Hungry for the Wrong Stuff, Wrong Reasons

A new diet to lose the 15 pounds I’ve gained since becoming a pastor has reacquainted me with an interesting sensation. And it’s a good one for someone passionate about stewardship of life. It teaches lots of important lessons.

The sensation is hunger. Or, really, I should say, false hunger. See, I refuse to go on kookie diets that have me eating nothing but grapefruit, celery and lemon juice -- or nothing but bacon, eggs and rib-eye steak. I just eat well balanced meals and cut out the desserts and snacking.

As a result I have occasional hunger pangs. And it’s funny. The pangs are mild when I drive past Whole Foods Market and the local farm stand, but they become real gut-wrenchers as soon as I pass a Dairy Queen, McDonald’s or Pizza Hut.

It’s really a false hunger. My body already has everything it needs to be healthy. The banana split, supersized fries and pizza buffet bar will actually make me unhealthy. I’m craving the stuff out of habit. Indulging these false hungers, I’ve trained myself to feel deprived when I am not gorged.

Once exposed for the fraud it is, false hunger teaches me how much my consumption has been out of proportion to my needs. The more I feel the false hunger, the more I know my effort to rebalance priorities is succeeding.

Much of our nation has learned to indulge every desire, satiate every hunger. Some have come to believe it is an entitlement. As a result we’ve become unhealthy. We all could use a little false hunger to teach us balance. By the way, I’ve lost 7 pounds.

--Rob Blezard, Editor and Webmaster
(Reprint rights gladly granted to congregations for nonprofit use. Just include this notice: “Copyright © 2007 the Rev. Robert Blezard, www.stewardshipoflife.org. Used by permission.)

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