I'm cutting sugar out of my diet.
My body has been acting up lately, as it tends to do with autoimmune
disease. Once you have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, the
chances of developing another one rise dramatically. That is why many
people that are diagnosed with one disease, over time, develop and are
diagnosed with a second or third or more. It is discouraging.
But, I want to be an encouragement! I believe that there are spiritual applications to many things in life. I don't know exactly why I developed an autoimmune disease. Science hasn't pin-pointed exact triggers, and since there are over 80 autoimmune diseases, there could be multiple triggers. I simply know that God has a different path for me, and that means eating differently.
But, as a Christian, my path is supposed to look different. And so is yours. Your path is going to be different. Too often we don't pay attention to the path we are on. We are content to follow along with others, and that path can take us to places we never intended to go, to places that damage us.
Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Psalm 25:4
Eating and my walk as a Christian are similar in this aspect. I ate the Standard American Diet... also known as SAD. And yes, it is very sad. I thought I was doing a good job. I ate what the "experts" said was healthy. I made sure my bread was whole grain. My pastas were whole grain. I bought brown rice. I used the canola oils and the margarine. I was told these things were healthy. But, through the years, I gained a little more weight here and there. I felt worse and worse. No one said my body didn't know the difference between grains and sugar, that my body converted carbohydrates to sugar in my digestive track. No one told me that the synthetic oils were rancid on the shelf. No one told me that everything I was told by the "experts" was wrong! Eventually, I was sick, and the doctors took a long time to decipher why I was sick.
My gall-bladder went bad. I developed vitamin deficiencies. I gained more and more weight, and even switching my diet to what many new researchers said was healthy didn't impact me as much as I wanted. It took years for the doctors to find autoimmune disease. And, I can honestly say, that there are many days where it is hard to be different. It is hard to eat differently. Even in church, I am unique. Having foods I can't eat is limiting, and others don't always understand. Am I following a fad by not eating gluten? Couldn't I eat just one slice of bread, one piece of pizza? (To be fair, most are completely understanding. There have only been a couple that don't understand.)
Life is like that. We follow the path of many. It isn't until we have developed habits and thought patterns that are devouring our health that we realize that it isn't the correct path. Jesus has a way. Early followers of Jesus were called followers of The Way. His way differs so much from the way of others... or it is supposed to. And He may ask us to do things that seem odd, that make us different. We will be different from others in the world, and we might even be different from those we worship the Lord with on Sunday mornings. And many won't understand. Is is a phase? Aren't we too serious?
Back to no sugar.
Sugar has been shown to increase inflammation levels in the body. It is this inflammation that brings about heart disease and stroke, Alzheimer's, type-2 diabetes, and obesity. This inflammation also causes autoimmune diseases to worsen, if it isn't a trigger for their development. This inflammation destroys health. It destroys lives. It causes disease which leads to symptoms and complications and illness and death.
Sounds like sin.
Sin is compared to yeast in the Bible. However, I like the thought that it can be compared to sugar. Think of the comparisons!
Sugar is sweet and tasty. It enhances to flavor of some foods, and is the flavor of treats. It brings joy and is an integral part of celebrations and family memories. It also is addictive. It brings about severe highs and lows in the brain resembling bipolar disorder. High consumption brings about many deadly diseases that destroy the body from the cellular level. And yet, it is "natural" and is heralded as something wonderful. When anyone attempts to tax items with high sugar or even put warning labels, the push back and outrage is aggressive. The argument is that, even if it is killing people, even if the end result is costing the government billions each year, people should have the freedom to decide what they do with their bodies and lives.
As I have felt worse and worse lately, with muscle aches and insomnia increasing once again, I realized that I had to change something. Gluten-free and thyroid replacement is no longer doing the job. I need to attack the root of my problem. I bought more supplements, ones that are supposed to decrease inflammation. But I haven't noticed a difference. I prayed and prayed for God to show me what else I could do. I began walking again when the weather was nice. Nothing seemed to be helping. Then, during research on autoimmune diseases for a college English paper, I stumbled across information concerning sugar usage and inflammation. One article lead to another, and then to documentaries, and I realized that this may be a big part of the problem.
Sugar.
If anything, eating gluten-free may have led to increased carb consumption because everything is made of rice, and rice is VERY high in carbs. Also, with my hormone issues, I began craving sugary items. I have went through several addictions, from root beer floats to Milk Duds. This was obviously detrimental. And so, even as I ache, I would feed the sugar cravings. I would eat the comfort foods, spaghetti or chicken alfredo, with the gluten-free pastas. And the search for a delicious gluten-free pizza was long and expensive, but I was determined.
In a way, we do similar things with sin. We know that certain sins are big ones. Murder, lying, stealing... these are a big NO. We try not to curse. We try not to gossip, though some don't try very hard with this one. We try to be loving and forgiving. But there are still, possibly, some junk that we struggle with. Anger, pride, materialism, negativity, gluttony... are these things even sin as we would normally classify them? And yet, they insidiously destroy, from the inside out, a person's life and testimony, the same as sugar. They cause inflammation of a different sort, a slow growing sickness, like cancer, that overwhelms a healthy Christian.
