A Time to End

Dear Readers,

After 97 blog entries, SharingGlory is coming to an end. We have decided to end the blog on overeating and weight management ideas. Our goal was to be a friend who understood the challenges of overeating, struggling with weight management, and provide encouragement because we share the same struggles. We selected scripture related to the topic to show how the Bible is a source for answers to every problem, even overeating.

 

Thank you for sharing our thoughts on this, often difficult, aspect of life.

 

Although we will no longer be writing the blog on the first and third Thursdays of the month, the blogs we have written will still be available at SharingGlory.blogspot.com. You can search through the topics by title and date or read them randomly to find one that speaks to you.

 

Remember at the end of the day, God always loves you.

 

Blessings, Gloria and Sharon

Wholeness

 

Wholeness

 

The following quote was part of a recent morning meditation

             God did not tell us to follow him because he needed our help but because he knew that loving                 him would make us whole.

                                                                                                                                    St. Iranaeus

 As I reflected on this quote, I focused first on the idea of God “telling” us to follow him, and I realized out of God’s incredible love for us, the Divine One has given us many resources in being able to love him, to live our lives his way, the way that can make us whole, filling us with peace and contentment.  

 We are triune people, made up of body, spirit, and soul. All three parts of us need to be kept healthy, and in this blog Gloria and I focus on food and eating, one aspect of the body. 

 As I reflected further, I thought of all the resources God has given us to keep our bodieshealthy--physicians, medicine, nutritionists, dieticians, food….  Over and over, we hear doctors, nutritionists, and dieticians tell us how important our diet is for a healthy body.

Proverbs 23:1-3 tells us “When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you given to gluttony.  Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive” (NIV).

Now, we realize that’s a little extreme.  I seriously doubt God wants us to put a knife to our throats, but the essence of these words is clear:  gluttony is not good for us.  It is not going to help us be whole.

As Gloria reminded us in her last blog post, we are in a season now where so much nutritional food is available (and tasty)--tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, sweet corn, melons, grapes, and on and on and on.

 So today I encourage us to go ahead and enjoy these gifts God has given us to help us be whole.

 

                                                                                                                                    Sharon Witty

Pray and Plan Ahead

Two things I’ve found helpful in my weight control journey are praying and planning ahead. Before doing anything, prayer will make the next step go better. 

 

It helps to take a day and plan meals and snacks for the week ahead. Usually grocery day is a good day for preparation. Clean, slice and dice the vegetables and fresh fruit so they are ready to use and to eat as snacks. If we have something healthy that is ready to eat we are more likely to choose it.

 

It also helps if we are going to eat out, to pray and then check the website for menu items and search for something healthy or low in calories. Usually they post calories with menu items. Praying and planning ahead is a good way to resist temptations. Deciding what would be a good meal choice wherever we are going helps us resist ordering what everyone else is getting. It also allows us the chance to relax as everyone else struggles to decide.

 

Praying and planning ahead gives us more control over our meals and snacks. It gives us something to look forward to and God helps us control our destiny. However, as the Bible says, it is important not to judge others because of what they eat. Because God accepts us no matter what our diet consists of.

 

“One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him,” (Romans 14:2-3 NIV).

  

Summertime

 Summertime

 “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.” 

 A grandson’s baseball games and a granddaughter’s summer league volleyball games are making my summer blessedly busy.

This blessed busyness tempts me to take shortcuts in preparing meals.  So easy to say to myself, “I’ll just get a hamburger, or a hot dog, or popcorn, or whatever at the game.”  Picking up baseball concession food is quicker and easier than boiling a couple of eggs and packing them, carrot sticks, and an apple to eat between double header games.

 Or maybe we say, “It’s so hot.  Let’s just go pick up a hamburger at Culver’s.”  And that hamburger may be accompanied by french fries and followed by an ice cream.

 Now we all know that hamburgers, hot dogs, popcorn, french fries, and ice cream are not “bad” foods, and we are not “bad” people for eating them.  The problem for me is this:  When I eat white bread sandwiches, or fatty meats, or fatty/sugary foods, a desire boils up inside me, setting off a craving for more, and more, and more of whatever kind of food I desire--more ice cream? Cookies? Pie? Chips?  Whatever.

 If we succumb to the craving, we are not “bad” people.  It’s just that we make ourselves miserable, often hating ourselves and taking out our frustrations on others.  I remember that when my kids were at home, they often received the brunt of my frustration after I’d had a binge.  I’d yell at them for the smallest infringement, but it wasn’t them I was yelling at.  I was yelling at myself.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, “When I am weak, then I am strong,” (12:10b).  So it is for us.  Through grace, we can be strong.  We don’t need to be miserable, nor do we need to take our misery out on others. This summer, let’s ask for strength the minute we arise each day and have a happy, enjoyable, healthy eating summer.

