Primary Purpose

I have a little fear about writing this post. I'm predicting that what I am going to say will not be very popular. Please know that this is a subject about which my views have evolved. I am not sharing it to be preach-y or judge-y. I am sharing in the hopes that it resonates with some, convicts others and helps even one person.

So we're on the eve of one of the biggest holidays of the year, Halloween. Doug, Bekah and I went to a trunk-or-treat event at a local church. This was our second year attending. The trunks were well-decorated and the crowd was bigger than last year.

I have had a love/hate relationship with Halloween. I have been known to have years of abstinence and overindulgence with Halloween candy. My mom reminded me today that one year in particular, I overindulged to the point of illness. I don't remember that, but probably for good reason.

A month after Halloween is Thanksgiving and then it's Christmas. All three holidays have evolved to become food-centric. It's fascinating to walk through WalMart (or any similar store) around this time of year. Front and center are mixes, candy and similar items for each holiday. Then, come January 1, everything switches to healthy eating, healthy food ideas and the like.

Here's my two cents. I will speak about my experience because that's the thing about which I know the most.

Food was designed (or evolved, however you want to look at it) to nourish our bodies and supply it with the necessary energy to function at optimum levels. We all get hungry. It's biological. Our brains have to remind us to eat sometimes if we are overscheduled or stressed out.

As a Christian, I am told in the Bible that my body is a temple. In my mind, that means that my body is supposed to be viewed with reverence. I'm not supposed to idolize my body, but I feel like the idea is that I should treat it with respect. When I don't, my experience has been that it doesn't function well.

I used to smoke. At the end of my smoking tenure, I was smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. My body was not happy with me. I suffered from recurrent migraines, I was overweight and out of breath. That, to me, was not me treating my body like a temple.

For me, any time I use food as anything other than nourishment, I am not treating my body the way God intended me to treat it.

This includes using food to soothe myself, celebrate something, mourn something, get angry about something....you get the idea. Somewhere along the way, I learned that food was the perfect way to do any or all of those things. The point is, that's not what food is meant to do. God is very specific that I am to go to Him with those feelings (good or bad).

I am sure that some might consider me a stick-in-the-mud for asserting that the holidays shouldn't be about food. I get it. I love to bake and I am in my glory (usually) at Christmas. I love to make all different kinds of Christmas cookies. I love to make pumpkin pie and cheesecake and all sorts of sweets. The problem is, I end up eating a lot of the stuff I bake. My body does not respond kindly at all. I usually end up gaining a bunch of weight and spending a lot of time awash in guilt and remorse.

I am finding, the longer I am abstinent from sugar, that sugar is not kind to my body. It doesn't serve me well. Any sugar I ingest usually leads me to ingest more sugar. This ends up not serving me in any kind of positive way. I become sluggish and irritable and obsessed with sugar.

I am not meaning to sound melodramatic. This is actually what happens to me when I consume sugar. For those that are able to consume sugar in normal amounts, my hats are off to you. It's never been kind to my body.

I have also had to become better at monitoring my levels of fullness. In the past, even when I was eating healthy, I would eat too much at mealtimes. Again, this is outside of food's primary purpose. I am not meant to feel bloated, sleepy and guilty after a meal. This has meant altering my eating habits. I now drink a lot of water with my meals. I try to put my fork down between bites. I wait before I take a second helping of something. I try not to let myself get too hungry.

All of these practices serve me well. Writing down what I'm going to eat before I eat serves me well. It means I have to be planful and mindful. It means I am not going to eat emotionally. I don't have to spend a lot of time considering my food because I already know what I'm going to eat.

This also means that I have more free time to focus on God. Eating is not about celebrating, so I celebrate with God. If I'm angry, I pray. If I'm sad, I cry and then I pray. If I'm feeling anxious, I practice some deep breathing and I pray. The point is, when I am not treating my body like a temple, I am usually also not putting God at the center of my day and my life. Food can become an idol just like anything else. God doesn't appreciate us having idols, even if it's one that society tells us is okay.

I plan, this holiday season, to celebrate with friends and family by being present. That means continuing to do what I've already been doing. I will have Thanksgiving dinner planned ahead of time--that way, when the meal happens I won't be focused on the food, I'll be focused on the people around my table. I might bake a few cookies for Santa, but I won't spend hours baking and I won't triple the recipe.

My plan is to reach December 31 weighing less than I do right now. My plan is to continue to follow the protocol I've been following. I want to keep food in it's rightful place, as a fuel to power my body.