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Like any glorious victory, weight loss is only achieved through hard work, dedication and sacrifice. Physical pains, hardships and a significant amount of self-denials are all what it takes to achieve the perfect body image we all aspire for.

The availability of diet tricks and tips aimed at making dieting easy, from the famous South Beach Diet and Vegan Diet to simple fasting and abstinence, is all but a proof that dieting per se is a difficult endeavor. The presence of these diet tips and tricks is as confusing as there are a variety of mouth-watering foods packed with volumes of calories. Anywhere, there is food, just as everywhere, there is a personalized style of dieting. But, when losing weight fails and fats return to the comforts of our body, then we start to lose focus on dieting, and zero in on food again.

Today, a new perspective on weight reduction is being introduced, not through the complicated and expensive ways of hodgepodge and yo-yo dieting, but simply through the power of prayer expressed in the form of faith. Dieting through prayer expressed in the form of faith can be accomplished in a countless of ways, but for our purposes there are three spiritual journeys before weight loss is achieved, such as, first, by loving the very object of our faith, God, through loving ourselves, second, by entering into the lifestyle of the underprivileged, and, finally, by going out of the comforts of the food.

Loving God by loving our body

The relationship between weight and faith is not only rhythmic, by also dynamic and unique. Love of God can be achieved by loving the self. Love of the supernatural being, whoever he may be in our minds, is basically love for the self, because we are God's reflection, a being of perfect beauty and elegance in the spiritual realm. Ironically, though, it is the human body that is responsible in accumulating the unlovable fats that give birth to heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, and death. Loving God, therefore, is basically loving the self and taking care of it, so that we may resemble in his perfect image and elegance in the physical realm.

Adapting the lifestyle of the poor

This new concept of self-denial is also sympathetic to the countless people starving around the world, not that they are on diet the whole year round, but simply because they have less in their pockets and cannot afford to buy scrumptious food in expensive restaurants. Entering into their lifestyle is a wonderful union between God and his beloved, the least in the society. But adapting their lifestyle entails a lot of self-denials and sacrifices, for a nobler purpose, that is, eating less in union with the people who have less. In this way, self-denial can be achieved and realized without undergoing any physical pains, precisely because love of God is nobler than love of the stomach.

Freedom from the bondage of food

Weak as we are, emotional emptiness is our constant companion in life. When we are most empty, and no one is around to comfort us, we succumb to the comforts of the food. We embrace food believing that it will kill the emptiness within, but it is the other way around. It is the food that we embrace during those silent moments that will ultimately put our life at risk, and interestingly, illness often occurs during those unguarded moments of the day and at the heyday of life, when our family needs us most. Looking up to someone up there who is more powerful than food is the best source of strength in lonely moments of life. Food is never a comforter, but God alone.

Learn more about this author, Rodolfo N. Lentejas, Jr..
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