                                                                                                                                     Sharon Witty

 

The Comfort of Food

Food has long been a comfort to me. Rather than eating only when I was hungry, I would also eat when I felt empty, alone, lonely, sad, depressed, anxious, ugly, fat, unhappy and more. 

Eating provided a cushion of pleasure for a temporary time. It never solved the problem or filled me up with what I needed. Eating was a quick fix that never lasted. It allowed me to stuff my emotions. Like a balloon that wasn’t tied, they quickly escaped and the desire to eat returned.

 

Somehow I began to set limitations on when I could eat: never after dinner in the evening, only salads for lunch, and only if I exercise. Controlling my eating is still a challenge, but I find with repetition of good habits, it helps keep me on track most of the time.

 

God provides so many good things to eat, and we can find anything we desire in stores. We must remember to choose carefully and be mindful of our eating. Give thanks to God for all things, and remember, God loves us no matter if we eat a whole package of Oreos or not.

 

“He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your heart with joy,” (Acts 14:17 NIV).

 

God and only God can fill our empty spaces with what we really need.

 

Gloria D. Stewart

Comfort

 

Comfort

My body cries

for comfort.

My mind groans

for comfort.

My soul desires

comfort.

 

I pour a glass of Moscato,

rummage through my cupboard,

finding potato chips.  How old?

Slowly sip the wine,

chew the chips.

 

Why?

What is buried deep within me

seeking solace?

coveting comfort?

 

After a bad night, I wrote this poem.  As days have passed, I have continued to wonder why don’t I pray during those difficult times, those times when all I want to do is crunch and curl up into a fetal ball? Pray rather than giving into a glass of Moscato and old potato chips?

 What is it that keeps us from going to our Divine Source to seek comfort and healing?  Is it the desire for instant gratification?  Or is it that we fear what we might find within ourselves?  A fear of opening up wounds that have never been addressed, but pushed down, deep inside but at times something causes us to become aware.

 These are times we need to seek God’s love, for no one loves us as the Holy One does.  He desires only wholeness for us.  In Isaiah 41:10, God reminds us “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Do not be dismayed , for I am your God.  I will strengthen you.  I will help you.  I will uphold you with my victorious right hand (Life Application Study Bible).

 

                                                                                                           Sharon Witty                                                                                                  

An Occasional Reward

Almost four years ago Sharon and I decided to write this blog to help others who share the same struggle with overeating. We hoped to be a friend who understands and relates to the same challenges and share some things that help us. 

Weight issues and eating challenges can weigh a person down. We have good days and bad days and can be pretty hard on ourselves when those bad days happen. There are lots of temptations out there and everyone has their own weakness. Mine is ice cream. Yours might be potato chips or chocolate or a soda. 

 

One thing I’ve learned is that it is okay to allow yourself to have a treat now and then or the object of desire can grow out of hand and out of control. I allow myself an Ev’s ice cream cone when I go to Marshalltown. I’m not there very often so I can’t overindulge. Or we could say once a month we will have a celebration day in honor of the good days we’ve had. 

 

“Let us give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things,” (Psalm 107:8-9 NIV).

 

No matter how our week goes, we can always give thanks to God for His constant love. He satisfies our deepest needs with the best we could ask for.  Thank you, God.

 

Gloria D. Stewart

Never? No, Never!

 

Never?  No, Never!

 Just two weeks ago, we celebrated the resurrection of Christ.  Why did Jesus come to earth?  Why did Christ arise?  Why did God make us?  Of course, the answer to each question is Love, because we are loved--unconditionally.

 What’s your trigger food?  What sets up cravings in you so that you eat far more of that food than you need?  For me, it’s sweet, fatty foods.  Through the years I have eaten pounds of cookies, cake, brownies, pastries, and ice cream. I’ve eaten three or four slices of pizza at one sitting.  When the binge was done, and I laid my head on my pillow at night, I hated myself and vowed, “Tomorrow is going to be different.”  But tomorrow was never different.  I just went right back into eating my trigger foods and binging.

One night I came home after binging, sat on my couch, and sobbing, cried out to the Lord, “No more, Lord.  No more.  No more sweet, fatty foods.”

 Since that night I have turned down desserts, pizza, and pastries.  Oh, I am not a monk.  I have to have dessert.  I make my own pudding; I eat yogurt with fruit and nuts, I make a good dessert with sweet potato, honey and cinnamon.  In the summertime, every once in a while, I get a soft ice cream cone--and eat it very slowly.

