The Church Needs a Better Bible Study…
The church needs a better bible study to address your unhealthy relationship with food.
The church needs a better bible study to address your concerns about your weight.
The church needs a better bible study to address your body image.
I’m just goanna say it – I’ve had it with the Daniel Plan.
Whenever someone asks me, “What do you think about [insert fad diet]?” my response is usually the same. “I don’t have a problem with that particular diet. I just have a problem with diets in general.” You can read all about the problems with dieting here.
The issue with the Daniel Plan, like most diets, is that the focus is weight loss. The message is that the only path towards health is restriction, deprivation, and weight loss. No matter how you try to spin it – a “lifestyle change” that involves ignoring cravings, eliminating certain foods, being hungry, and heaping doses of “willpower” won’t lead to improved health. That’s just a path of misery.
Sure, for programs like the Daniel Plan, weight loss happens at first, but every research study on every diet has found that weight regain by year 5 is pretty much a sure thing.
Make no mistake, I am not against weight loss, I am just against making restriction-based changes with the goal of intentionally losing weight. There’s a difference.
See I’m in favor of all people, especially God’s people, pursuing sustainable, pleasurable health-supporting changes, and letting their body weight settle where it’s going to settle based on their DNA. This may be a few pounds up or a few pounds down. What the scale says doesn’t matter. What matters is our hearts and our heads. What matters is that we’re pursuing health (and following the Lord’s direction) in a way that supports our body, mind, and soul.
First of all, most of the time weight loss isn’t sustainable and can cause more emotional harm than good. And, second of all, I truly believe that as God’s children we are called to a greater purpose then to try to change the size or shape of our body. It’s a distraction, from the freedom that we can truly experience through Christ’s abundant love.
Nicole resides in the East Bay Area where she works in private practice as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She is a Mom of two and serves alongside her beloved husband in their local church. Most recently she's devoted her time to cleft and craniofacial awareness, education and interventions when her second daughter was unexpectedly diagnosed with a cleft palate at one week old. She completed both her bachelor's degree and her dietetic internship at California State University, Chico, where she was also a NCAA cross country and track athlete. Through those experiences, God prompted her to help people of all shapes and sizes discover health, body peace and acceptance through the unconditional love of Jesus. Nicole most enjoys spending time around a table and eating delicious food with the people she loves.
