A key principle of the Take Back Your Temple weight loss program is that "no food is forbidden." What do I mean?
In my own journey from a size 22 to a size 8, I found that when I was forbidden to have a food because of a diet I was on, then my natural instinct was to want that food more.
Sooner or later, I wanted to rebel against that diet authority: "You can't make me!"
I ended up eating even more of it. Can you relate?
But when I told myself, "I can have any food I want" then that caused me to relax around food. I discovered that I can make room for any of the less healthy foods that I wanted.
However, "what I wanted" started to change because I practiced this Biblical wisdom:
"All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any (1 Corinthians 6:12)."
I discovered that many modern processed foods impair your body's natural hunger/fullness signals, which can lead to out-of-control cravings and overeating.
Remember the potato chip slogan, "Bet you can't eat just one"? It is true!
Click to watch the short, unnerving commercial below from 1966 to see what I mean:
If a food is processed in any way (like store-bought potato chips), chances are that the food manufacturer has a "food scientist" on the payroll.
Food scientists know that human beings naturally love fatty, sweet, or salty foods.
So they manipulate the taste of their foods for maximum appeal and to affect your brain chemistry.
When you like the way a food tastes, the more you will eat it. And the more you eat, the more money the food manufacturer makes!
My advice is to learn about the foods you eat regularly and the effect they have on your body.
For example, if you eat a food regularly and find that it makes you feel bloated, drains your energy, or causes you to have a skin rash, then you may choose to replace that food with one that doesn't hurt you by personal decision.
When you eat a food and experience negative effects for yourself, then decide that you don't want them, you are much more likely to stick with your decision.
That's the difference between somebody else forbidding you to have it versus you deciding that you don't want it.
You own your choice.
Having an unhealthy food occasionally won't hurt you - if you aren't allergic. It's the foods that you eat over and over again every day that can.
Your wisest move is to establish a baseline of healthy eating. I advise that you eat healthy at least 80-90% of the time. That way, you can save the 10-20% for less healthy eating at birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions.
It's a win/win situation: You can stay healthy and enjoy the taste of some of the unhealthy stuff if you want to - once in a while.
Kimberly Taylor
Author of the Take Back Your Temple program
P.S. Are you tired of losing weight and gaining back even more? I was too! I kept repeating the same frustrating cycle for over 20 years.
The enemy loved it because as long as I was in bondage to destructive habits and mindsets, I couldn't fulfill my purpose in the Lord!
But I learned that nothing is different until you think differently. Take Back Your Temple is designed to help you think differently so that you get permanent weight loss - through Biblical principles.
Once I learned that Biblical secret and practiced it, I dropped from a size 22 to a size 8!
Click here to learn more about the Take Back Your Temple program.