Curb your appetite: Lessons from my obsession with food

As I sipped the delicious hot cocoa, I couldn’t deny how the sweet, rich taste glided down my eager throat. I had enjoyed it and had to push down the niggling voice of caution.

I knew I would pay for it later but in that moment, all that mattered was the satisfaction of my craving for this drink. I had denied myself for what had seemed like an eternity but had only been a week. I was tired of not having the things I wanted. Why deny myself if I couldn’t see the results I was hoping for?!

These were the thoughts warring through my mind as I indulged, yet again. Yes, I had been bad. I had eaten the very things I had promised myself I would not eat. I had fallen, head first, down the proverbial wagon and it didn’t look like I would be getting up any time soon.

Some how, I knew it would happen. It seemed like I was bidding my time, waiting to do the very thing I had promised myself I wouldn’t do. 

I had lost the self-control battle and I was reminded once again that I had under estimated my assailants- my will and my flesh.

What about you? How many times have you promised yourself that you would not have that second helping, that you would stick with the healthy – good for you- choices? But find yourself, wolfing down all the bad choices.

Us vs. Food: Do we have a food problem?

Well, today we need to talk about the food problem. This is probably one you can relate with. I can tell you that quite a few of us have an unhealthy relationship with food. Think about it, even the first woman fell for it’s charms.

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

(Genesis 3:6)

Yes, we had certainly underestimated our adversary.

My love of food has gotten me into all sorts of muddles, people would usually tell me I was lucky that all the food I eat doesn’t show but my problem was not about adding weight. It was about the greed and gluttony this obsession had created. I would think about food, dream about food, buy, eat and eat again, an unending cycle seeking to satisfy my eyes and my stomach.

What about you? What has your love of food done to you? What have you done just to make sure you eat the things you want when you want.

Is this love or lust? Understanding our relationship with food

Here’s another aspect of our dilemma, we hardly consider that it can lead to sin. That when love turns to obsession and disregard, it becomes greed and gluttony. Many times, you’re celebrated for liking food but hardly cautioned, unless you’ve added weight. Which means not putting on weight is the world’s sign that you can continue to indulge. A jail free card to largesse and excesses…

”Chioma, you can keep eating so long as nothing shows or you don’t look different.” 

But I say otherwise. Our ability to say no to food is an act of self-control. One every Christian must actively develop.

While I say this, you already know that I have been guilty and have failed woefully. People often laugh when I tell them I’m a recovering foodie, they don’t understand that I’m serious and continue to fight to discipline my palette and my eyes.

Did you notice the sequence with Eve?

She saw the fruit(the food) — considered the how good the fruit looked( at this point, she probably forgot about the consequences of eating the fruit or they were no longer as relevant) — and acted on her thoughts.

SEE – LIKE – ACT

The Bible also has a story about a man who managed his relationship with food. His acts are now celebrated and have led to a famous type of fast and food diet – Daniel. Here’s what he did:

“And the King appointed them a daily portion of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank…but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 

Please test your servants for ten days, and let then give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.”

Daniel 1:5, 8

You probably know this story but can you imagine the will power it must have taken for Daniel to deny himself of these “delicacies”? Could you do it? I don’t think I would have been able to hold out. Saying no to steaks, pies, cakes, pasta, fried chicken and jollof rice? That would have been very difficult. Yet, we know, from Daniel’s story that it’s possible to say no to food, no matter how tempting or “right” it may seem to indulge.

Let’s bring it back to our present day realities. The truth is that food in and of itself is not the problem. It is how we use and abuse it that matters. Have you ever considered the things that trigger your food habits? Is it the visual, the smell, the thoughts that filter through your mind or do you use food as a tool to overcome or cover up some other problem?

There were times I ate because I was bored. It felt like something to do to fill my time. For some others, food fills the void of heartbreak and pain(albeit temporarily) because it usually makes us feel bad and guilty afterwards.

So, what gives? How do we combat the food problem? How do we realise that just like pride, anger and envy, we need to deal with greed and gluttony?

In the next post, I will share six things I’ve learnt from my love(obsession) with food.