Filling up with the Word replaces desire for food

Health is a big issue in our home right now, as it is in many homes across the country.
    My family and I have been on a diet rollercoaster for almost a year now, trying one thing after another to lose a few pounds and improve our health. Some diets worked and some didn’t and we are down quite a few pounds from where we were this time last year.

    The one thing I have learned is what many professionals have said all along — diets don’t work, lifestyle changes do. You have to adopt a whole new way of not only eating, but also thinking and feeling.
    A book I read recently  — and need to keep rereading parts of — called “Made to Crave” by Lysa TerKeurst has really helped me.
    The book teaches you to fill your desires with God, not with food. It is full of spiritual motivation that helps keep you on the road to fitness and health.
    The book showed me that the way to get healthier and stay that way has more to do with what is inside us then what we put in our mouths.
    If we fill ourselves with what is good for our mind and spiritual lives, we will slowly begin to fill our body with what is good for it also.
    God has instructed us to take care of our bodies and his Word is full of ways we should do that if we take the time to look.
    1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
    When I read that verse I have to stop and think. If I borrow something from a friend, I am going to take care of it. I will make sure it is returned in the shape it was when I borrowed it.
    When my husband gives me a gift, I cherish it and make sure it is taken care of and kept in good condition.
    My body belongs to God, not to me. When I fill it full of junk and don’t exercise, I am not taking care of it. I am not glorifying God.
    Now knowing all of that, I still have plenty of days when I don’t want what is healthy. I want something gooey and chocolaty and sweet or a big, greasy cheeseburger. Then I think, “other people are eating that, why can’t I?”
    Well, I can, but do I really want to? Would it really be beneficial to me and how long would the pleasure of eating it last? The answer is, only until after the last bite.
    I found one verse that I keep repeating to myself when those cravings strike. It is 1 Corinthians 6:12, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
    I still have a long way to go and I still eat some things I shouldn’t and I still don’t exercise everyday like I need to, but I am taking steps toward getting there. And with the Lord’s help, I will.