DAY 2
RISE Above Your Old
Habits (Part 2)

Let’s continue the RISE process. We’ve looked at foods we need to reduce and others we need to increase. In this session, we’ll explore the foods we need to substitute and eliminate altogether.

LOOKING AT YOUR LIFE

Increase your consumption of vegetables, lean meats, and fruits low in carbohydrates and high in fiber. Select at least one fruit or vegetable each day.

What are your guiltiest pleasures when it comes to eating?

What foods or dishes hold a special place in your heart and mind? Why do you think those items are so enticing to you?

What healthy foods and snacks do you enjoy—that taste good to you?

LEARNING A NEW WAY OF Life

Check out the following Bible verses that speak about food and eating.

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” (Genesis 1:29)

Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. (Genesis 9:3)

He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth. (Psalm 104:14)

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

What general conclusions can you draw from these passages about God? About what we can and should eat? About how we should eat?

“God . . . richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17).

It’s important to remember that LIFL is not a diet. It’s a way of life. It’s remembering that God is good and that His gifts are good. The key is moderation, not gorging ourselves, and not using food to fill needs it was never intended to fill.

Many, if not most diets absolutely forbid certain kinds of food. The LIFL program maintains that no foods are off-limits. What are the positive benefits of this philosophical difference? What are the potential dangers?

How are you changing as a result of reading, thinking, and applying the LIFL plan?

LOSING IT FOR LIFE

LIFL urges us to reduce our intake of certain foods and to increase our consumption of others. The plan also suggests certain things to substitute or eliminate altogether.

Foods to Substitute

Obviously it is wise to substitute high-fat foods that contain little nutritional value with low-fat healthy foods.

Using your food journal as a guide, list some substitutions you could and should make that would lead to a healthier you.

It is also wise to substitute high-glycemic foods with low ones. Some examples: eating fruit-flavored yogurt instead of a glazed doughnut, vegetables and dip instead of potato chips and dip, a bean burrito instead of a beef burrito, and so forth.

Again, look at the record of your recent eating habits. Using Appendix C, suggest at least five food substitutions you could begin making regularly, that—over time—would result in a big difference.

The authors urge us to try new foods, noting that some food items we didn’t like as children we would enjoy now. List personal examples of this.

Foods I Disliked When I Was Younger	When I Learned to Like Them
______________________	______________________
______________________	______________________
______________________	______________________
______________________	______________________

Now list some other not-so-favorite foods (low in fat and low on the glycemic index) that you will agree to go back and try again.

Foods to Eliminate

We’ve seen that fats and proteins slow down sugar absorption. Yet we’ve also noted that not all fats are the same. One type of fat is downright dangerous, so we want to eliminate it as much as possible. The fat to avoid at all costs is trans-fatty acid, also called “trans fat.”

Take a short true/false quiz and see how much you remember from the LIFL book about trans fat.

True or False?
1.	Trans-fatty acid is created when our diets include too much beef and too many carbonated drinks.
2.	Adding trans fat to a food increases its shelf life and often gives it a good flavor.
3.	Too much trans fat can lead to obesity, a weakened immune system, diabetes, coronary heart disease, muscle loss, increased cancer risk, and global warming.
4.	About 40 percent of the food on grocery store shelves contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which contain trans-fatty acid.
5.	The way to tell how much trans fat a food item has is to look at the nutrition label. If you see the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” anywhere near the top of the ingredients list, the food is high in trans fat.
6.	Typically, organic foods have more trans fat than foods processed in modern factories.

(Answers: 1. False [“Trans fat” is a man-made substance produced when hydrogen is bubbled through oil to produce a margarine that doesn’t melt at room temperature]; 2. True²⁴; 3. False [Everything but the global warming part]; 4. True; 5. True 6. False [The truth is just the opposite; natural foods are healthier than processed ones.])

There is a distant cousin of trans fat called CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) that naturally occurs in dairy and beef. New studies show that CLA may actually be helpful in fighting off the very thing its cousin brings about.²⁵

Where do you see a lot of trans fats in your diet? What particular foods?

Take a field trip to your pantry. List the items you find there that are high in trans-fatty acid.

Some practical tips for eliminating the scourge of trans fat: switch to milk instead of nondairy creamer in your coffee, use olive oil or sesame oil or butter-flavored spray instead of margarines, and choose baked chips over fried.

What’s the most powerful or helpful thing you’ve learned in this lesson? Why?