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Breaking The Stronghold of Food

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  • Breaking The Stronghold of Food

    How do you break free?

    The link can be found here.

    -----

    What do I think of Michael and Nancy Brown's book published by Siloam? Let's plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

    Let me be clear right at the start. I do not have this struggle. If it were possible to have all my meals in a pill form suddenly with some futuristic technology and still get all the nutrients and avoid hunger, I would have no problem with it. In my more literalist days, I could not get excited about the end of the age because people would talk about the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and I figured I'd just sit in a corner somewhere waiting until the meal was done. You can tell this looking at me. I weigh about 120 pounds and I'm a 5'7" guy.

    My diet, however, does not consist of a lot of junk. I do eat seafood and if I snack, I prefer things like granola bars and crackers and such. If we go out to eat, I would prefer to go to Smoothie King or Subway over a pizza place. I do have a fondness for something with peanut butter, but I do not have a food addiction at all. Why would I read this book then?

    Because my wife does and I think part of being a good husband is understanding your wife.

    Dr. Brown and his wife both struggled with a food addiction and they had to make a radical change. Dr. Brown writes about how this is also a spiritual struggle and for many people, yes, a sin struggle. It is mistreating the temple that one has been given and cutting their life short and robbing their loved ones of time with them for the sake of food. Dr. Brown is sympathetic in the book as is his wife, but he also just tells it like it is.

    He's also not preaching from Sinai. He tells about how he was one who struggled with this problem immensely. For him and his wife, much of what they did revolved around food. By removing the addiction to food, their whole lives became immensely better.

    It wasn't an easy struggle. Dr. Brown before he became a Christian was a heroin addict and once he gave his life to Christ, he went cold turkey entirely and is free. For him, giving up chocolates was harder than giving up heroin. He had to learn to change his palate radically and could not allow himself to cheat at all. Exercise was a part of it, but the biggest change was the change of diet.

    Dr. Brown walks through how we tolerate often overeating, but we treat it differently from any other wrong. Who of us would say a little bit of pornography is no big deal? Who would say that a little bit of cheating on your wife is nothing major and hey, we all do it? Yet when it comes to food, we let all that fly out the window. Most of us don't eat because we're hungry, but because we want something else and we even have our bodies tricking us into thinking we're hungry when we're really not.

    It also taught me that I need to be praying for my own wife in this. Granted for me, this is a challenge. I can spend a lot of time doing study and such, but prayer is hard since that's a more relational act. Still, the idea was gripping and I hope that one day, my Princess will be free of the stronghold. I think she will be immensely healthier and happier and it will be better for the two of us.

    Throughout the book, Nancy throws in her own helpful tips. One particular funny one is about how Dr. Brown saw an infomercial about another miracle weight loss product and was so excited. He really wanted to order it the next day and lose all their pounds. Nancy's comment there begins by pointing out that this man actually has a Ph.D.! Yes. Sometimes Ph.D. can stand for phenomenally dumb. Even smart people, and Dr. Brown is certainly one, can fall for gimmicks like this. For him, there is no gimmick and the same goes for Nancy. There are no shortcuts on the way to success and there is no quarter with the enemy.

    I do not struggle with this. Still, if you do or know someone who does, go through this book to open you up. I could read all about doughnuts and pizza and ice cream, which I can enjoy, and sleep peacefully not worried about temptation. (My wife says that the old adage of the way to a man's heart being through his stomach would never have worked for me.) Dr. Brown's book is less about diet and exercise I think than a look at the spiritual struggle with questions at the end of each chapter to make you think about the struggle more.

    In Christ,
    Nick Peters

  • #2
    I have come to believe that being overweight in most cases is just the way a person's body works. I have always been overweight. I can eat LESS than someone like you Nick and put on weight. At the same activity level.

    When I was sick, I lost down to 130 pounds. I couldn't put on weight because my body could not process the calories. I was at 230 when I got sick. After I got well, I was determined not to put on the weight again, other than regain my muscle. So I have been eating well balanced meals, and keeping the calories around 1200-1500 calories a day which is what my doctor recommended. I even started doing exercises and walking. Yet I have gained back 50 pounds and it is not all muscle. I am getting fat again. I am basically starving myself and can't lose weight. Why? because my body doesn't work like a skinny person's body. A skinny persons body will use the calories they eat and then eliminate what it doesn't need and store a bit as fat. I think my body just always thinks it needs to store as much as possible. It stores the fat first, then leaves a little bit left over to power itself. Which leaves me tired and listless a lot and getting fat.

    I keep a food diary app (which counts calories) and use an apple watch to track my activity. I really do keep it under 1200-1500 calories a day. Which should according to all of the charts, mean I should be losing about 1 pound a week. Instead I am gaining about that or barely keeping even. I can't go any lower. It is hard enough to just to what I am.

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    • #3
      Apologiaphoenix, does the book provide a definition for food addiction? How can I tell if I have an addiction?

      Comment


      • #4
        It does have a questionnaire by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. btw, anyone interested who knows my wife and I on Facebook is invited to join her weight loss support group.

        Comment


        • #5
          FYI, Food addiction may include Anorexia or Bulimia something I'm all to familiar with. And Sparky, if you are still on anti rejection drugs, those cause the weight gain and have nothing to do with you.
          A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
          George Bernard Shaw

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Sparko View Post
            So I have been eating well balanced meals, and keeping the calories around 1200-1500 calories a day which is what my doctor recommended. I even started doing exercises and walking. Yet I have gained back 50 pounds and it is not all muscle. I am getting fat again. I am basically starving myself and can't lose weight. Why? because my body doesn't work like a skinny person's body. A skinny persons body will use the calories they eat and then eliminate what it doesn't need and store a bit as fat. I think my body just always thinks it needs to store as much as possible. It stores the fat first, then leaves a little bit left over to power itself. Which leaves me tired and listless a lot and getting fat.
            Average man needs 2000 calories, if you're eating 1200-1500 you're almost certainly going to go into starvation mode sooner or later which can have the effect of stunting or even increasing weight gain. Do you keep careful track of every single calorie?

            The problem with getting fat is that your body gets used to fat as "normal weight" and it takes years (if not a lifetime) to get your body used to a normal diet. That's why over 90% of fat people relapse. The only easy way out is to become rich so you have time to dedicate your life to becoming an olympic swimmer. IIRC Phelps ate 12000 calories/day.
            "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12

            There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Darth Executor View Post
              Average man needs 2000 calories, if you're eating 1200-1500 you're almost certainly going to go into starvation mode sooner or later which can have the effect of stunting or even increasing weight gain. Do you keep careful track of every single calorie?

              The problem with getting fat is that your body gets used to fat as "normal weight" and it takes years (if not a lifetime) to get your body used to a normal diet. That's why over 90% of fat people relapse. The only easy way out is to become rich so you have time to dedicate your life to becoming an olympic swimmer. IIRC Phelps ate 12000 calories/day.


              I will get on that "get rich" thing. then I can afford to eat all I want and just have them vacuum the extra fat off of me.

              Comment

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