Full Armor of God Diet

While out walking/jogging this morning, I prayed to God and asked the question "Lord, what is going to be the key to my weight loss success? I only want to lose about 10 pounds. This goal really shouldn't be so hard to attain. There is something I'm missing. Something I'm not doing quite right." Immediately, I heard the answer. "You need more prayer."

It's a simple answer. If we need more of God's power in our lives, we need more prayer. Daniel prayed 3 times a day. So, why do I think my one time first thing in the morning is enough to sustain me all day? This week, I will pray more, especially in the late afternoon/early evening, which is the time of the day I most often give in to cravings.

Remember - "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16

The May challenge to walk 40 miles has been a great goal for me. I walked more than I would have this month. I haven't reached my goal, but I have 3 more days. We don't have a scale in our house but I'm sure I lost a couple of pounds of fat. Our family went to Science City on Friday and I weighed in there at their medical/health exhibit and weighed 3 pounds less than I did at the doctor a couple months ago. So, that's the good news. The bad news is I'm sure I added back at least 2 of those pounds with all the pizza I ate last night. My husband asked for home-made pizza, so I made the dough, then discovered we had no pizza or spaghetti sauce, so I made sauce out of tomatos and a can of diced tomatos. It took an hour to make this pizza. By the time it was done, I was famished and had invested so much time in the pizza, I decided I deserved a ton of it!

Well...I now have a new thing to add to my battle plan. Pizza. I need a plan to deal with pizza so I don't overindulge. Here's the plan. Amy's brand makes a terrific cheese-less pizza. It is low fat, and one of my favorite foods. I will keep frozen Amy's cheese-less pizza on hand, and the next time my family wants pizza - they can order out or make a frozen pizza - and I will have my Amy's pizza.

What challenges are you facing with your healthy lifestyle and weight loss goals? Since we are all different, we all need a different battle plan. But here's something we all have in common. Our strength comes from God. We need a plan so we can overcome temptation, but to carry out the plan, we need the word of God in our hearts and prayer. Lots and lots of prayer.

"...but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." 2 Chronicles 32:8 (NIV)

My niece graduated from Enterprise Academy, and we went to her graduation ceremony this past weekend. I enjoy listening to the sermons and speeches encouraging graduates to choose the path that follows Jesus. If you could go back to your own high school graduation and make all the choices between that day and this day over again, is there anything you would want to do differently? For me the answer is "yes...I would want to go back and make right all of those times that I didn't follow Jesus."

But I can't change the past. So what about the future now? Just as I was on graduation day, today I'm facing an unknown future. I'd like to think that I have more wisdom now than I did then. But I still need more wisdom. We are all faced with choices every day as we head into an uncertain future.

One of the speakers shared a verse from Jeremiah 33:3
'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

God is still there, ready for us to call on Him. He has great things to reveal to us. So much we do not know. But He is ready to show us if we call on Him.

Here's a question for God. Why is it important for us to maintain our health? Does it really matter, and why? I believe it does matter, but there are still great and unsearchable things I do not know. This week I am calling on God to reveal to us the great and unsearchable things about our bodies and our health. I pray that He will reveal new reasons to each of us and create an even deeper impression and reason to maintain our health for His glory.

Since we are walking 40 miles this month, let's remember to walk with the Lord.

Before God confirmed his covenant with Abraham, He spoke to him saying "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless." (Genesis 17:1 NIV).

I pray that God will help all of us to be blameless as we walk with Him today, and always.

Today I've been thinking about how much love God has for us that He gave us His law to protect us. There are only problems and pain when we don't follow His law.

The laws of nature and health are no different. The consequences might seem small with each individual decision, but they add up. We are either building up our health bit by bit one decision at a time, or we are tearing our health down one decision at a time.

Remember that God's law is a law of love.

"Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble." Psalm 119:165 (NIV)

Have you ever watched a turtle walking along comfortably without a care in the world, when all of a sudden a jolt, a tap, or a noise startles him? In an instant, he pulls his head and all 4 feet under his shell. He's quick. He doesn't hesitate. He doesn't look around and ponder the potential source of danger. Without a dilly or a dally, he turns to his shell for protection.

