Fasting

Hack: Choose God Over An Extra Cookie! Here’s How My Life Got Better!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
person holding round copper-colored coin
Photo by Tim Foster on Unsplash

His t-shirt said, “Do what feels good.”

With only a bit of reflection, this worldview may have some flaws. For example, eating whatever we want whenever we want would feel good – wouldn’t it? But I think my knees would feel rebellious about that mantra if my weight increased without stopping, correlating to food consumption that “feels good.”

No, this worldview doesn’t quite line up with reality.

We all know that short-term joy can lead to long-term pain and vice versa. There must be a wiser worldview than this one. For example, Jesus said, “WHEN (emphasis mine) you fast . . .”

When.

Ouch. I had been a Christian for 30 years, and the time hadn’t seem to have yet come when I needed to fast! I didn’t want to create a bunch of rules about how to live!

Being a REAL Christian is not about ticking off a bunch of boxes!

We have the advantage of being modern, so we know now that the early monks and nuns from centuries ago got a whole BUNCH of theology COMPLETELY wrong!

“Fasting weekly or taking longer fasts sounds like archaic Christianity!” I admonish, crumbs from a half-eaten box of cookies spewing from my mouth. I hear the notifications binging on my phone – just a minute.

Anyway, we know what spirituality REALLY is because we’re moderns.

“Huh? What?” I accidentally spew more crumbs in my effort to talk. Sorry. I gallantly wipe crumbs off your shirt.

“Do you think the early monks and nuns may have gotten some things RIGHT that many of us don’t do today?” I scoff and wait.

“Yes. The monks and nuns fasted regularly,” you continue.

Every time I read my bible and get to the part about Jesus saying that we WILL fast, of course, I feel a pang of guilt.

Why didn’t I fast, anyway?

So, that day, I started fasting.

I decided to start with fasting to sort out some global mishaps. I would pray about Ukraine and Russia – stuff like that.

World-changing stuff.

I put away my cereal and milk for an hour one morning and had a go at fasting and prayer.

And Jesus was pleased.

Me?

I wasn’t so pleased with myself. I fell flat on my face. I was distracted, hungry, and then gave up after half an hour. What’s the point?

Get up, Jesus seemed to be saying, holding out His hand to me. Try again. He gave me a smile and a hug.

How could He be pleased with me?

The following week, another fall, a big, lamentable flail. And the next and the next. Jesus helped me up each time, and His pleasure grew with my impending sense of failure.

The two are not unrelated.

My strength comes into its own in your weakness

The Message

Finally, I asked a friend to pray with me, to fast breakfast together, and to encourage one another. He prayed that I could complete this most pathetic of tasks. And I did it.

Not with a conspicuous finish, like a victor, sweeping across the finish line, grabbing the trophy before heading to the winner’s platform.

But more like a worm slithering in the rain, some worm friends encouraging me, “Keep going!”

a close up of a worm crawling on the ground
Photo by Julian Zwengel on Unsplash

Ultimately, I didn’t pray about world peace or anything outside myself.

I prayed, “God, help me to fast breakfast this morning!”

And God was very pleased.

Because I was beginning to realize my need for God to grow spiritually and therefore to live well.

Well done, He said, the Father embracing the teen longing for affirmation.

I became more aware of my understanding of who I am and my feeble state. No, I’m not a bold warrior, with God blessing me so that my superpowers can help solve world crises. I am pathetic and can barely delay my breakfast without His constant help.

And He is pleased with me.

And who will we become as we rely on God to help us to have the strength to learn to pray?

Demons quiver at the thought.

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The Truth About The Best Way To Live – Don’t Try So Hard

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

This is my best advice!

woman sitting on grass field during sunset
Photo by Matteo Vistocco on Unsplash

Sometimes, we try too hard as we journey through life.

Ironically, our lives often improve when we don’t try as hard.

For example, we all realize by now, I’m sure, that a good life consists of:

1) Beautiful hair,

2) Productive work, and

3) Healthy desires.

(Yes, this is a list curated from my own experience. Why do you ask?)

To expound:

Click here to continue reading this (previously published) post.

Do You Cower Inside Your Box, Too?

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

What if I am in a box, but the box is too small for me? I push on every side, but no luck. I remain, for the rest of my days, perhaps, encased in something that contains me, squeezes me.

After a while, like shoes that are too tight that have been worn for a long, long, time, we cease to notice the pain. It feels normal.

Jesus was calling me, wooing me out of the box I had squeezed myself into. Like a safety blanket, the box held me close, and comforted me somehow, in an unhealthy, painful way.

He leaned down and put his head close to the opening of the box. Come, He bid me, metaphorically. His eyes reflected and deepened my pain. He held out His hand to me. Would I follow?

