Daniel's Diet of Faith
Do you know the Old Testament story of Daniel and his friends? They were young Israelites who were taken hostage by King Nebuchadnezzar in 605 B.C. The king provided well for his young hostages, offering them many delicacies from the royal rations to eat in hopes of adding them to his court.

Daniel could have taken the king's buffet as his right. After all, Daniel was a captive. For many people I see, the desire to have a reward or comfort for their pain is a powerful reason to overeat. Not only could Daniel have used his suffering to justify overeating, he could have also argued that it certainly was easier just to accept what food he was offered.

I believe we have, as a nation, eaten at the "King's Table" for too many years. I remind people this when they try to offer others "love and friendship" on a plate. No matter who you are, you are responsible for what goes into your mouth. Don't let anyone else decide what goes into your mouth.

Daniel refused to let the king make that choice for him. Daniel looked beyond food. The Bible says he did not let food defile him; but he also did not let food define him. Daniel decided that what he would eat must be good for his body and soul. Since the delicacies in the king's rations had been offered to idols, Daniel knew they were not good for his soul. Therefore, they were not good for his body.

Like Daniel, think of your soul before you sit down to eat. Ask yourself, "What is really best for me today? What will keep my body, mind, and soul well today?" Is it really two donuts, or would you do better to eat a plain baked potato and some broiled fish?

That's why we at Thin for Life do not isolate weight as a single issue. Those who lose weight successfully are looking at more than the food they eat or don't eat. They are looking at the overall good for their bodies, minds, and souls.

Instead of working toward perfection in weight management, the people who succeed inch toward progress. People who lose weight effectively come to understand that food is not the issue, because if food were the problem, then diets would be the answer. People who lose weight―and keep it off―understand they no longer need to rely on their friendship with food for solace and comfort.

No longer do such people feel trapped and immobilized by weight. Instead they begin to see themselves as individuals for whom the issue of weight is only one component of a complete, balanced life.

Carol's Story
While your story will no doubt be different, there may be similarities to the challenges faced by a woman named Carol, a woman I started working with several years ago. Today, Carol describes her life as one she thought she would never live; Her body, mind, and soul are in harmony. She's at peace with herself and her weight.

But not long ago, this frustrated, angry, out-of-control mother realized that if she didn't get help, there would be no hope for her. Food ruled her life. It was the first thing she thought about when she got up in the morning and the last thing she thought about when she went to bed at night.

When I first started seeing carol for weight counseling, she had already been on 13 different diets, none of which had worked. In fact after each diet fiasco, Carol always gained back the weight she lost, plus a few extra pounds.

Every diet was just another breathtaking rollercoaster ride of self-delusion and false promises. She had come to the end of her line. Her soul was weary. Her body was out of shape. And her heart was defeated.

How did this terrible diet mania start? At the age of 13 Carol was the largest person in her class. She was called many names. She had no real friends at school, so she began to walk down a path I have seen all too often―a journey that embraced an intimate, negative relationship with food.

Her mother assumed the only way for Carol to reduce her weight was to go on a diet, and then another, and then another. When the diets didn't work―and they never did―she began taking Carol to several different doctors in town. They were called weight specialists, but even ritual appearances in offices of these medicine men and women did not work. So Carol's mother began buying diet pills for her daughter. They would only work for awhile.

Without knowing it, her mother had set Carol up for failure. She continued to look for the magic pill, the overnight answer, the one diet that would help her daughter shed her unwanted weight, all to no avail.

People who rely on diets, advertising hype, binges, purges, and pills are living with the same ineffective paradigm. Perhaps this is you. There is hope for you.

It took Carol years to get her weight under control. But it didn't take that long to see the connection between her body, soul, and mind. She knew that God loved her and saw the struggle she had with each bite of food. She knew she was working to have harmony with her body. Every morning she'd begin her day with a prayer that asked God to help her live a balanced life that day. And she wasn't praying only about the food she ate. A balanced life came to men a life that focused on more than food, that provided nourishment for her soul and her mind as well.

You too can lived a balanced life like Carol. I know this may seem hard to believe right now. If you're like most of the people I talk to, you may have already tried more than your share of weight-loss tricks and not succeeded with any of them. That's why I emphasize so strongly that weight loss doesn't come from tricks. There are no shortcuts to successful weight management and good health―physical or spiritual health. The balanced life takes time. And it all begins with one step in the right direction.

Daniel took that step when he rejected the king's rich foods. You, too, can take that step in your life by asking yourself "What is best for my body, mind, and soul?" Once your heart is ready to make the commitment to do what's best for your body, you're on the way. You'll see what promise awaits in your own life as you live with more balance and learn to throw out the crutches that have kept you immobilized.

Do you want to stop the yo-yo effect of dieting? Then make sure you are working on more than the food you eat or how much weight you have lost. Be willing to work on your soul and mind as well as your body. When you change the way you think about food and weight loss, you are on the right path to permanent weight loss and being Thin for Life. Instead of quick fixes, you will desire to live an overall healthy life applying a whole-person approach to weight loss and applying the 5 Essentials for weight loss.