You know he's a smart turtle. But how about you? How quickly do you turn to the truth for protection when confronted with a tempting lie? The belt of truth is part of the Armor of God. It's there to protect us. But if you're like me, sometimes you might not have the belt of truth fastened very tightly around your middle. I left my belt of truth unbuckled this past weekend, and I fell for a lie. I happen to love cheese dip, and since I've given up sugary sweets, here's the lie I fell for:

THE LIE: "Since you're not eating dessert, you have to be able to indulge some of your cravings, and cheese dip is fine because it has protein and fat to slow down the sugar absorption!" Now if I were like the turle, I would make a mad dash for the truth. I would replace that lie with the truth immediately - THE TRUTH: "My body does not magically absorb and work off the calories from cheese dip just because I'm not eating desserts. What good does it do to let go of donuts if I'm just going to replace all those calories with cheese dip?!"

The truth is: My body will not magically absorb excess calories from any source. When people ask me why I'm not eating ice cream, when everyone else around me is, I calmly repond "Well, there's really nothing in the ice cream I need for nutrition, and my body can't handle those excess calories. My body just stores it as excess fat." That's the plain and simple truth. There are a few people who have such a high metabolism, they can eat junk food and their bodies don't store it as fat. My body is simply not one of them.

When I tell people the plain truth, they agree with me. It's logical and true. But the truth is, most people don't think about the truth while indulging appetite. We ignore the truth at the detriment of our own health. I need to remember that Jesus gave me the truth to protect me. I need to pray, and I need to wear my belt of truth. With the belt of truth, the next time I have one of those tempting lies pop into my head, I will remember the turtle. Iwill see how fast I can kick the lie out of my head and replace it with the truth. No hesitating. No rationalizing. I'll do it as fast as a turtle!

"Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
may your love and your truth always protect me." Psalm 40:11

God talks to us is many different ways. We read His words in the Bible. We see his creative hand in nature. Sometimes we hear a still small voice--the Holy Spirit prompting our hearts. But sometimes life is so loud and noisy that God's voice is barely heard. We focus our attention on so many things at one time that we hardly have time to stop and listen to God's voice. We have tasks related to our job, or volunteer projects, or family activites consuming us. OR, we have the radio on or T.V. blaring, or the newspaper to read.

It America, each of us is exposed to an estimated 2,500 advertising messages per day (some estimates are as high as 3,000). From the bathroom stall to your grocery receipt, advertisements are everywhere, most of which can't even be taken at face value. There's always an angle, a slant. Can you really believe the ad featuring a weight-loss product that will help you lose 5, 10, 20 pounds in just a few weeks? They don't mention how many people fail, or how soon the weight comes back on.

The point is, we are bombarded with information. We have email messages to read, we have spam to filter and delete, we have telephone messages to return. So many voices. So many distractions. Still, in the middle of it all, the still small voice of God is there. We will hear God's voice if we listen.

I heard a song on a Christian radio last week. I had heard this song many times before, but this time, I paid attention to the lyrics. The song is "The voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns. I love this song. If we would only listen to the Voice of Truth rather than the lies that come from Satan, rather than the lies coming our way from the media, rather than lies lodged in our hearts from past experiences. Here are the words to the chorus:
Chorus:
But the Voice of Truth tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of Truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth

You can find the complete lyrics here:
http://www.sing365.com/music/Lyric.nsf/Voice-Of-Truth-lyrics-Casting-Crowns/C476D6C52BE8E8C048256E9C000DB7A4

In this busy world, with all the voices calling out to us, we must listen to the voice of truth. Jesus is our shepherd and He will not leave us. He will guide us. He will speak to us with a still, small voice. Don't ignore the voice. Listen to His Voice of Truth.
Along our path toward better health, He will guide us. He will help us make good choices and remind us of the truth.

