The Food Fight

Have you ever been in a food fight? You know, one of those summer-camp-type-mashed-potato-sloppy-joe-flying-nobody-gets-punished food fights?

If you have, I would love details. (How was clean up? Who got in trouble? What is the correlation between jello consistency and air time?)

I have never been in one of those kinds of food fights. (Perhaps I need to put that on my Bucket List…)

However, I have been engaged in my own kind of food fight for the last two decades.

I talked a lot about my ups, downs and continual breakthroughs over at Wives of Faith in Fat Free-dom. I am so grateful for how God is opening my eyes (and heart) to the spiritual holds that food has held over my life.

And friends, the revelations keep on a-coming.

Recently, I participated in the Whole30 experience. You know, that thing where you eat only “Whole” foods for 30 days. It’s pretty strict as far as rules– nothing processed, only meats, veggies, fruits, healthy fats, etc. No dice on the dairy, legumes, all things sugary, etc.

Honestly, I went into it hoping to drop some serious poundage.

But I came out of it with some very legit Jesus revelations.

Side note: This is not going to turn into the “Whole30 gospel.” So don’t freak out.

Over the years, I have done all sorts of “diets…” I have counted calories, worked out 7 days a week, participated in (and subsequently won) a small 2-month paleo challenge with my trainer and her clients. Some experiences were a little bit crash-like (um, cutting a crap-ton of calories, dropping a crap-ton of weight… Being completely stressed/miserable/mean in the process, then putting all the weight back on because it was completely NOT sustainable.)

My trainers have always been like, “Put the scale away and eat good foods. Work out. Period. End of story.”

I scoffed. #IDoWhatIWant Apparently they were kind of right. (Who knew?)

So anyway. Back to the Whole30 thing.

I have always been an emotional eater. Lonely? Eat. Stressed. Eat. Happy? Eat. Sad? Eat. You get the picture.

Food had SUCH a hold on me.

A few months ago, God prompted me to try out this Whole30 thing for a month when the hubs was gone for army training… Mainly because I can focus and because wing-eating-beer-drinking-cookie-scarfing-metabolism-rockstar-man would be elsewhere.

So I did. The results were surprising. And kind of heart-changing.

No. I didn’t lose eleventy billion pounds. I lost six and a few inches. (I only weighed at the beginning and end of the 30 days. Scale was in the garage the entire time. Victory in itself.)

I was reading up on some non-scale victories about eating legit food, and my mind was blown.

Because I totally didn’t attribute my heart changes to my eating habits.

Turns out, the root was Jesus (as it is with EVERYTHING good) but he used this experience to snap some serious spiritual holds of food in my heart.

Unlike my paleo experience, where we could have baked “treats” with paleo ingredients, Whole30 said no. No pancakes, cookies, cakes, ice cream substituted, etc.

And in turn, I have slain the Sugar Dragon.

Seriously, I don’t even crave it anymore. #IsThisRealLife? I now recognize the lightening surge craving when I see my kiddo eating something sugar laden and processed, but I can consciously pass it up. It’s a big deal for my impulsive food heart.

In the first half of the experience, my long runs totally sucked. Brutal. But right around day 14, the switch flipped. My body was no longer like, “What have you done? Where are all the processed carbs and sugarrrrrrr!?” but was like, “Hey. This isn’t so bad. I can actually function on legit food.”

I took a full minute and a half off my per minute mile pace. For a total of 14 miles. AND– Get this– I am actually starting to ENJOY my runs. WHAT?!? #MindBlown

At the beginning of week two, God told me to start getting up an hour earlier. For those of you who haven’t met my very-early-rising tiny human, that would mean 5:30am. But I did it. The first early wake-up week was hard. But I have kept doing it– and I have more energy and wake feeling rested in the morning… AND I have extra time with Jesus (sometimes even by myself!) I don’t have to rush to get out of the door anymore. I am getting up an hour earlier but yet still living my OneWord of Rest. Talk about a holy paradox.

The list goes on and on. I am less exhausted at the end of the day. I am less stressed and anxious. I am being more spontaneous and adventurous with my tiny human. I think I am even generally nicer to people I love.

This blog post is not all “Do Whole30, it will change your life.” It is more like “Do what Jesus tells you, HE will change your life.”

The fact that I no longer feel deprived/self-piticul when Charis is eating a chip or gummy snacks or a Hershey kiss for going on the potty is a super huge breakthrough.

Friends, this has been a long time coming. Eight years, in fact. And I pray it sticks. No, I am not going to go all love-peace-chicken grease and never eat processed foods again. But the fact that I don’t “NEED” them any more is epic. And that thinking about eating during vacations and traveling don’t make unravel is really kind of awesome.

This whole thing is so new/exciting it is hard to put into words. All I know is that Jesus is at work and I feel less like crap and more like hurray. (That’s the scientific way to put it, I think.)

So I will take it.

Are you on a quest to be healthier in your physical, spiritual, mental or emotional life? If so, where are you seeing victory? I invite you join the conversation leave a comment.

Oh. And I totally covet your prayers as I continue to make this not just a thing I did once for 30 days, but something that is a lifestyle. Habits of submitting my food issues to God. To seeking Him first. For taking care of this Holy Temple.

Join me in this Food Fight as I keep reaching… Not reaching for the chips or the chocolate, but reaching for Jesus.

Feasting with Christ,