Ownership of our sugar or food addiction is a huge part of the process of not only weight loss, but total transformation and getting a REAL life. If there is one pivotal moment in our healthy living LIFEstyle journey, it is the moment we own our issue.
I don’t watch much television, but I do watch a few shows I DVR. Recently I watched two shows that depicted polar opposite reactions to their weight issues.
Different Approaches
On one show two individuals went all out and reached their goals six months early. One lost 123 pounds and the other over 247 pounds. Both ended up fit and healthy. On the other show, a woman had weight loss surgery and lost 150 pounds, but could never get past that. She was stuck weighing over 520 pounds and in danger of death.
What was the difference? Two owned their issue and changed. The other never owned her issue. She had decided she could eat what she wanted, just less at one time, and not move. Her weight loss all happened in the hospital. Outside the hospital her weight never moved.
She had accepted that she had a problem. She had surgery thinking it would fix her. However, she still had not owned having to make changes.
The other two owned their problem, changed what they ate, changed how they moved and in the process learned how to begin really living.
Food as Recreation
All three people began admitting they had no life. Two felt they could die soon and one felt her life was empty and meaningless. All three ranked eating as the high point of enjoyment.
At one time food was my recreation and the only thing I looked forward to. Baking and eating some luscious dessert was the high point of my day. As a mother and wife it felt like the only way I could show love to my family.
Ownership
Ownership of my issue began by realizing my issue was owning me. I had allowed food, specifically foods made with sugar and flour, to master me.1
Facing that head-on and realizing to put things back in order, I needed to take a firm stand and say, “No,” to quite a few foods.
To do that I had reset my brain to realize life is not about eating foods that seem to taste good. It’s about eating things that make me healthy and more fit so I can do the good works that will fulfill the destiny God has planned for me.2
Sanctified Sin
Overeating has become the acceptable “sanctified” sin for Christians. Even though the Bible talks about gluttony3 being a sin, we don’t like to mention that, especially not from the pulpit. Let me say here that a glutton does not have to be someone who is overweight. Even thin people can gorge themselves and then exercise their indulgences away.
We can talk about alcohol, drugs, premarital sex, gambling, pornography and any other number of sins, even though some of those are not in the Bible per se, but we will not talk about overeating. With two-thirds of Americans overweight or obese, that would step on too many toes.
Here’s the deal, though, it’s not about sin. It’s about making the most of our lives so we can live and do what God put us here to do.
The Real Me
Our physical body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,4 but it is not the essence of me that lives on for eternity. That part is the real me that I’ve buried inside an unhealthy container. The real me cannot fulfill its destiny if like the 673-pound woman I have eaten myself into the real possibility of an early death.
I know the difference in how I felt at 430-pounds and how I feel 260 pounds lighter. Before the real me was smothered inside my body.
Now, I have energy, stamina, clarity, focus. I still have challenges because of what carrying that extra weight has done to my body, but I can accomplish much more today than ever before.
Not only that, I’m not afraid to do things when I know God is calling me to step up and do them. Life has really become an adventure. Why? Simply because I owned my issue and decided I loved living more than I love delicious desserts. And I love following Jesus more than anything.
Is It Simple?
Could it really be that simple? Jesus went to the cross knowingly. He willingly chose the hard way. He knew there would be pain like He had never experienced, but He endured it for what He knew was His calling.5
We each have a calling as well. He calls us to Himself to live life as close to Him as we possibly can. When we understand WHO we are and WHOSE we are, we begin to see that denying6 our wants and desires is not just an act of obedience, it is an act of love.
The question becomes will you own your issue and face it head-on? Will you ask for His help? He says, “My grace is enough. It’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.”7
It’s time to step up to the plate and own your issue?
Hello, I’m Teresa and I am a sugar addict and with God’s help I’m walking out this journey every day with my hand in His.
Who are you?
1 1 Cor 6:12
2 Eph. 2:10
3 Gal. 5:21 ; Prov. 23:20-21; Ezekiel 16:49
4 1 Cor. 6:19-29
5 Hebrews 12:2
6 Luke 9:23
7 2 Cor. 12:9
Teresa Shields Parker is an author, blogger, editor, business owner, wife and mother. Her book, Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor is available on Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible HERE. This story is from her blog, teresashieldsparker.com.
Janet Perez Eckles 
Shawn Akers 
Abby Trivett 
