Oh food, why do you torment me so?

I like food. Actually I love food. Sort of. But not really.

The reality is I have a problem with food. Not only do I eat the wrong kinds, but I eat it too often, and I eat too much of it.

Last summer I started to realize, for the first time, that my problems with food is a sin. This sin has been a tough one to leave behind.

I believe that my problem with food is a sin because I'm treating food as a lower-case g god. God was also quite clear about putting other gods before him - so much so that it was the first of the ten commandments. By eating too much, too frequently of the wrong foods, I believe I am putting food before God. That's a problem.

As I had touched upon in a previous post, I also believe my problems with eating is also an issue with loving God, as this is an act of temporarily satisfying my own desires, which to me, is an exercise in being self-seeking.

In the past I have tried different programs to help with my problem - weight watchers, some weird tomato soup diets, and the like. Each time the motivation was the same - to look good, be healthy, and lose weight - which again could be considered self-seeking reasons to change my lifestyle.

Knowing this time around that my food problem is a sin and distancing myself from God, I have decided to do something about it. I believe that to help battle this sin, I will need to take up my cross daily - put away my selfish desires - and focus on God the entire time I feel like grabbing another calorie-laden snack.

Do I think I am going to fail this time around? Of course I do. I have every other time. The difference I believe between this time and others is that the motivation is to love God.

With God's help I can remove this sin from my life.