yummy yummy eat eat eat eat.. KABOOOM!: Food, Jesus, and me

I'm one of those people who's able to tell how their relationship with God is going by the amount or the type of food she's eating.

Strange, but true. It's not that the signs happen over a day or so- it's more a pattern that emerges over the period of a week or more. Bad signs are if I'm eating waaaaaaaay too much in general (I don't mean this as in ooh-I-usually-only-eat-a-carrot-stick-and-a-bran-muffin-every-day-and-this-week-I-actually-ate-five-potatoes-eek; I mean it in the I-usually-eat-three-or-four-solid-meals-a-day-and-lately-I've-been-eating-so-much-more-than-that), or if I'm eating way more junk food than usual. I say that this is a bad sign, because for me this is usually correlated with other behaviours that show I'm not trusting in Jesus as I should or that I'm succumbing to the tyranny of my body's unhelpful desires. (I like to eat healthily, you see, and I usually can't stand copious amounts of junk food.)

As it is, this week has been a baaaaaaad week eating wise, both in amount and in quality. And lo and behold, I haven't done any of my QTS in ages (not that this is a sin, but again, this is also one of the things God uses to draw my attention to how my relationship with Him is going). This has made me realize a couple of things:

1) Quite often as people, we get taken in by appearances.
e.g. If I were to go around telling people that I am a glutton (which I have already) people tend not to believe me because I'm not showing the evidence of my sin and I'm not 20 kgs overweight. I'm a hyperenergetic bunny with a reasonably fast metabolism, and so it is that the signs of my bad eating don't really show on my frame (unless I indulge in it for quite a while). But that's a false correlation, that people who weigh more are not self-controlled when it comes to food, and that those who weigh less, are. My gluttony stems from a heart condition - I'm just fortunate in that it hasn't become a physical burden as of yet.

2) As my friend Simon said, I should be feeding my needs, not my wants.
Why, you ask? Because otherwise I'm going to become fat? NOPE!! Wrong reason! (Well, that's a good reason for various health reasons, but that shouldn't be the motivating reason.) It's because the Bible says we should practice self-control. Because God has said that He will provide all our needs, so we don't need to overfill ourselves in fear of not knowing where our next meal is coming from (like as in the Bushman diet, as my one friend says). Another friend told me that he overeats when he's bored, but I suppose that's also a sign of discontent, something we should also not be?

3) Self-control is a valuable discipline.
Greed is not nice.
My belly says No!


I'm not saying that everyone's eating habits reflect my own patterns, but I've realized that God definitely uses this in my life to draw attention to Him. Perhaps it's a good time now, before the festive season begins to think about your own eating habits. Let me know what you think.

The Tale of Grace and the Sandwich

There I was, innocently sitting in front of the biggest, fattest, bad-assest sandwich I'd seen in a long time: a triple-decker of lettuce, bacon and tomato. Madness. It was all Terribly Exciting considering that I'd spent about 20 minutes indecisively scanning through the menu for a sign that would help me decide which item to pick [such as an arrow, or a little speech bubble with the words: "Grace, pick me!"] [if you're wondering, that Sign from Heaven never appeared]. It was also all Terribly Daunting considering that I suddenly had a feeling that the width of the sandwich wouldn't fit into my mouth.

However, I've never been one to shirk away from challenges, so I courageously picked up my knife and fork and started hacking, I mean, slicing away at the stacker. It took me only a few seconds to realize that I was getting nowhere. The various layers of my sandwich were all in disarray, the lettuce escaping from the sides, and on my fork, only a thin little piece of bread and bacon had been unable to avoid capture. I looked sadly at my fork, glared at the lettuce, and sighed at the huge sandwich still to be finished. This Would Not Do.

But was I Defeated? No. God had in His wisdom had created us with our own sets of hands and knives. Picking up the sandwich with my hands (which wasn't as easy as typing out this sentence was), I took a huge bite - almost to gag it out. In my hunger, I'd overeagerly miscalculated the angle at which I'd shoved the sandwich into my mouth, and its triangular point had brutely shoved its way to the back of my throat, tickling what should never be tickled. Hurridly, I grabbed my serviette, so that my companion wouldn't be faced with the sight of the previous two seconds going through a rapid rewind. It would be this moment, that the waiter would come past to ask: "Is everything okay?"

