Life Without Sugar

It’s been a little over a week since I took on the no-sugar challenge and I will say that it hasn’t been as bad as I anticipated. With the exception of last Friday night, I haven’t been miserable in craving sweets or carbs (although I did have a Chai latte and a zucchini muffin over the weekend). For the most part, I’m feeling better without the sugar in my body and am really only missing fruit, which I get to add back in my diet next week (yay!).

This journey is about more than sugar for me, though. It’s not even really about food, although that seems to be my trouble spot. What it’s about is obedience and idolatry. I’ve had weight issues for most of my life. I have had many victories along the way and have tried to desire a healthy body over looking a certain way or fitting into a certain size jeans. I have known the right things to do to stay healthy, but many times, it came down to not doing what I know to do. That’s an obedience issue, not a food issue.

As I’ve struggled this year with my weight, I found myself wondering if making an effort to eat healthy foods was not still a form of idolatry for me. Just this morning, I was crying out to God, asking Him to help me not to be so consumed with the process of losing weight, but to keep Him in the forefront of my mind. When I am consciously making an effort to eat healthy foods, it takes a lot of thought and planning. When I choose to not to put so much thought into eating healthy foods, I gain weight, because I let myself eat whatever feels good at the time. Either way, I think it’s idolatry.

I don’t really have any good answers or solutions at this point. I believe that I was created by God to do good works (Eph. 2:10). I know that I was formed in my mother’s womb and that I was “skillfully wrought” by a God who loves me and wants good things for me (Ps. 139:13-16). So, I will continue to start each day by turning my thoughts to Jesus and how I can live for Him. I will continue to try to make smart choices about what I put in my mouth and will keep praying for strength to be obedient without making food an idol.