These lessons are ones that I feel are important to understand. There is a payoff. Sugar's payoff is the sweet satisfaction of taste. It scientifically has been proven to be addicting, as it lights up the same pleasure centers in the brain as cocaine. But, there are payoffs in anger. Some actually get a high off their anger, even as the Cortisol and excess adrenaline eat away their body. Each list has a pleasure payoff. Pride - who doesn't want to be right? Materialism - Can anyone feel the pleasure surge when they purchase that new thing? Negativity - Ah, the rush of self-pity, the attention we crave, the way to release anger and feed a bad habit that literally changes our brains. Gluttony - Well... is this not a physical, tasty, filling of stomach and soul? We call is comfort food for a reason.
They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. Philippians 3:19
We are to master our bodies here on earth. I'll be the first to admit this is difficult. My body has felt out of control for years. I try one thing and then another to take charge of my health, and it hasn't always helped. I would walk or work out, and develop tendonitis. I would change my eating habits, but then have to stop because my family ate differently and the cost was too much. Sometimes I feel as if my attempts at health are like treading water in a hurricane. I may be keeping my head above water enough so I don't sink, but I sure feel like I'm about to drown. And I feel myself getting tired.
I can't cut out sugar in my diet without God. Just like I can't cut out sin without Him. He has to walk with me every step of the way, as I create another new normal for my life. I tell myself that I'm going to "try" this, as if sugar-free is an experiment. But the truth is that the science is pretty strong, and I know that this might be more than a "try" thing if I begin to feel better.
I think some people "try" Jesus, to see if they feel better. But the truth is that Jesus isn't a temporary measure to see if He makes you feel happy. He is the truth, the life, and the way. Deciding to follow Jesus began the hardest times of my life, as I went though trial and troubles and had to learn to depend on Him.
There is power in a made-up mind. Whether deciding to follow Jesus, or deciding to change my eating habits, I will flounder and fail if my mind isn't made up. If I look at my struggles and those that don't agree with my decisions, then I will be unlikely to follow Jesus with my whole life, or even cut sugar from my diet. As I have learned in my walk with Jesus, once He leads me to some victories in life, I am less tempted to turn back. I am praying the same will happen as I cut sugar.
Cutting sugar shouldn't seem like such a big deal. And yet, I know that in just the last few days, I struggled to figure out what to eat, what to drink, as I had intense cravings, headaches, brain fog, mood swings, and continuing muscle aches. I hope to come out on the other side with what Jesus promises me over and over in His Word... freedom!
But, I want to be an encouragement! I believe that there are spiritual applications to many things in life. I don't know exactly why I developed an autoimmune disease. Science hasn't pin-pointed exact triggers, and since there are over 80 autoimmune diseases, there could be multiple triggers. I simply know that God has a different path for me, and that means eating differently.
But, as a Christian, my path is supposed to look different. And so is yours. Your path is going to be different. Too often we don't pay attention to the path we are on. We are content to follow along with others, and that path can take us to places we never intended to go, to places that damage us.
Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Psalm 25:4
Eating and my walk as a Christian are similar in this aspect. I ate the Standard American Diet... also known as SAD. And yes, it is very sad. I thought I was doing a good job. I ate what the "experts" said was healthy. I made sure my bread was whole grain. My pastas were whole grain. I bought brown rice. I used the canola oils and the margarine. I was told these things were healthy. But, through the years, I gained a little more weight here and there. I felt worse and worse. No one said my body didn't know the difference between grains and sugar, that my body converted carbohydrates to sugar in my digestive track. No one told me that the synthetic oils were rancid on the shelf. No one told me that everything I was told by the "experts" was wrong! Eventually, I was sick, and the doctors took a long time to decipher why I was sick.
My gall-bladder went bad. I developed vitamin deficiencies. I gained more and more weight, and even switching my diet to what many new researchers said was healthy didn't impact me as much as I wanted. It took years for the doctors to find autoimmune disease. And, I can honestly say, that there are many days where it is hard to be different. It is hard to eat differently. Even in church, I am unique. Having foods I can't eat is limiting, and others don't always understand. Am I following a fad by not eating gluten? Couldn't I eat just one slice of bread, one piece of pizza? (To be fair, most are completely understanding. There have only been a couple that don't understand.)
Life is like that. We follow the path of many. It isn't until we have developed habits and thought patterns that are devouring our health that we realize that it isn't the correct path. Jesus has a way. Early followers of Jesus were called followers of The Way. His way differs so much from the way of others... or it is supposed to. And He may ask us to do things that seem odd, that make us different. We will be different from others in the world, and we might even be different from those we worship the Lord with on Sunday mornings. And many won't understand. Is is a phase? Aren't we too serious?
Back to no sugar.
