God gave me an idea a couple of years ago called "Platesharing," which can help Christian hunger charities and may help you lose weight at the same time. I'll give more details in a moment, but first let me tell you what re-sparked the idea:
A TBYT reader named Eileen shared a powerful video with me by author Lisa Bevere. In the video, Lisa mentioned the sin of Sodom. Now before you think "I already know what it was," you may not know the whole story. Here is what Ezekiel 16:49-50 says Sodom's sins were:
Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit (NKJV).
Did you catch the part about "fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy"?
The people were so self-focused and concerned about their own comfort that they ignored the needs of the poor.
One of the things God put on my heart as I sought His help with my overeating was to take a portion of our food budget and start donating it to a hunger relief organization. I realized that the money I was spending on snack and junk food for myself could be put to better use helping feed someone else who didn't have any food.
I once read a statistic that overeating costs the average U.S. family $498 per year. That works out to $41.50 per month!
If overeating is a problem for you, have you considered where is that $41.50 going? Is it going to an over-full plate? Second helpings? Fast food? Pizza deliveries? Vending machines? Chips, cookies, crackers, candy, or sodas? Hey, I'm just naming where some of my money used to go!
Do me a favor: Examine your food spending starting today. Your last 4 grocery receipts would be a good place to start. Just simply review the receipt and see if you have any non-essential food items on there. Circle those items and add up the amounts spent.
Then, over the next month, keep a log of any additional food spending, such as the money you might spend on the vending machine, in a coffee shop, fast food, etc. Add it up and see how much excess you have.
Finally, prayerfully consider donating the monetary equivalent or whatever amount God puts on your heart to a local food bank or hunger relief organization.
Here are three Christian hunger charities that I recommend because they are all registered with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) and have high ratings at Charitynavigator.org, another group that measures financial accountability:
To help you deal with overeating habits as you are striving to share your food with the needy in the meantime, I recommend you read the following articles:
God bless you!
Kimberly Taylor
takebackyourtemple.com
Kimberly Taylor is an author and Christian life coach with a heart to help others struggling with emotional eating and weight loss. Once 240 pounds and a size 22, she can testify of God’s goodness and healing power to overcome. She lost 85 pounds as a result of implementing techniques to overcome emotional eating and binge eating disorder.
Kim is the author of "The Take Back Your Temple Program," which teaches Christians how to take control of their weight God's way and the books "The Weight Loss Scriptures" and "The Weight Loss Prayers."
Kim has been featured in Prevention Magazine, Charisma Magazine and on CBN’s 'The 700 Club' television program.