I hadn’t noticed that the box was open. But like those who have been imprisoned for too long, their eventual freedom scares them. They long to be imprisoned again, and may even commit an offence to return to their prison cell.

Freedom is just too scary. It’s comfortable here, we reason.

But I listened to Him recently. I gently clasped His hand, but then struggled, letting go of his hand after a brush with discouragement.

I tried again. He waited patiently for me, encouraging me. Come. Try again, He seemed to beckon, his arm outstretched. So I did.

And now I am free of that box. I can stand, dance and move around now.

I am in a new box now, but one that is bigger. He is beckoning me still, however, to come, to come out of the new box I have created for myself.

I am more free, yes, and this is good, He seems to be saying, joy in His eyes. But more freedom awaits, He seems to be saying. I made you to fly.

Who will give me wings,” I ask— “wings like a dove?” Get me out of here on dove wings.

The Message

And this description that I have written today is the spiritual side of the story. The human side of the story, like the other side of the same coin, the part that is easier to talk about, is my journey of learning to fast, to abstain for a time from food.

Sometimes in doing what we don’t want to do, in fasting, or in stepping out of the box we have created for ourselves, we finally are a bit more free.

Our vision expands when we fly.

Do you also feel you are stuck in a box? If so, as the song below plays, and after a few minutes of thanksgiving, consider asking Holy Spirit: What is one step I can take to find my way out of this box, and test my wings?

I Lied Again But Here Are 3 TRUE Tricks To Curb Sugar (Healthy Habits Post 9)

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

Yeah, OK. I lied again.

I said I FORGOT to finish the blog post series I started on Healthy Habits. That is only PARTIALLY true. I am more organized than you think!

The TRUTH is that I didn’t think we would want to discuss fasting the week before Christmas when we are constantly stuffing our faces with stuffing and turkey and homemade treats and eggnog.

But now that we are on the couch, stomachs in pain and feeling like losers (Losers in a good way, if you haven’t read that post), let me help you get off the couch and let’s punish our bodies again by doing things we don’t like: eating less food, exercising etc.

Or let’s trick ourselves into believing we like doing the stuff we may not always feel like doing.

Whatever.

So January is here!

I would recommend starting off the year by re-reading my blogpost series about Healthy Habits.

Time to get fit!

This post in the Healthy Habits series is a recommendation to try to (more or less) eat dessert on Sundays only.

But that is impossible, right?

Yeah, I know, but we have to try to wean ourselves off the hourly Christmas treats, eventually.

Here’s how:

1. Trick yourself into thinking you are eating dessert when you are not.

Like a cocaine addict (are they the ones that use needles, again?) seeking a fix, I MUST HAVE a snack like this one every day. This is the FIRST item I make when I run out. I’ll skip cooking supper to have a week of these on hand.

Why? Because they FEEL like dessert, even though they are not! Fat and sugar and chocolate and yum all rolled up into a ball! But it’s healthy fat (nuts) and healthy sugar (dates) and chocolate (of course). I eat these at 3:00 pm when I’m craving my fix, and there is just enough heroin (substitute) to help me last another few hours till supper and my nightly camomile tea fix.

2. Downscale your addictive personality.

Our church has been reaching out to our city’s homeless population, and it is AMAZING how much sugar these people who have kicked their drug addictions mainline (Can you mainline sugar?) Whatever.

But let’s face it, mainlining sugar is a LOT healthier than mainlining crystal meth!

Since the reality is that we, too, are just nicely dressed balls of addiction, chasing the wrong desires, let’s learn from them!

Let’s downscale our addictions!

For example, I met a lady last week who stopped smoking and then gained 30 pounds. But stuffing our faces with food is better than stuffing our faces with cancer sticks!

In my case, I am more addicted to sugar than I am to processed chips. So I TRY to eat chips instead of sugar. Once I’m addicted to chips, it’s easier to wean myself off of that addiction. I’ve been downscaled!

It’s easier to eat less chips than it is to mainline crystal meth!

Get the pattern?

While we’re at it, downscaling our addictions, let’s upscale our Levels of Happiness!

3. Let’s look forward to making massive pigs of ourselves.

As per the theme of point two above, we don’t start out at the finish line, having already won the race.

Meaning let’s cut ourselves some slack! We are all basically crack-addicted homeless people, seeking happiness in all the wrong places, so let’s cut ourselves some slack!

Let’s LOOK FORWARD to making a COMPLETE PIG of ourselves on Sundays! A COMPLETE cheesecake with Oreos and highly processed foods on Sunday, anyone?

Start where we’re at!

We’ll eat ONE piece of cake with good manners and a napkin sometime on the future Sunday. Even if our progress is WAY OUT in the future, we celebrate successes! You’re awesome!

Good luck!

You’re welcome!

