By Lois Hewitt

The other day I was sad. I used to have such a good friendship with a girl named Little Debbie. She was oh-so-sweet. She never disappointed me.  I could always count on her.

Then one day I realized that when we hung out, I didn’t feel so great.  It turns out she was just not good for me.  So I said goodbye to my old friend.

Over the years I have walked away from many of my old chums.  Mickey D.  The King.  Kit and Kat and Pop and Tart.

I used to sit and remember the times and thought they would never return. But I was actually wrong.

Most everything you like to eat can be made at home with better ingredients. I searched for my favorite, Cosmic Brownies, found a recipe and made them. Still not health food but not nearly as unhealthy.  They turned out pretty good.

I made peanut butter cups that had no sugar, just a touch of organic maple syrup.  They hit the spot.

I have learned to make many of my old favorites just in a new way.  It saves money most of the time too.  Win-win.

All it takes is a little readjustment in thinking. Of course, my oven baked fries do not taste like the ones in the red container, but they aren’t trying to stop my heart.

It is difficult at first to talk your taste buds into this new way of eating. All those old food receptors will scream for trans fat and white refined sugar. You will feel worse than when you ate junk.

Just wait it out.  Your body will change and start liking black bean burgers instead of greasy hamburgers or whatever you change to (I’m not against good quality grass fed local meat.)  I used to eat processed veggie burgers until I found out they ain’t so great. So I make my own. Sometimes they are a winner and others not so much.

It is all a change in perspective.  You may think you can’t live without Coke or Arbys.  But you can. And once you have ridden the storm out, you will see a change.

My diet and food addiction was so bad.  I was so anemic several times in my life to the point my legs could not hold me up.  I was malnourished and sickly.

I could barely go three weeks without a sick day.  I was miserable.  Then I started to learn about food and nutrition and I was still miserable until my breakthrough.

My health started to improve.
My taste came back, didn’t even know I lost it. And I started a new and healthy love affair with food.

It just had to change my perspective on what was good for me. 

Life, in general, is like that. My relationship with Jesus is that way.  At first, I never dreamed I could live without the sin.  I had a taste for it, I craved it. 

Then one day I was so spiritually sick, I could not get up.  So I changed my perspective.  And I still felt bad until I didn’t.

Just like a Big Mac is repulsive to me now, so is sin.  I don’t want to feel what a Big Mac will do to my body and I don’t want to sin anymore. I still do, we all do, but it is different now.  I have remorse over it, I grieve it.

Making changes is never easy and it is not automatically all sunshine and chocolate brownies but it gets better. You heal and you start to thrive.

The absolutely best thing I did was give my life and my sin to Jesus. He took the sin and gave me my life back.

What a glorious way to live.  It isn’t perfect and I’m not perfect but it’s ok.  Better is a good thing. Each day I get stronger, healthier and more focused on the One who saved me. 

Don’t be afraid to change. It may be the most amazing thing you can experience!  Try a new perspective.