Bondage

So many diets are unsuccessful because they have so many rules and restrictions you feel deprived.

• You should not eat carbs.
• You should not eat meat.
• It is about the fat grams.
• You should only eat meat and vegetables, no fruit.
• You need to replace meals with shakes.
• It is about the sodium.
• It is about the amount of water you drink.
• Never eat sugar again.
• Etc, Etc, Etc.

Many of these programs work and some of them are very healthy for you, but within the “rules” of dieting there needs to be freedom and grace. You will not stick with anything that feels too hard. To many people, the bondage of being overweight feels easier than the bondage of dieting. Find something that does not feel too restrictive. Your new way of eating needs to be a new lifestyle.

I can relate it, in a small way, to the story of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. They were so excited to be out from under slavery until things got difficult. It felt too hard. They wanted to go back to the familiarity of slavery; when we read the story, we all ask why? We ask why because we know what it feels like to be free. We know how it feels to live without shackles or fear, but many overweight people have never felt the freedom of being at their healthy weight or they have been in bondage for so long they have forgotten what it feels like to be free. When people say, “Remember even one bite of prohibited food cannot compare to what it feels like to be thin”, do not realize many overweight people cannot understand that statement.

If you are beginning a diet or are thinking of starting one, look for something that bends a little. There will be rules with the new lifestyle, but they do not have to be so restrictive you feel you cannot live. Do not go from one bondage to another.