Here’s part three of my Made to Crave book review and chapter notes. Chapter one explained how questioning food cravings was a good start to your weight loss plan. Chapter two showed us how prayer can effectively dismantle food cravings.
Weight Loss Intentions and Action
We need to use intention (here are my steps to intentional planning) when we want to reach a goal, and do it well. The gardener carefully plants, waters and fertilizes the flowers, fruits or vegetables. He or she fights off pests that eat the plant or diseases that can wipe out half a garden in a week. This requires attention to the garden and intention to follow through on keeping the plantings healthy.
Isn’t that the way is it with many things in life — we want the results but have no desire to put in the work required?
Lisa TurKeurst, Made to Crave – Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food
We can’t just wish ourselves into a smaller pants size. We can’t wish ourselves to greater health. Yet acting to take back the power over our eating habits can seem daunting. Most of us have many other priorities nipping at our heels on any given day. But, if we don’t put our health first, other priorities won’t trip us up.
Where to Find a Weight Loss Meal Plan
The bottom line is, you need a healthy eating plan to lose weight. Then, it’s up to you to follow through with the planning required to make the plan a reality. Do some research and experiment with what works well for you. You may need to consult your doctor or other health care professional. Here are a few weight loss planning resources I use:
- Organize Yourself Skinny has an excellent e-course with strategies to put together an effective weight loss plan. The site also has a free healthy meal planning guide and tons of tips and recipes (not all gluten-free).
- Nutritional Weight and Wellness’s Nutrition 4 Weight Loss class and Dishing Up Nutrition podcasts. I learned about the myth of low-fat being healthy from these professionals. Recipes on the site are gluten-free or note gluten-free alternatives. Start with the podcasts, you’ll learn so much with no gimmicks or heavy sales pitches.
- Made to Crave: 21 Day Challenge on Bible.com and the YouVersion app. This three-week challenge equips you for weight loss with scripture and brief devotionals to help you take your next step toward health today.
- Detoxinista publishes my #1 absolute favorite recipes. I have all Detoxinista cookbooks and a couple of the PDF mini cookbooks sold on the site. Check out Detoxinista’s meal plans and if you have an Instant Pot, you need The Fresh and Healthy Instant Pot Cookbook: 75 Easy Recipes for Light Meals to Make in Your Electric Pressure Cooker (affiliate link).
TurKeurst tells us in chapter three of Made to Crave that she saw a nutritionist for a supervised eating plan. The plan was strict, but losing weight usually means making some big changes to keep blood sugar fluctuations to a minimum. Everyone is different, though, so find what works for you. Make sure it’s convenient and you can buy what you need easily.
Fine-tune Your Perspective
I learned a few years ago that I had gluten-intolerance. My body doesn’t break down certain proteins in wheat, rye or barley without setting off a storm of inflammation. Going gluten-free seemed insurmountable. I love pasta! But, doing so was necessary to get my life back and stop spending days at a time in bed with ridiculous pain levels.
Instead of focusing on what I couldn’t eat, I chose to focus on ALL I COULD eat. If you find yourself feeling deprived by an eating plan, look at it in a positive light. TurKeurst says, “… look at this process as embracing healthy choices rather than denying (yourself). There are lessons to be learned and perspectives to be gained in the season of embracing healthy choices.”
Take the time to learn the physical, spiritual and mental lessons about yourself while you equip yourself for eating well for the rest of your life. You don’t need a quick-fix diet! You need to get an eating plan and stay healthy once and for all. Take care of your beautiful soul and body just as the gardener tends to his plants. Remedy problems immediately and think ahead about roadblocks like holiday parties and picnics.
You Will Adjust!
You may struggle with adjusting to no hot fudge sundaes for a couple of weeks, but you WILL grow to love this new way of eating. After taking the Nutrition for Weight Loss class, I learned to balance each meal and snack with a protein, healthy fat and complex carbohydrate. My breakfasts are often smoothies made with frozen sweet potatoes or broccoli, a cherry and berry mixture, Less Naked Whey powder or collagen protein powder, a tablespoon of full-fat coconut milk, 2 Medjool dates and a nut milk or coconut milk from a carton (purchased in the dairy section). I now wake up craving those smoothies and my mental and physical energy is much improved all morning.
Get a Plan, Get a Friend
Made to Crave recommends finding a friend or two, or an accountability partner to help you stick to your plan. There is at least one personality type that needs external accountability to succeed, but anyone benefits from a caring person to help coach making healthy choices and recovering from the occasional pitfall (no one is perfect).