements and direct mail advertisements.

We can look on the internet and find even more bargains. It can be overwhelming and confusing.

When we are hunting for the best price for food, a big thing to keep in mind is if we have to drive too far to get it, the item may end up costing us more than the same product closer to home. One way to take advantage of the best prices is to cluster our purchases in one store in one location that we would be near, anyway. If we are driving out of our way for another reason, we can ferret out what stores nearby have irresistible bargains and shop at that time.

Filling a Need

Read Acts 4-6

Acts 4:35 "And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."

We can usually tell if we are hungry or not before we eat. But it isn’t always easy to tell when we have eaten enough to stop being hungry.

If we are eating something we love, it might not even occur to us that we are full. We are caught up in the experience of eating something that tastes so good.

But one of the things that will help us lose weight is trying to stop eating after a reasonable amount of food has been eaten. Measuring and using smaller plates will help us not to take too much food and getting into the habit of waiting before taking seconds will also help make sure we are only filling a need.

Eating With Singleness of Heart

Read Acts 1-3

Acts 2:46 "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,"

We have a lot of motivations for trying to lose weight. We want to be thinner and stronger.

We want to look better. All the motivations we can think of keep us going when we get discouraged.

But too many motivations can also become jumbled and stop working. We may need to eat with the singleness of heart that we are going to eat right because we want to get and stay healthy.

Try the Other Side

Read John 19-21

John 21:6 "And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."

We base our decisions on evidence and experience. If something has failed, we will be reluctant to try it again—that’s just being smart.

So when we have failed to keep up with our diet and exercise program so many times, we may be ready to accept we will never be as thin or as healthy as we would like to be. Diets just don’t work for us and exercising only tires us out—it never makes us stronger.

But we can’t give up. We have to keep trying a different approach, different kinds of exercises and a different healthy diet until we find something we enjoy, something we can stick to, and something that works.

Habits

Read John 16-18

John 18:2 "And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples."

Our habits can get us into big trouble. When we’re tired and hungry, we might fall back on grabbing the snacks we used to eat so freely.

We might sleep a little later like we used to, instead of getting up in time to put in our exercise time. At holiday and potluck tables we might go back for seconds like we used to, without stopping to think whether or not we are still hungry.

But the good habits we have been cultivating can help us out. As we replace the bad habits with the good habits, we may be able to channel our behavior into the better new habits instead of falling into the old bad ones.

Appearances

Read John 13-15

John 15:2 "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."

One of the big motivators for our dieting and exercising is that we are concerned about our appearance. We don’t like the way we look in our clothes.

We don’t like the way we look period. We don’t like having to find clothes in larger sizes.

Even when we find something that fits, we still don’t look the way we want to. We know that the only way to feel better about the way we look is to do something about it and change our dimensions.

Who to Trust

Read John 10-12

John 10:5 "And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers."

Name brands spend a lot of money trying to convince us that their product is superior and worth the extra money they charge. Generic brands are often just as good as the name brands.

Some name brands might even be inferior to generic brands or get a certain batch recalled because of tainting. However, sometimes their claim is legitimate and we may find they are better than the generic we can afford.

We have to decide whom we are going to trust to have a good product. Even if a name brand is slightly better, we may find the generic is good enough for our dieting purposes.

Flowing From the Belly

Read John 7-9

John 7:38 "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

We want for the fat to be flowing from the belly—and off our bodies. We can get discouraged when we micromanage our diet and exercise program.

We might not see progress on a day-to-day basis. Differences are so miniscule that they don’t show up on our usual measuring tools—the scale and the measuring tape.

But as we stick to our regimen, day-by-day and meal-by-meal, one day we will see the differences. We’ll see the changes in the mirrors and in the fit of our clothes.

Meat From Afar

Read John 4-6

John 4:8 "(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)"

“Tastes like chicken” is a running joke that we use when we’re trying to describe a new type of meat to someone who has never tasted it before. Not everything tastes like chicken, of course, but it is one of the most familiar meats people consume.

We might be trying to eat game that someone has provided, whether it’s squirrel or pheasant. Even snails are presented as a delicacy and called escargot so we won’t get creeped out by what it is we’re eating.

Others stretch their meat-eating muscles by eating the less popular meats from otherwise familiar animals. Someone might eat tongue or brains, even gizzards and enjoy the taste.

Beginnings

Read John 1-3

John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

When we start a diet and exercise program, we feel good. It feels good to finally be doing something about our weight.

We feel smug because not everyone who begins dieting and exercising will keep at it until the goal is reached and then beyond to maintain the healthier weight and lifestyle. But we know we will.

We’re on a high. If we can maintain these good feelings, we can continue to motivate ourselves all the way to the end, no matter how long it takes us.

Follow the Water

Read Luke 22-24

Luke 22:10 "And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in."

Water is supposedly the best liquid we can consume and something our bodies need. Some diets even say we can lose extra weight by drinking a certain amount of water daily or drinking a cup or two before each meal.

Unfortunately not all water is good for us since there are chemicals that find their way into our water supply. Bottled water is popular and a way to make sure we are drinking the best possible water we can get—also the from-the-tap purifiers give us the same thing.

But lately there have been flavors we can buy to make plain water taste better. Those of us who drink diet sodas, juice, milk, coffee, and other liquids because we don’t care for the bland taste of water are finally vindicated.

Self-Invited Guests

Read Luke 19-21

Luke 19:5 "And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house."

Most people wait until they are invited before coming to our home. They don’t want to impose or presume upon our hospitality.

Others are the drop-in types who come over when it’s convenient for them with no regard for what we might be in the middle of doing. The first time it happens, we will probably stop whatever we were doing in order to entertain and feed them, treating them to our warmest welcome.

However, when people begin to be regular self-invited guests and come too often, we may need another way to greet them. Putting them to work alongside us as we continue to do whatever we had planned to do that day before they interrupted us is one way to handle it.

Every Day Eating

Read Luke 16-18

Luke 17:28 "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;"

The hardest thing and easiest thing to do is when we’re dealing with our everyday eating. It’s the hardest thing because our habits are entrenched and not easily changed.

It’s the easiest because if we can make changes in our everyday eating, our diets seem less like an ordeal. So the trick is to break bad habits and replace them with new ones.

It’s usually less traumatic to change one habit at a time. If we can work good eating choices into our lives, we can keep control of our weight with little effort.