You Love Eating Only Air Instead of Feasting On Turkey – Admit it! (Healthy Habits Post 8)

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

One of these days I’m going to write a book about how to have copious financial resources. The key premise:

To accumulate more money, simply buy less stuff!

Lori Lawe, TM*

I’m writing this blog post series about healthy weight, however, but a similar key premise applies:

If we want to stop carrying around all that extra jiggly stuff in the middle, at some point, we may have to talk about eating a bit less food.

Lori Lawe, TM*

Today’s blog post is about ENJOYING eating less.

I’m the kind of person that likes to have fun. So if we have to do something that’s not fun, let’s trick ourselves into thinking that we are having fun! So, as you are learning these helpful tips and habits, try to keep in the back of your mind the key lesson which is: Eating air is way more fun than eating tempting and delicious food!

Today we will learn to trick ourselves that we:

1. Are eating dessert when we are not,
2. Love God more than we love padding our belly fat, and
3. Are stuffing ourselves when we’re not eating anything at all.

  1. No dessert anyone? Back when I remembered I was writing a series of posts about healthy habits, I wrote that one of the habits was to have camomile tea just before bed. This is a great tip I picked up on the internet that actually helped me! I guess there IS useful information out there somewhere! You put quite a bit of extra honey in your camomile tea after supper. Then you tell yourself “This is dessert!” You’re having extra honey so it is a bit of a treat. Then you drink your tea with the relish of eating an entire cheesecake, and wait until Sunday for real dessert. You can do it!
  2. God or more belly fat? The next habit is kind of cool and it’s a way to develop the habit of fasting and seeking God, without having to do any work (Oh wait, did I say that out loud?) As you know, and I’ve discussed here, I found fasting for spiritual purposes, for even more than – oh – 10 minutes, to be a little challenging. So this is a compromise. I just try to delay my breakfast. We all have to start somewhere! Use that time of being a bit hungry to push yourself into God, to ask Him why you’re such a spaz most of the time, to pour out your heart, and you’ll realize that breakfast kind of loses its allure. Your deeper needs are emerging. And so, this habit has become one of my favorite habits, if I’m honest. Plus your body thanks you. There’s a lot of good research about intermittent fasting. And the way I’ve structured these habits, where you kind of trick yourself into thinking you’re eating dessert when you’re not after supper (so you’re not eating), and you just delay your breakfast for a bit turns into a temporary fast. But don’t tell your body that because your mind might not like it, and it’s all about keeping your mind happy, right? Even if you are deceiving your mind a bit. Who’s counting?
  3. Top secret tip for tricking yourself into thinking you are eating copious amounts of food when you’re not eating anything at all. Don’t tell anyone I said this, or at least don’t link back to this site if you do. (I won’t admit I ever said this), but here’s an AMAZING tip. Shh…. Top secret. . . Lean your head over the food dish of choice, when no one is looking, of course. Close your eyes, inhale, enjoy the smells, and pretend you’re chewing. Say, “Yum!” A second plate without any calories, anyone? (Was anyone looking when I said that? Whew! No one heard!) Remember you didn’t hear it from me! Enjoy!

Whoever can figure out how to market the promise: How to enjoy whatever foods you want, whenever you want them, and not gain any weight, and then link to Point 3 above will be a millionaire! Cut me 10% of your profits, please! (I still won’t admit I had anything to do with you, however.)

Hey maybe you want to ghostwrite my financial book discussed in the first paragraph, come to think of it!

We could call it, “How to ENJOY Getting Rich And Thin!”

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Blogpost Footnotes

*Trademarked

(My conscience finds it ironic, for some reason, that I’m eating a 482g bag of “snacking chocolate” as I write this. Don’t forget to eat lots of chocolate when people are looking to confuse them! Because confusing people is fun.)

Ten Keystone Habits To Achieve A Healthy Weight And Stay There

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

“Well, that must be nice for you,” they spit at me. (Wait, I know you don’t spit, either. We talked about that in another post. But it ruins the effect, if I don’t keep that part. You can’t expect perfect truth in every blog post.)

Anyway, my mouth was full of chocolate, some of it dripping from the corners of my mouth. “Huh?” I asked.

She continued, “Well, you can obviously eat whatever you want.”

I guessed she was referring to the fact that I am a healthy weight and my mouth was currently full of chocolate – overfull actually.

But what she didn’t see were the habits I (ir)regularly follow behind the scenes.

Here they are.

A caveat before we begin is that I’ve never had professional training as a nutritionist. But I’ve read a ton on the side about food and health. And like a boxer in a ring, who has been fighting her entire life with someone about the same strength as her, I have maintained a healthy weight my entire life.

This didn’t come easy.

I’m still fighting.

(Following God’s direction and a neurologist’s advice, I also prepared the food that healed my kid’s learning disabilities, but that is a discussion for another time).