"No, I'm busy choking to death behind this serviette while my friend's dying of laughter next to me" I would've said if I hadn't had a mouthful of BLT in my mouth. Instead, I waved my serviette weakly at him, and gave him a thumbs up. Luckily, he moved on to trap his next victim mid-chew, allowing me to desperately do some Room Control in my mouth.

Fortunately, by the age of 22, I'd had much practice in the practice of gross motor movements, even ones as complicated as the ones I was going to have to engage in to ensure that the contents of my mouth weren't about to become familiar to the rest of the restaurant. After some intense chewing and eye rolling and vigorous movements, I'd managed to find enough space for everything comfortably. Bit by bit, bite by bite, and then: gone. Encouraged by my success, I looked again at my sandwich, by this time looking less and less like a indefatigable mountain, and more like a overarrogant molehill. "I can do this!", I thought. And by the end of the evening, only the plate lived to tell the tale: a sad little site of crumbs, lettuce sheds, and the occasional smear of sauce.

Moral of the story:
1) Man does not live on bread alone, but I bet you it'd be easier to eat politely if he did.
2) Persevere, for the goal is worthy.
3) Only eat out with those who are good friends, or those who are on their way to becoming so.
4) There's no reason to act like a Philistine when eating out, but neither is there no need to be a Pharisee.

Symptoms..

For some reason, I know I'm struggling/ doubtful/ unhappy/ cross with God/ [something is not right] when I'm not eating properly. I tend to eat quite healthily and when I
1) overeat (which is saying much, cause I actually eat a LOT in the first place!), or
2) eat junk food (I enjoy eating healthily and don't usually don't touch the stuff),
then I know something's up.

The last few days, I've had: the glorious Maccy D's fries, eaten a whole big pack of chips by myself (Mexican habanero flavour actually.. it was frigging awesome.. I felt like I was burning inside!! Yum yum! So I had to eat more for the fire feeling!), tons of pizza (which I usually avoid because I don't do well with dairy), fudge, ice-cream (again, dairy), choc sticks... Get the picture?

It's quite a handy symptom. And it makes sense. If something's not right with your relationship with God, obviously you'll turn to an idol that you can control. Or not really. Overeating/ eating junk food might actually just be a minor self-destructing tendency.

...I think I over-psychoanalyse.

Either way, something's up. Hmm....

Grace the Glutton

This is a topic close to my heart, and even closer to my stomach: food.

As someone who’s highly energetic, and blessed with a reasonably well-functioning metabolism, I tend to eat a lot. I mean, A LOT. [A guy friend actually once told me I needed to stop eating so much cause he never gets any leftovers when we eat out!] [We don't talk anymore.] [Jokes! :)]

However, I’ve become aware that I treat food as an idol, and that I’m not being godly in the way I treat my body, nor in the way I use food, e.g. last year I struggled a lot with sinusitis, and apparently one thing that can cause tons of PostNasalDrip is dairy. So I tried cutting it out for a while, but kept on going back to it, even when I realized that eating dairy has a negative effect on my sinuses, oh happy days. Another example was that if food was available, I’d eat to the point of being as stuffed as a stuffed turkey, especially during my most stressed out times.

Now this might seem pretty silly to you, but that just shows how lighthearted a sin as gluttony has become. And I use the word 'sin' consciously, ‘cause turning to anything apart from God first is sin.

So now I’m being more thoughtful about my eating habits - am I really eating cause I’m hungry? (Quite often I’ll eat for other reasons, such as stress or boredom). If I’m not hungry, am I using food to replace God’s role in my life? (Am I turning to food as stress-relief, instead of trusting in God?) If I am hungry, is what I’m eating going to beneficial to my body so that it shows that I am treating my body as a temple of God? (I’ve cut out a lot of artificial sugar, but I still have a nice treat every now and then!) These are just some things to think about.

I’ve also started saying grace before meals again – for the last two years I’d only been saying grace when there were other people with me, ‘cause I was of the opinion that you should only say grace if you mean it, and I didn’t really. But it’s good for me 'cause then I get reminded of God’s place in my life (as King and Lord) and food’s place in my life (sustenance that provides energy so that I can work for His glory). [on that note, have a look at Talking to our Father.]

I don't think we're called to follow the example of those hard-core old-school dudes who worked out what would be best nutritionally for their bodies, and didn't eat anything else apart from that. We're reminded that "everything that God created is good" (1 Timothy 4:4), and that God is a God "who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (1 Timothy6:17). But I do think that we are called to be critical and discerning of why and how we act, and that we are called to change if we are not acting godly..

Bon appetit!