Summer's Slipping By Us

So...I've been remiss in posting. I've been busy, then not too busy, then busy like crazy again. All in all though, I'm realizing that the summer is slipping by us. Ryan and I are looking forward to our vacation after next week.

I watched a documentary yesterday called: "Dying to be Thin", on anerexia and bulemia nervosa. It made me really appreciative of having the doctrines of the restored gospel...namely knowing that there was a war in Heaven, and that Satan persuaded his followers into losing their first estate or the chance to have a physical body. Have you ever noticed how much Satan tries to make people think that their bodies are ugly, fat, frail, worthless, etc. Interesting, coming from someone who doesn't even have the priviledge of having a body.

The interesting thing with these two eating disorders, (other than the fact that you can see that Satan is in the works, making them feel depressed like they're failures and leading them towards hospitalization and death) is they end up being addictive like drugs. Anorexics often struggle from anxiety, which seems decreased when they starve themselves because less seratonin is emitted in the brain... but then the brain adapts, and creates more receptors, so even a little seratonin goes a long way. Result: they have to keep starving themselves more to feel calm. Bulemic women can eat as much as 3,600 calories -- two days worth of food -- in one sitting. How? you may ask yourself. Don't they get full, like we do when we pig out on Thanksgiving?
Interestingly enough, they don't get that message. A normal stomach slowly empties food in to the small intestine, which stimulates the secretion of CCK (a hormone that tells the brain to get ready to stop eating 'cause we're going to get full). Probably more a result of them purging themselves than anything else, bulemics honestly stop getting that signal.

The reason why this documentary (which is by NOVA by the way) struck me so, is it has Satan's name written all over it. Women seem to be more suceptible to feeling bad about their bodies, and the media surely does its share to make you feel like you aren't the ideal if you're pants are a higher number than size 1. (Like 0 pants...does anyone understand that? How can you NOT exist. If they really label pants like that, people who buy those pants shouldn't have to pay for anything because they're not buying anything really).

In great contrast to the way that Satan works, God wants our happiness. He wants us to treat our bodies well, since they are a gift from Him. He wants us to be able to enjoy life the right way. I have felt in my life that He was more concerned about my self-confidence (so that I didn't just date guys that told me I was beautiful but got themselves encarcerated for drugs), about the shape of my heart...not the shape of my nose or the shape of my legs. When there is something He wants us to fix, He gives us hope and holds us by the hand to help us through. Satan totally abandons these poor girls who fall victim to his lies...it makes no difference to him if they're hospitalized or on the brink of death.

It was encouraging to see quite a few of them recover, with proper treatment...and the only thing that would've been better for me to see would be to see them find the restored gospel, and realize they really have a Heavenly Father who's created a plan of happiness for them, and who loved them enough to sacrifice His Only Begotton Son, Jesus Christ.

Remember, if you're feeling like you're having a bad hair day or whatever -- you have a body! A wonderful body that can smell, and dance, and sing, and twirl, and TASTE! Satan makes you focus on weaknesses. Like, say your life was a bowl of fruit, complete with apples, tangerines, grapes, oranges, papaya, guava, apricots, peaches, bananas, etc. Satan would direct you to the fact that you do not have a mango. He wouldn't tell you where to get one, just that you don't have one! Then you're sitting there crying "I don't have a mango! I can't believe it! You can hardly call this a fruit basket without a mango in it, can you!?!?"

Now, really... lets remember all the things you do have... and if it's important for you to have a mango...ask your Heavenly Father...I'm sure He could round one up for you if He feel's it's important to your eternal happiness and salvation. Main point is...let's not listen to the trash Satan would have us believe about our bodies. Let's appreciate that we have them, and give them the nutrition which will best help them function. Remember...Satan doesn't even have one.