What has made the difference?  Grace I know.  But that’s not the main idea of this blog post.

Finally, I realize even when I was in the midst of daily overeating and binges, God loved me.  I had grown up hearing that I needed to earn God’s love.  It has taken me a long time to accept the opposite--God loves me, plain and simple.  Nothing can steal the Divine One’s love from me or you, and we don’t have to earn it.  Paul tells us “…in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39 Anselm Academic Study Bible).

That concerns me about us overeaters.  Too many of us think God stops loving us if/when we overeat.  Nope, nada, doesn’t happen--not ever.  God loves us--always.  Let’s focus on that truth.

 

                                                                                                                                     Sharon Witty

Not Bread Alone

It is Holy Week, and our minds turn to thoughts of Jesus and His final days on earth. Today we remember His Last Supper with His disciples. The bread and wine they shared was a holy meal representing Christ’s body which was to be broken and His blood which was to be poured out of His wounds.

 

Jesus made the unleavened bread significant, never again to be just the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. It became a meal of remembrance for all time. The taking of the bread and the cup is sacred to believers who partake.

 

Jesus spoke of bread early in His ministry. He spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert fasting, being tempted by the devil. Jesus was hungry, and the devil called Jesus to turn rocks into bread to satisfy His hunger.

 

“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,’” (Matthew 4:4 NIV).

 

We may also be tempted by bread. Most commonly we are tempted by luscious leavened bread, fresh from the oven. But Jesus reminds us that it is the Word of God that satisfies and nourishes us. 

 

This week let us remember the significance of bread in our lives, not the physical temptation that calls from our stomachs, but the body and blood of our Savior that was given for our salvation. 

 

Gloria D. Stewart 

Getting It

 

Getting It

 

On Sunday and Monday of this week, I was blessed to spend a bit of time with my eldest grandson, who attends Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ.  He lives off campus in a house he shares with two other male students.

As we prepared a meal together, I happened to ask him, “So do you and your housemates prepare meals together and eat together?”

 “No, we all eat at different times.”  Then he added, “We eat when we’re hungry.”

 ‘Wow,’ I thought, ‘They get it.’

 Toddlers and pre-school children also “get it.”

 You might ask, “Get what?”

 They get that our bodies know when they need to be fueled.  I remember several years ago, and our first grandchild was staying with us.  She was four. We were eating supper, when she announced, “I’m done.”

 “But we have dessert,” I said, “Don’t you want dessert?”

 “No, I’m full.” 

 And I thought, ‘What’s full got to do with it?’  I ate dessert.

 Young children get it, but we adults carefully teach our children to override their bodies’ fuel gauges. When they’re three, and we go shopping with them, what do we tell them?  “If you’re good in the store, we’ll go for ice cream afterward.”

 Or “You were such a good boy during church, I think you deserve a cookie.”

 Of course, by the time we are adults, we have totally learned how to override our bodies’ messages to us when they are full.  We eat because the cookies, ice cream, pie, cake, fried chicken, potato chips, etc., call our name from the cupboard or refrigerator.

 My heart offers thanks that my grandson and his housemates listen to their bodies. What do we who are having a difficult time listening to and hearing our bodies speak to us do?  How can we relearn that gift with which we were born?

A first thought that comes to mind is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

And then I think, ‘This is what Life is, isn’t it--a constant seeking of God’s guidance of us?’

We seek, and we may falter, but we catch ourselves and continue to seek, knowing our Companion always walks with us, waiting for us to be open to guidance.

Let’s listen to that inner, quiet Voice and follow its leading as to when we are to eat, what we are to eat and how much we are to eat.

                                                                                                                                    Sharon Witty

Live a Good Life

There are days when I cannot stop eating. I munch my way around the kitchen, through the refrigerator and back to the pantry. It makes for a bad day. But, the next day I can change what I do and it can be a better day.

I’m a big fan of giant panda bears. I love when they show clips of them playing with a snowman or sliding down a hill on the snow. I recently read that giant pandas must eat 20 to 40 pounds of bamboo each day. That consumes around 14 hours of their day!

 

I’m not a giant panda so I should not eat like one! When I start on a binge-eating-day maybe I can be reminded of the giant panda and choose to chew on some bamboo or moderate my munching.

 

God created us all different and our appetites fluctuate for many reasons. But, we can choose to live a good life – one bite at a time.

 

“What do you think God expects of you? Just this: Live in his presence in holy reverence, follow the road he sets out for you, obey the commandments and regulations of God that I’m commanding you today – live a good life,” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13 MSG).

