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On The One True Diet and The One True Faith

By Anita Mathias

christ-pantocrator-palermo528x395

I started gaining weight around puberty, at a time when, annoyingly, I stopping gaining height.  Every few years, I’d step on the scales, and go, “OMG! Must do something.”

And so I tried Weight Watchers, but counting calories made me feel a bit crazy. I tried faith-based diets, which don’t work too well on your own, and then a totally crazy, totally wonderful faith-based diet with a group at Grace Presbyterian Church, Williamsburg, Virginia, Gwen Shamblin’s Weigh Down Workshop, whose tenet was—really! really!!– eat anything you want, as much as you want, but only eat when you are hungry (as defined by a growling stomach), and stop when you are full. I rapidly lost 10 pounds on it, and would have lost more…but it’s surprisingly hard to eat only when you are physiologically hungry.

I tried Overeaters Anonymous and lost 6 pounds on it, but, sadly, strayed from its austere discipline once I stopped attending group meetings. I also found all the intense spiritual inventory stuff intensely difficult.

I tried the Atkins/South Beach, and lost weight on that too. According to the Metabolic Typing Diet, I am a protein type, rare among Asians apparently. I don’t gain weight on meat and fish metabolizing them easily, but rapidly gain weight on carbohydrates. So I had lots of duck, lamb, beef, pork, sausages and bacon, lost weight, and gained colon cancer. Now, that didn’t work out too well for me, did it? Bowel Cancer is a risk of Atkins/South Beach/Paleo diets.

After the shock of the diagnosis, and the pain of surgery, I reverted to the diet that all my research suggested was healthiest, the Nutritarian diet advocated by Joel Fuhrman, Dr Dean Ornish, Dr. Colin Campbell…basically fruit, vegetables, beans and legumes with limited carbs, some fish, limited diary, no meat. Following this diet, with cheats and breaks (for it is no easier to follow a diet than to follow Christ) I’ve gradually lost 22 pounds.

As far as I am concerned, this diet of fruit, vegetables, beans, nuts and legumes is The One True Diet.

But I have learned something from the failed and abandoned diets . Gwen Shamblin’s Weigh Down Diet offered the concept of eating when one is hungry, and stopping when one is full. I have learned to ask myself, “Am I hungry?” Atkins/South Beach taught me that starchy carbs, which I love, are my downfall, and to limit them. Overeaters Anonymous made me aware of the times I eat when I am not hungry.

Learning from failed and nutty diets? God is merciful like that.

* * *

I am thinking about religions.

I believe Christianity is the One True Faith. I love several books of the Old Testament, but chiefly I love Jesus, and have discovered his way really works. Each time I obey him it’s like a great exchange from darkness, confusion, grumpiness and muddle to light, peace, guidance and joy.

But I also believe that God, that Jesus, is too kind and merciful to leave huge swathes of the world in darkness. So while there is One True Faith, I believe some of God’s goodness, light, and mercy shine on all who seek him, whether they have been taught to call him Jehovah, Rama, or Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

A sincere follower of Judaism has the treasures of the story of David, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the minor Prophets…great riches.

Islam requires prayer five times a day, a practice which apparently offers physical and mental health benefits. Muslims are forbidden to drink or gamble, which averts much family misery. Giving is a sacred duty, and this increases happiness, according to all happiness research. (Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, though significantly poorer than Indians, are more generous, which leads to Pakistan and Bangladesh ranking higher than India in the UN’s World Happiness Rankings).

Buddhism has the blessings of meditation, Zen, and vegetarianism; Hinduism has yoga and meditation, and many Hindus are vegetarian, which is good for people, animals and the planet. Mormons, whose faith requires them to eschew alcohol, tobacco and coffee; limit meat, and fast once a month (giving the money to the poor) have a high life expectancy.

Because of the goodness of God, all the world religions I know something about reflect some of his goodness.