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." Johne 10:27 (NIV)

Here's an interesting statistic I found in Danna Demetre's book "Scale Down" (page 38): The average woman gains about 25 pounds between the ages of 25 and 50. That's only 1 pound per year. Danna encourages her readers to "sweat the small stuff," because if "you burn five calories more a day than you eat, you'll lose twenty-five pounds over 30 years."

Of course, we don't all want to wait for 30 years. The point is that even small changes can add up to a big difference over time.

Using the Calorie Exenditure Calculator (see link to the left on the blog page), I calculated that I burn about 107 calories every time I walk 1 mile. So if I walk an extra 40 miles in May, I will burn an extra 4,280 calories. This adds up to a little more than a pound of weight. If I were to eat just 100 fewer calories per day in May also, that would add up to another 3,100 calories, which would be another pound off.

Have you ever noticed when you save your small change how soon the money adds up? Our calorie banks work the same way. Instead of cutting out 100 calories a day, if we eat an extra 100 calories per day, this small change adds up in the calorie bank around our tummies. Just eating an additional 100 calories more than we burn off in a day for a whole month will result in an extra pound gained that month.

So, small changes can result in a big difference.

When Jesus comes, He will change us back into the perfect beings He created us to be.

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed" 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52 (NIV)

This will be the most amazing, awesome, major change we'll ever experience. Until then, let's rely on His power to help us make small changes toward better health, giving glory to Him with our bodies, while we wait for His return and the ultimate heavenly change to which we're all looking forward!

If you are a visitor to the Full Armor of God Diet blog, you might like to join us for the May Wellness Challenge. We have committed to walking 40 miles in May. If you average 1.3 miles per day, you can do this! Or you could walk 2 miles a day for 20 out of 31 days and have 9 days off. Whatever works for you. I just don't recommend waiting until May 31 and walking all 40 miles!

You can email your miles to me daily or weekly, or just whenever you have the time. I'll add them to the speadsheet, which is a great way to create accountability and increase your motivation to stick to the goal.

You will find a link to the "Walk 40 Miles in May" spreadsheet under the Links heading on the left side of this Web page. Remember, walking is a great time to pray. I encourage you to keep praying and putting on the Armor of God while you're out walking.

I have found one of the greatest benefits of using the Armor of God to overcome appetite is my closer walk with Jesus. I can walk with Jesus and experience victory. I also notice the opposite effect as a disadvantage. When I go through my day without using the Armor of God, I feel distanced from Jesus. After walking close with Him, I notice a big difference when I'm not. Also, not only do I feel bad because I have let myself down, I feel doubly bad because I have let Him down. I am so glad Jesus never gives up on me. He encourages me to take baby steps instead of giant leaps.

Using the Armor of God to overcome appetite is a great way to build spiritual muscles, not just for maintaining health but for all the areas of life. I want to encourage you not to let the muscles grow weak though. We can build them up, but when we don't use them, they grow weak again. Keep taking baby steps, with a spirit of continuous improvement.

Here are some of the baby steps toward better health that I have taken one at a time.
1) Last year, I gave up chocolate. My daughter stopped eating chocolate, so I stopped with her. When she decided to eat chocolate again, I had gone so long without it, I decided to stick with my chocolate fast. Now, chocolate no longer even tempts me. I just know that I don't eat it. It's not even a question.
2) This year, I've been working on eliminating sweet desserts. God has been helping me overcome in this area.

My next baby step? I still have steps to take that will help me manage my overall health. I still really go for the bread and butter, plus cheese. I'm trying to decide what my next baby step should be. I need to overcome one thing at a time, conquering a little by little through the strength that comes from Jesus.

Let's keep taking one baby step at a time with Jesus, walking in His ways.

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

Jesus explains how we can abide by the truth. We let the truth inside our hearts when we let the Holy Spirit in. In fact, when referring to the Counselor to be with us, Jesus called Him "the Spirit of Truth."

"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you." John 14:15-17 (NIV)