I’ll Start Again Monday: Break the Cycle of Unhealthy Eating Habits with Lasting Spiritual Satisfaction

A typical book on healthy lifestyle choices should contain lots of talk on vegetables, calories, colon cleanses, and phrases like “you must” and “you should.”

I have a problem with all that talk. It’s not the “how to” I’m missing. It’s the “want to” . . . really wanting to make lasting changes and deciding that the results of those changes are worth the sacrifice.

In light of this admission, I think it’s only appropriate to be honest with you about a few things right up front.

1. I am emotionally allergic to typical books on healthy eating.
2. Not once in my life have I ever craved a carrot stick.
3. I am not overly excited about giving up two of the greatest delights of my taste buds—Cheez-Its and box-mix brownies. In fact, I’ve asked God if it would be such a terribly difficult thing to swap the molecular structure of Cheez-Its for carrot sticks. They’re both already orange. And, really, how hard could that be for someone who’s turned water into wine?
4. I wasn’t sure I had any business writing a book like this. I’m a simple Jesus girl on a journey to finding deeper motivation than just a number on my scale for getting and staying healthy.

   I’m not writing this book to beat your taste buds into submission or because I’ve discovered the magic diet to get you skinny by tomorrow. I’m writing this book because I’ve struggled way too long with my food choices and my weight. Because I’ve said, “I’ll start again Monday” a thousand times—only to disappoint myself by breakfast. And word on the street says most of my girlfriends fight this draining, dissatisfying cycle day in and day out as well. Which brings me to the fifth thing you should know about me:

5. I started this journey weighing 167 pounds. To some, this is a horrifyingly high number. To others, 167 is a dream weight. In my case, the number itself was not the issue. The issue was how I felt mentally, spiritually, and physically. It was time to be honest with myself.

I think we all get to a place in our lives when we have to give a brutally honest answer to the question, “How am I doing?” It’s not really a conversation we have with a friend or family member. It’s one of those middle-of-the-night contemplations when there’s no glossing over the realities staring us in the face.

I knew certain things about myself needed to change, but it was easier to make excuses than it was to tackle them head-on. Rationalizations are so appealing. See if you relate to any of these:

I’m good in every other area.

I make so many sacrifices already.

I need treats as a comfort in this season of life; I’ll deal with my issues later.

The Bible doesn’t specifically say this is wrong.

If I really wanted to make a change, I could; I just don’t want to right now.

Oh, for heaven’s sake, everyone has issues. So what if this is mine?

But excuses got me nowhere fast, especially when it came to healthy eating.

A whole lifetime could be spent giving in to excuses, feeling guilty, resolving to do better, mentally beating myself up for not sticking to my resolve, and then resigning myself to the fact that things can’t change.

And I don’t want to spend a lifetime in this cycle.

I suspect you don’t either.

The book you hold in your hands could be the missing companion you’ve needed with every healthy eating plan you tried and cried over. I believe it will help you find your “want to.”

In addition to helping you find the desire to conquer your unhealthy eating habits, it also holds the key to something very significant for most of us women: spiritual malnutrition. We feel overweight physically but underweight spiritually. Tying these two things together is the first step on one of the most significant journeys you’ll ever take with God.

It reminds me of a journey described in Matthew 19. A rich young man comes to see Jesus and explains that he is following all the rules but still feels something missing from his pursuit of God. “All these [rules] I have kept,” he says. “What do I still lack?” (v. 20). Or, in other words, “I’m doing the basics of what’s required . . . so why do I still feel that I’m missing something?”

Such a vulnerable question. Such a relatable question.

Jesus responds, “If you want to be perfect [whole], go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (v. 21).

The rich young man then goes away sad because he won’t give up the one thing that consumes him. He is so full with his riches he can’t see how undernourished his soul is. He’s just like people today who refuse egg whites and fruit for breakfast so they can fill themselves up with candy-sprinkled, chocolate-frosted doughnuts. Even when their sugar high crashes and they complain of splitting headaches, they steadfastly refuse to give up their doughnuts.