* * *

But I am delighted to be a Jesus-follower. Following Jesus is, I am convinced, the One True Faith. Each year, I follow him, imperfectly, imperfectly, I can, at a moment’s notice, list ten reasons I am glad to be a Christ-follower, and why, oh, of course, following him is the One True Faith. The reasons expand and expand.

Today’s list of 10 randomly ordered reasons for why I believe following Jesus is the one true faith, the best way to live.

1 Because he said, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed,” and that saves me time and stress, and keeps me focused on what’s important.

2 Because he commanded us not to worry about anything at all, since the God who looks after the birds and flowers will look after us

3 Because he condensed the law and the prophets to one counter-intuitive principle –Love, which is good for the heart, better than vegetarianism. What’s more, he’s practical. What is love? Do to others what you would have them do to you

Because obeying Jesus’s command, “Do not judge,” saves us from futilely meditating on our grievances.

Because Jesus protects us from useless conflict by telling us to turn the other cheek. He’s so gentle. He said the meek inherit the earth. And in all sorts of ways, they do.

4 Because he was an early feminist. He thought sitting at his feet and listening to his teaching was taking the better path, offering Martha liberation from her kitchen. Store-bought pita and hummus would do just fine.

5 Because he understood that prayer was mysterious magic, and he summoned us to it.

6 He was realistic about trouble, sin and suffering, and offered us ways to transcend them. “In the world you will have trouble, but in me, you will find peace.”

7 He told us the Holy Spirit was even better than he was, and that He would come, and the Spirit did, and was as life-changing as Jesus said he was

8 He is a genius. He tells us counter-intuitive things about life, and oh my goodness, he’s right. He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbled himself will be exalted. In the long run, it’s true, and in the short run–what peace, time and energy are saved!!

9 Delaying gratification is the only decent way to live, contemporary psychiatrist Scott Peck writes in The Road Less Travelled. Jesus said the same thing 2000 years ago, bluntly and memorably. “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. For whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses it will save it.” The grain of wheat, the comfortable old self, must be cracked open to come to new life.

10 He is treasure, and he offers treasure, though treasure found after searching and digging. “Joy, I give you. Peace, I leave you.”

Jesus is like a tardis. He gets bigger and bigger as you enter in, and in him is satisfaction for all our hungers and restlessness. “He who eats my flesh will never hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst,” he promised. His difficult mysterious ways, like a magic carpet, transport us to an exciting life, with magic and adventure.

Just words? Nope; experiment with obeying Jesus as closely as possible, and see what happens

Putting the words of Christ into practice immediately begins to bring truth, goodness, strength and beauty into our lives. Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy.

 

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Many diets are good; plants are the best. Many faiths have goodness; following Jesus is best. NEW from @anitamathias1 Tweet: Many diets are good; plants are the best. Many faiths have goodness; following Jesus is best. NEW from @anitamathias1 http://ctt.ec/0761L+

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Obeying the words of Christ instantly brings truth, goodness, strength & beauty to our lives. NEW from @anitamathias1 Tweet: Obeying the words of Christ instantly brings truth, goodness, strength & beauty to our lives. NEW from @anitamathias1 http://ctt.ec/X3J29+

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IMAGE: Christ Pantocrater, Palermo, Sicily.

Filed Under: In Which I am again Amazed by Jesus Tagged With: Atkins diet, Buddhism, Christianity, colon cancer, Dallas Willard, Gwen Shamblin, Hinduism, Islam, Jesus Christ, Metabolic Typing Diet, Nutritarian diet, Overeaters Anonymous, Scott Peck, the teachings of Jesus

In Which Drivenness Comes from the Enemy of our Souls, but Christ Gives us Balance

By Anita Mathias

Christ The Good Shepherd

In her book The Soul of Money, global activist Lynne Twist refers to scarcity as “the great lie”.

Twist writes, “For me, and for many of us, our first waking thought of the day is, “I didn’t get enough sleep.” The next one is “I don’t have enough time.” Whether true or not, that thought of “not enough” occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. We spend most of the hours and the days of our lives hearing, explaining, complaining or worrying about what we don’t have enough of.

Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we’re already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something. And by the time we go to bed at night, our minds are racing with a litany of what we didn’t get, or didn’t get done, that day. We go to sleep burdened by those thoughts and wake up to that reverie of lack.

This internal condition of scarcity, this mind-set of scarcity, lives at the very heart of our jealousies, our greed, our prejudice, and our arguments with life.”

* * *

And so we go through life, driven. Rushing like the Gadarene swine, driven by demons they could not see over a cliff to their destruction.

Driven by pride or greed or ambition or fear to the detriment of our health, mental health, emotional health, and relationships.

Driven for validation. To prove our intelligence, superiority, spirituality, talent, worth…

Forgetting that all drivenness comes from Satan, never from God. Christ leads; Satan drives.

Driveneness comes from the Accuser and Oppressor of the Brethren, never from the Good Shepherd who gently leads us on, minute by minute, through his gentle Spirit.

At the root of drivenness lie unhealed wounds and conditional love in childhood, which gives us the sense that we need to be spectacular to be okay. That our worth is dependent on how much we produce, how much money we make, how thin and beautiful we are, how large our house and bank balance, how famous and successful we are…pick your idol.

* * *

And in our drivenness to grab the life we dream of through our own hard work, we forget that there is a better way, without bleeding fingertips and hearts and lives.

The way of prayer, and trust, and leaving room for God to work miracles.

That there is One who Makes Dreams Come True, the weaver, who can weave a technicolour dreamcoat from scraps of discarded wool

The one who can give us our wild dreams, and add no sorrow to them.

The one who says, “Honey Child, you are enough.

I like you just as you are.

Success won’t make me like you more.

Failure will only make me envelop you more.

In me, you are loved, complete.

In me, child, you are enough!

Turn your gaze to me, and let me fill up the hungry holes in your heart.

Eat me, drink me.

Turn to me when you sense Satan driving,

When you are tempted by striving,

And I will give you rest.”

* * *

My deepest spiritual experience over the last four months has been joining Overeaters Anonymous, a 12 step programme, modelled on Alcoholics Anonymous.

Step 3: Seek spiritual guidance in every area of life. So over the last few months, I have been praying over my daily schedule, revamping it under God’s direction.

I have been tithing my time to God, fulfilling a vow I made to do so if I received something I really wanted (which I did). So I spend 10% of every 24 hours in prayer, Bible study and spiritual reading. (This is a 2 year commitment, and I am self-employed; this is not a mode of being I am advocating J).

Then I am setting aside an hour a day to work in my large 1.5 acre garden, because I love being out. Working and praying in my garden is a mystical experience for me, and it’s one of the happiest things I do.

I am spending an hour a day working around the house, because that is extremely conducive to my happiness. I have things to declutter, and a library to organize. (This is a short-term project, ending when the decluttering and organizing is done. Let it be soon, Lord!)

And then I walk 10,000 steps a day (including steps gained gardening and tidying). And do 20 minutes of yoga, because it’s great for mental health and serenity, and because I can feel myself getting stiffer.

And I live with three other people, and we have a talky family life.

Prayer, Bible study, housework, walking, yoga, gardening, family life. I am leading a more Benedictine life, balancing prayer, manual work, and intellectual work. Ora et labora.

You may wonder how I’ll ever get any writing done. Well, so do I!

I am giving this worry to God, and writing as he provides me time—which is what I was advised when I had babies, and time and energy were short. I was furious at that advice then. I thought books would never get written with that laissez-faire attitude.

Well, perhaps, they will take longer, perhaps not, but they will be written in peace, in shalom, in harmony with God as he gives time, and energy, and words…

And who knows, perhaps I shall write more. Perhaps even write better. May it be so, Lord.

Filed Under: Applying my heart unto wisdom, In which I celebrate rest Tagged With: balance, Drivenness, Lynne Twist, Ora et Labora, Overeaters Anonymous, scarcity thinking, The Benedictine Way

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