Food – 2020 – Week 1

Lisa here! Happy New Year!! Have you stepped on the scale today, committed to eating a certain way or started back at the gym?  This is what most of us, men or women, have on our minds this first Monday of 2020.

This will be a 4 part blog series referencing the topic of how to “Honor God with your Body.” I will be posting every Monday in January 2020.  Most of this blog is from a talk I gave at our Women’s Retreat at Pursuit Church back in 2017 about discipline and self-control. 

• Week One: I will share my personal story on food and exercise, so please read and start thinking about your health.  
• Week Two: I will relate how self-control and living in God’s will and Spirit can help achieve a healthier you.   
• Week Three: I will be sharing some ideas for a healthy lifestyle both physically and spiritually
• Week Four: I will finish up with 3 ways to Honor God with your body.

My blog today is my personal food/exercise history.  Being honest and showing that even if it looks like we have it going “good” on the outside, it may be a lie.  We need God in our lives – period.

With that being said, I would like to tell you about how food, addictions and exercise played a role in my life over the last 49 years. 

I named this part of my blog from a verse out of  2nd Peter 3:19, “You are a slave to whatever controls you.”

Childhood:

I was a skinny child.  My call name on the CB channel was “Skinny Minny”.  I did not have a weight issue as a young child. I remember when I would overeat at Christmas or Halloween it made me feel real bad and sick to my stomach.  This probably is what kept me thin. On the spiritual side, I was raised in the Catholic Church and went to church pretty regularly.  Religion and rule following was very big in how I was raised. 

Gymnast:

I trained and was a competitive gymnast from the age of 10.  I was in the gym for 20 plus hours a week. Body image was very important in the world of gymnastics.  I had the body and skill and was improving very fast as a gymnast.  Then at age 16 I hurt myself, dislocated my shoulder, I was out of training for 6 months.  I had just got my driver’s license. In my household, my mom was into health food in the 80’s, which was not popular at all!!  We had no processed food in our home and if she did try to buy anything from the Health Food store, it was so nasty.  

So, when I got my drivers license, I had freedom! I worked at age 16 as a hostess at the local restaurant and my parents provided us with a car for a small monthly fee.  I had wheels and money. I had freedom to stop by McDonalds for a large fry and then swing by Wendy’s for a frosty. Looking back at this part of my life, I was very depressed because I was injured and the only thing that made me feel better was food – fast food!!!  The combination of my injury, lack of exercise and fast food put an extra 30 pounds on me in 6 months! 

Once my shoulder was better, I went back into the gym.  My uncle, who I had not seen in a year or so, saw me that summer and was shocked.  He called me Checko – cheeks a coming and cheeks a going. It devisated me, the once fit skinny gymnast was now fat! 

My mom took me to a “food” psychiatrist.  I went on every diet known in the 80’s. Richard Simmons, Cabbage Soup diet, Weight Watchers and the Grapefruit diet just to name a few.  The weight would not come off. Being overweight equalled being a failure in my life as a gymnast. I became more addicted to food the more I could not have it.  I was a closet eater.  I would lie to my mom and say I followed the diets and then go get food and binge on it.  I was not bulimic but was a food binger in secret.  My mom tried to help me, but I used food as my vice at this point in my life.

I ended up leaving the sport of gymnastics that I loved due to my size and weight. My dream of going to the Olympics or even college to do gymnastics was all lost because of my uncontrollable addiction to food. 

I struggle with my weight for several years to follow.  I also discovered alcohol and cigarettes in high school and added these vices to my life at a very young age.  There is a pattern of vices for sure, something was missing.

The following is for sure:

Food = Comfort, Alcohol = Comfort, Cigarettes = Comfort – in my mind at that time. 

 I was living for my desires and did whatever I needed to fulfill my desires.  

“I was a slave to whatever controlled me.”

Young Adult to Now:

In my late teens, 20 and most of my 30’s – I was living the trifecta of an unhealthy lifestyle.  Gluttony and drunkenness where a constant in my life. I ate whatever I wanted, drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes heavily.  On a positive note…I did always stop drinking & smoking when I was pregnant with my two children – thank goodness for my kids sake.  

About 15 years ago my husband Todd ( who is my high school sweetheart)  and I wanted to get healthy. We started to exercise and learn how to eat a little better, but did not put down the alcohol or cigarettes.  South Beach diet was our launch to learn how to eat healthier, but the biggest reason was to lose weight. Image and how I looked was very high on my priority list.  We learned how to prepare real food and cook together.  So we started our journey to health physically. 

As I look back on these years in my life, I figured out how to lose weight, I did not have a weight issue anymore, but I had a health crisis!!  I was slowly killing myself by my lifestyle, my marriage was also starting to suffer and I did not feel good and was angry most of the time, but looking in from the outside you would never know! 

I did not have God in my life at all at this point.  I was completely lead by my flesh and lived for myself.  I was not submissive to God or my husband.  Honestly I had never heard of that word “submissive” until I met Terri Broome.  I didn’t even know what it meant and fought it for a while.  I was a working career mom in a very male dominated industry who built up a real hard shell to authority and especially to men. My husband and I struggled on many levels, another blog for another day, but it was as bad as the “D” word.  I knew how I was living did not feel good and I was in a downward spiral. The enemy had me in his grip.  

As I moved towards my 40’s, I knew the smoking had to stop.  How can I be exercising and learning about healthy eating and still smoke?  I was a closet smoker at this time and not many people knew I smoked because it was not popular.  I kept thinking, I am smarter than this, what is my problem? Well… I was addicted to nicotine, it is a real thing.  I finally put them down one day after listening to a self help audio book. Carolyn Maas was her name and she said, ” that every time we say we are going to do something and don’t, that we are lying to ourselves!  No One else really cares!!”  For some reason this was my ah ha moment and I stopped.   

My weekend binge drinking was under control (mostly), but I did need to drink wine every evening after work.  Wine took the edge off & numbed me…I could deal with my children & husband, my problems, and my fears better after a long day at the office with some good red wine.  I really needed it or at least I thought.  I am in my mid 40’s and the nightly drinking was still a health crisis for me. 

My husband asked me to go to Harvest Cove (now Pursuit) Church in November of 2015, we have come to church every Sunday since!  It is unexplainable the amount of love I have for Terri Broome and Jordan Green, God used them to speak Truth into me.  I no longer need to drink wine every night and taking care of myself and being healthy has a new meaning. I have a new purpose. I wake up each day to be a vessel for the Lord, it is not about Lisa, it is about God. I am now submissive to God spiritually and to my husband physically. I honor, respect and love Todd so deeply.  I was so independent and hard hearted for so many years, I thought I did not need my husband, but oh I did!!

I wanted to share this part of my testimony and the struggles I had with food, substance abuse and relationships.  Our Pastor Jamie said yesterday that we will need to go through exposure, this is all out exposure. We ALL struggle with certain vices, but change is possible with God – all He wants is us! Start thinking about your health…spiritually and physically.

Next week the blog will be about Honoring God with our bodies and the dreaded word DIET! 

Have a great week and love you all! 

Lisa