"Did you have a good day, dear?" Once upon a time this sentence meant, how did school go, how was work, did the board meeting go well, did the children behave? Perhaps in some households this still applies but in my house it has a totally different meaning...

Did you have a good day (as opposed to a bad or naughty day) means: how much chocolate did you consume, was your chicken sandwich at lunchtime low fat or how much snacking took place?

It's something I've been trying not to think about for a few months now: the amount of daily conversations that revolve around food. "I'd better not eat that, I'm trying to be good today", "I know it's bad but I'm just going to eat this right now", "Did you hear about the latest diet?”

It's such a strain, thinking about food from the moment we wake up in the morning (although without the promise of my Crunchy Nut Cornflakes to lure me out of bed I might be writing this article from under my duvet) to when we go to bed at night, which inevitably ends with a sleepy summary of our good or bad days.

Now I realise some of you will be reading this thinking, "What on earth is she going on about?" in which case please feel free to stop reading now. I promise not to be offended.

Welcome to my life
If however this is ringing bells (be they faint tinkly ones or huge almighty clangers), please read on. Sorry to say, it seems like the Bible might have something to say about our little obsession:

Matthew 6.24: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."

Two things: first is that I'm sorry the Bible has something to say on this as I would quite like to carry on being a food-obsessive.

The second thing is that before any bible scholars send a shed load of emails alerting me to the fact that the passage above is in fact referring to money, let me just say this: I know.

But the principle is a good one, and one that should affect all areas of our lives. No (wo)man can serve God and work, or God and shopping, or God and sport, or God and clothes or God and food.

All these things are not necessarily bad (I myself am more than a little partial to a bit of retail therapy); it's when we serve them and make them masters in our lives that God is displeased.

If we devote our lives to something other than God we cannot be walking in line with him and his desires for our lives. God is clear in his calling for us to worship only him:

Exodus 34.14: "Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."

I see it in me, and in so many people around me: this obsession with food that becomes more subtly important to us than anything else. Very few of us would notice, admit it or want to confront it.

God's Intention
Over recent years there has been a raised awareness for eating disorders - bulimia and anorexia. For any of us who have lived with these conditions, or watched any of our close friends battle with them, we will know how enslaving they are, how destructive not just to our bodies but to our mind, soul and spirit.

But there are many more of us who have made ourselves slaves to food. I am of the firm belief that I know more people who are bound to food than those who are free from its shackles.

Galatians 5.1: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

God did not ever intend we would get our knickers in such a twist over our packed lunch. His intention was that food would nourish us and basically get the job done of fuelling our bodies to live life.

But, like many other good gifts from God, he went beyond the basic and functional and blessed us in creating amazing variety and wonderful tastes. I'm thinking curry here - what a wonderful God!

So how do we find a balance? How do we enjoy our food without worshipping it? How do we watch what we eat and aim for a healthy diet without becoming obsessive? How do we get God's perspective on this daily bread issue?

Keeping it real
I think we need to ask ourselves some honest questions: Do we use food to comfort us when we are sad and lonely, or if we’ve had a bad day? Do we like to be in control of the food we eat and stick to a rigid plan? Would we like to lose weight but instead of exercising and following a sensible plan we instead try to stick to the latest no carb, no fat, no protein, grapes and fish only diet?

I really believe that God wants to be the mirror we hold up to our lives. He wants to show us who we are, what our thought processes are, what are wrong beliefs are, where our self-image is malnourished.

I believe we need to start having some honest conversations with God about this issue. We need to ask him to show us where we have become unbalanced in this area, we need to ask him for his help in releasing the bonds of slavery, we need to ask him to help us make this more simple again.

We need to ask him once again to be Lord and Master of all areas of our lives. It makes sense. He only wants the best for us:

John 10.10: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Which sounds good to me.

Note: If you are struggling with more serious eating disorders, we strongly suggest you get some help in overcoming it. Churches vary in their ability to deal with eating disorders, but see if there are support structures from professional counselling to accountability groups that could help you.

Perhaps you could take the very brave step of seeing your GP to see if there are sources of help s/he is able to provide.

Finally, these books may be of some help:
H Wilkinson, 'Beyond Chaotic Eating'
H Wilkinson, 'Puppet on a String'

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