In my past sugar-filled life, I might have had some personal experience that led me to think of that frail little analogy.

Anyhow.

Jesus didn’t mean this as a sweeping command for everyone who has a lot of money. He meant this for any of us who wallow in whatever abundance we have. I imagine Jesus looked straight into this young man’s soul and said, “I want you to give up the one thing you crave more than me. Then come, follow me.”

Piercing thought, isn’t it?

Suddenly, Jesus isn’t just staring at the rich young man; He’s also staring at me—the inside me. The part I can’t cover up with excuses and makeup.

When Jesus wants us to follow Him—really follow Him—it’s serious business: “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34 NASB).

With Jesus, if we want to gain, we must give up.

To be filled, we must deny ourselves.

To truly get close to God, we’ll have to distance ourselves from other things.

To conquer our cravings, we’ll have to redirect them to God.

God made us capable of craving so we’d have an unquenchable desire for more of Him, and Him alone. Nothing changes until we make the choice to redirect our misguided cravings to the only One capable of satisfying them.

Getting healthy isn’t just about losing weight. It’s about recalibrating our souls so that we want to change—spiritually, physically, and mentally. And the battle really is in all three areas.

Spiritually. I had to ask God to give me the desire to be healthy. I knew a vanity-seeking “want to” would never last. Shallow desires produce only shallow efforts. I had to seek a spiritual “want to” empowered by God Himself.

So, I asked. I begged, actually. I cried out to God. And day by day, God gave me just enough “want to,” laced with His strength, to be satisfied by healthy choices.

God also settled in my heart that this is an issue of great spiritual importance. Think of Eve in the Bible’s first recorded interaction between a woman and food. Obviously, the core of Eve’s temptation was that she wanted to be like God, knowing good and evil. But we can’t ignore the fact that the serpent used food as a tool in the process. If the very downfall of humanity was caused when Eve surrendered to a temptation to eat something she wasn’t supposed to eat, I do think our struggles with food are important to God.

Physically. The spiritual perspectives in this book may stir the soul, but the physical realities require turning those spiritual insights into practical choices.

When I began this journey, I finally had to admit that what I eat matters. My weight is a direct reflection of my choices and the state of my health.

I started with a visit to my doctor, which I highly encourage you to do before starting your healthy eating plan. The doctor ran several tests. Except for some results that indicated I wasn’t exercising regularly or making the healthiest food choices, the tests came back normal.

Hmfff. Why do doctors always say the same old thing about eating right and exercise?

Feeling sluggish? Eat better, move more. Feeling blue? Eat better, move more. I bet the next time I go in for a sore throat it will be the same thing. Eat better, move more. Have mercy. And we won’t even go into the issues I have with the scale in my doctor’s office. I am positive it weighs me heavy just to prove his point. See? You need to eat better, move more.

The doctor and the test results were right. My weight issues were directly linked to my food choices. Period. I had to admit it and do something about it.

Mentally. I had to decide I was tired of compromising. What happens when you delete “com” from the word compromise? You’re left with a “promise.” We were made for more than compromise. We were made for God’s promises in every area of our lives.

Honestly, I am made for more than a vicious cycle of eating, gaining, stressing—eating, gaining, stressing . . . I am made to rise up, do battle with my issues, and, using the Lord’s strength in me, defeat them to the glory of God.

I hope you’ll stick around on this journey of discovering your “want to.” I can’t promise it will be easy. But I can promise it will be the most empowering thing you’ve ever done. Just today I put on some jeans I never thought I’d wear again. And while my flesh did the happy dance of success, my soul was far from thoughts of vanity.

My soul felt free. I was amazed that I ever desired to satisfy my taste buds over satisfying my desire to break free from all the guilt, all the destruction, all the defeat.

I still don’t crave those blasted carrot sticks. But I found my “want to.” I started eating better and moving more. I lost the weight. I feel great. And I have most certainly grown closer to God than ever before.

My truest cravings are satisfied—and yours can be too.