This is what I do to fight the temptations and the cultural normalcy of food that is anything but normal or healthy.

I made my own point system, and give myself two points daily for each healthy habit completed. One point if I grew in habit development that day.

Here are my top ten habits. The total maximum points in a day is 20 points.

1. Two points for drinking the recommended water allocation in a day.

2. Two points for doing one hour of exercise. Must break a sweat to get two points.

3. Two points for eating a green smoothie in the morning.

4. Two points for having a salad for lunch.

5. Two points for having cut-up veggies and a yummy dip available so these can be snacked on during the day.

6. Two points for eating one plate of food and then waiting 20 minutes before having seconds.

7. Two points for having a cup of chamomile tea with honey and nothing else after dinner.

8. Two points for not eating breakfast till 10:00 am.

9. Two points for having an energy ball (fruit and cheese, or fruit and nuts can be substituted in a pinch) in mid-afternoon.

10. This is my favourite habit and I will explain why when I describe it in a minute. Two points for not having any dessert if today is a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

The happy side effect of this habit is that since dessert is allowed on Sunday, we get two points for eating dessert on Sunday! Stuff your face with chocolate on Sunday, let it drip from the corners of your mouth (Why does that happen so often to me?) and watch them bemoan the fact that you’ve never even tried, yet you are a healthy weight.

Ha! The joke’s on them.

Why growing in these habits can eventually become an absolute delight will be discussed next time.

Deny Yourself An Oreo And Find God

/ Lori Lawe / 3 Comments

Her t-shirt said, “Do what feels good.” She was morbidly obese proudly flaunting her worldview, emblazoned across her chest. Sure, maybe eating whatever we want whenever we want would feel good. But how would our knees feel if that was our consistent mantra so that eventually even walking became painful?

No, this worldview didn’t quite line up with reality. We all know that short-term joy can lead to long-term pain and vice versa. There must be a wiser worldview than this one.

Jesus said, “WHEN (emphasis mine) you fast . . .” When. Ouch. I had been a Christian for 30 years, and the time hadn’t seem to have yet come when I needed to fast.

I mean, I didn’t want to be legalistic about this whole thing. Kingdom living is not about ticking off a bunch of boxes.

The early monks got a bunch of theology wrong, we later learned, looking down our academic noses at them hundreds of years later, from the CORRECT vantage point of CURRENT theology.

The early monks and nuns would flagellate themselves. They would deliberately wear horse hair shirts that were itchy, take vows of poverty, and . . . . the theme of today . . . they would FAST.

Sounds like archaic Christianity, I mumble, crumbs from a half-eaten box of Oreos spewing from my mouth as I speak. I play another round of Candy Crush on my iPad. I know what spirituality REALLY is because I’m a modern.

Huh? What? I spew more Oreo crumbs accidentally in an effort to talk. Do you think the monks may have gotten some things right, that we don’t do today? I scoff and wait.

“Yes. They fasted,” you continue.

Every time I read my bible and get to the part about Jesus saying that we will fast, of course, I feel a pang of guilt. Why didn’t I fast, anyway?

So I started fasting.

I thought that I would start with fasting to sort out some of the global mishaps. I would pray about Ukraine and Russia. Stuff like that. World-changing stuff.

So I put away my Cheerios and milk for an hour one morning and had a go at fasting and prayer.

And Jesus was pleased.

Me? I wasn’t so pleased with myself.

I fell flat on my face. I was distracted, hungry, and then gave up after a half hour or so. What’s the point?

Get up, Jesus seemed to be saying, holding out His hand to me. Try again. He gave me a smile and a hug. How could He be pleased with me?

The next week, another fall, a big, lamentable flail. And the next and the next.

Jesus helped me up each time and His pleasure grew with my impending sense of failure.

The two are not unrelated.

Finally, I asked a friend to pray with me, to fast breakfast together, and to encourage one another. He prayed for me, that I would have the strength to complete this most pathetic of tasks.

And I did it.

Not with a conspicuous finish, like that of a victor, sweeping across the finish line, grabbing the trophy before heading to the winner’s platform.

But more like a worm, slithering in the rain, a couple of my worm friends showing me the way.

I didn’t end up praying about world peace, or really anything outside of myself really.

I prayed, “God, help me to be able to fast breakfast this morning!”

And He was very pleased.

Because I realized my need for Him.

Well done, He said, the Father embracing the teen longing for affirmation.

I grew stronger in my understanding of who I am, of my feeble state.

No, I’m not a bold warrior, able to have God bless me so that my superpowers can help solve world crises.

I am pathetic, and barely able to delay my breakfast without His constant help.

And He is pleased with me.

And who will I become, as I rely on God to help me to have the strength to learn to pray?

Demons quiver at the thought.