 

Gloria D. Stewart

Lessons

 Lessons

 

When I got up this morning, February 16, my weather app informed me we had a -17 temperature and a -36 wind chill (did you know weather forecasters didn’t begin to give wind chills until the 60s?  And they really took off with wind chills in the 70s and 80s.)

 What a year this has been, yes?  Derecho, COVID, and extraordinarily cold temps we’ve not experienced in years.  So how is your appetite during these stressful times?  I know I’ve written this before, but it seems like mine is even worse during this time.  I finish breakfast and look at the clock to see how much time I must get through before I can eat lunch.  I begin to plan lunch.

 And after lunch?  Right.  I look at the clock to see how much time I must get through before I can eat supper.  I begin to plan supper.

 But I’ve learned a few lessons about my relationship with food during these past 12 months.

 The more involved I am with a task I am interested in, the less I think about food.  Those tasks can vary--reading, going through old photos, completing a Bible study. . .

I’ve also learned I need to eat vegetables and protein at my meals, for these foods fill me and stay with me longer.

This next lesson we’ve heard many times, but it bears repeating for me.  Do not go grocery shopping when you are hungry.  So why did I head out to do exactly that last evening at 4 p.m.?  By the time I finished shopping, I was ready to grab anything to satisfy my growling stomach.  Even the beef jerky looked good, and I NEVER eat that (one of the few things I don’t eat).

 The Bible verse that comes to mind in light of these lessons is this from Proverbs:  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.”  (Prv. 3:5, Life Application)

 I need to trust the Holy Spirit to guide me in how to use my time, when to eat, what to eat, how much to eat, and when to go grocery shopping.

 

                                                                                                                                     Sharon Witty  

Water, Sleep and Exercise

Three critical elements of a healthy lifestyle are water, sleep and exercise. When we get tired of focusing on what we eat, lei’s try putting the emphasis on these three instead. We may just discover one makes a difference in our weight or hunger.

Drinking water is good for the body. It can suppress our appetite, help burn fat, stimulate metabolism, and even reduce stress by avoiding dehydration.

 

Sleep is critical to a healthy body. Sleep maintains a balance of hormones – even those that trigger cravings. Our bodies need a regular sleep pattern to stay healthy.

 

Exercise – oh, I had to bring that up! Yes, exercise is important to our bodies. Let’s try moving more each day. To reduce sitting is a great place to start. Walking around the house, cleaning, and performing daily tasks all help our bodies perform properly and that leads to good health.

 

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV).

 

Gloria D. Stewart

Fear

 

Fear

 

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you.  I will help you.  I will uphold you with my victorious hand  (Isaiah 41:10 Life Application).

 

            Last week during morning prayer time, I came across this verse.  Reflecting on it, I realized how much I relate to it.

       Often I fear food--I fear accepting an invitation to any gathering that involves food; I fear and crave, at  the same, a buffet line; I fear what others think of my appearance; I fear becoming hungry and not being able to eat for a time; I fear food--period

            As I continued to reflect, I recalled this verse: “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2Timothy 1:7 Life Application).

            Once again, the Spirit moved in my spirit, reminding me of Real Truth.  Food is not my enemy.  Food is one of God’s gifts, given to me to provide nourishment my body needs for good health.

            That gift is accompanied by the gifts of power and self-discipline.  God has given me the power and discipline to eat when it is time to eat, to eat what my body needs at that particular time, and to eat only what my body needs.  Sometimes I think I make this food thing way too difficult.

            The Wise One has it all figured out.  Because God loves me, the Creator has given me all that I need to have a healthy body, using the gifts available to me.

 

                                                                                                                                    Sharon Witty

 

P.S.  God has also given me the self-discipline to shop the outer aisles of the grocery store and avoid the snack aisles 😊.

 

P.P.S Next time, let’s discuss not being dismayed, or discouraged.

Blank Pages

It is a new year and we have blank pages to fill. Are you ready for another year - if it's not too much like 2020? Maybe we can make 2021 a better year by taking control of ourselves. I won't encourage New Year's resolutions because they don't usually last, so let's work on one day at a time instead.

I like having blank pages to fill in and I like having new beginnings; a fresh start, a clean slate. First, I'm going to get rid of all the Christmas treats and goodies left over and stock the kitchen with healthy choices.

All I can do is take eating one day at a time. If I mess up one day by eating too much I'll start fresh the next day and not scold myself too much.

We have blank pages for 2021. Let's try and make the best of each new day and encourage ourselves, not feel defeated.

Eating healthy is a great choice for filling those blank pages. Let's try to get off to a great start this New Year - one day at a time.

"Give me only my daily bread," (Proverbs 30:8b NIV).