Sugar has been shown to increase inflammation levels in the body. It is this inflammation that brings about heart disease and stroke, Alzheimer's, type-2 diabetes, and obesity. This inflammation also causes autoimmune diseases to worsen, if it isn't a trigger for their development. This inflammation destroys health. It destroys lives. It causes disease which leads to symptoms and complications and illness and death.
Sounds like sin.
Sin is compared to yeast in the Bible. However, I like the thought that it can be compared to sugar. Think of the comparisons!
Sugar is sweet and tasty. It enhances to flavor of some foods, and is the flavor of treats. It brings joy and is an integral part of celebrations and family memories. It also is addictive. It brings about severe highs and lows in the brain resembling bipolar disorder. High consumption brings about many deadly diseases that destroy the body from the cellular level. And yet, it is "natural" and is heralded as something wonderful. When anyone attempts to tax items with high sugar or even put warning labels, the push back and outrage is aggressive. The argument is that, even if it is killing people, even if the end result is costing the government billions each year, people should have the freedom to decide what they do with their bodies and lives.
As I have felt worse and worse lately, with muscle aches and insomnia increasing once again, I realized that I had to change something. Gluten-free and thyroid replacement is no longer doing the job. I need to attack the root of my problem. I bought more supplements, ones that are supposed to decrease inflammation. But I haven't noticed a difference. I prayed and prayed for God to show me what else I could do. I began walking again when the weather was nice. Nothing seemed to be helping. Then, during research on autoimmune diseases for a college English paper, I stumbled across information concerning sugar usage and inflammation. One article lead to another, and then to documentaries, and I realized that this may be a big part of the problem.
Sugar.
If anything, eating gluten-free may have led to increased carb consumption because everything is made of rice, and rice is VERY high in carbs. Also, with my hormone issues, I began craving sugary items. I have went through several addictions, from root beer floats to Milk Duds. This was obviously detrimental. And so, even as I ache, I would feed the sugar cravings. I would eat the comfort foods, spaghetti or chicken alfredo, with the gluten-free pastas. And the search for a delicious gluten-free pizza was long and expensive, but I was determined.
In a way, we do similar things with sin. We know that certain sins are big ones. Murder, lying, stealing... these are a big NO. We try not to curse. We try not to gossip, though some don't try very hard with this one. We try to be loving and forgiving. But there are still, possibly, some junk that we struggle with. Anger, pride, materialism, negativity, gluttony... are these things even sin as we would normally classify them? And yet, they insidiously destroy, from the inside out, a person's life and testimony, the same as sugar. They cause inflammation of a different sort, a slow growing sickness, like cancer, that overwhelms a healthy Christian.
These lessons are ones that I feel are important to understand. There is a payoff. Sugar's payoff is the sweet satisfaction of taste. It scientifically has been proven to be addicting, as it lights up the same pleasure centers in the brain as cocaine. But, there are payoffs in anger. Some actually get a high off their anger, even as the Cortisol and excess adrenaline eat away their body. Each list has a pleasure payoff. Pride - who doesn't want to be right? Materialism - Can anyone feel the pleasure surge when they purchase that new thing? Negativity - Ah, the rush of self-pity, the attention we crave, the way to release anger and feed a bad habit that literally changes our brains. Gluttony - Well... is this not a physical, tasty, filling of stomach and soul? We call is comfort food for a reason.
They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. Philippians 3:19
We are to master our bodies here on earth. I'll be the first to admit this is difficult. My body has felt out of control for years. I try one thing and then another to take charge of my health, and it hasn't always helped. I would walk or work out, and develop tendonitis. I would change my eating habits, but then have to stop because my family ate differently and the cost was too much. Sometimes I feel as if my attempts at health are like treading water in a hurricane. I may be keeping my head above water enough so I don't sink, but I sure feel like I'm about to drown. And I feel myself getting tired.
I can't cut out sugar in my diet without God. Just like I can't cut out sin without Him. He has to walk with me every step of the way, as I create another new normal for my life. I tell myself that I'm going to "try" this, as if sugar-free is an experiment. But the truth is that the science is pretty strong, and I know that this might be more than a "try" thing if I begin to feel better.
I think some people "try" Jesus, to see if they feel better. But the truth is that Jesus isn't a temporary measure to see if He makes you feel happy. He is the truth, the life, and the way. Deciding to follow Jesus began the hardest times of my life, as I went though trial and troubles and had to learn to depend on Him.
There is power in a made-up mind. Whether deciding to follow Jesus, or deciding to change my eating habits, I will flounder and fail if my mind isn't made up. If I look at my struggles and those that don't agree with my decisions, then I will be unlikely to follow Jesus with my whole life, or even cut sugar from my diet. As I have learned in my walk with Jesus, once He leads me to some victories in life, I am less tempted to turn back. I am praying the same will happen as I cut sugar.
Cutting sugar shouldn't seem like such a big deal. And yet, I know that in just the last few days, I struggled to figure out what to eat, what to drink, as I had intense cravings, headaches, brain fog, mood swings, and continuing muscle aches. I hope to come out on the other side with what Jesus promises me over and over in His Word... freedom!
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