Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire With God, Not Food by Lysa Terkeurst

Made to Crave is the missing link between a woman s desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make that happen. The reality is we were made to crave. Craving isn t a bad thing. But we must realize God created us to crave more of him. Many of us have misplaced that craving by overindulging in physical pleasures instead of lasting spiritual satisfaction. If you are struggling with unhealthy eating habits, you can break the "I'll start again Monday" cycle, and start feeling good about yourself today.

Learn to stop beating yourself up over the numbers on the scale. Discover that your weight loss struggle isn t a curse but rather a blessing in the making, and replace justifications that lead to diet failure with empowering go-to scripts that lead to victory. You can reach your healthy weight goal and grow closer to God in the process. This is not a how-to book. This is not the latest and greatest dieting plan. This book is the necessary companion for you to use alongside whatever healthy lifestyle plan you choose. This is a book and Bible study to help you find the "want to" in making healthy lifestyle choices."

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This is a personal review for me. I have struggled with my weight since I was a teenager. I've tried every fad diet, some with great success, but something always tripped me up. The reviews of this book are quite mixed, so I was hesitant to pick it up. I've never been one for the "self-help" variety, but after seeing Lysa speak, I decided to take the chance on this one. I was raised a Christian, but it wasn't until about a year ago that I truly gave my life over to Christ and began to take my faith seriously. I have since worked to bring every aspect of my life under God's guidance, but never before have I considered turning my weight loss struggle over to Him.

This book does not have a miracle diet plan. In fact, Lysa doesn't real offer any health tips that aren't already common knowledge, and she doesn't pretend to be a health expert. What she does offer is a different perspective through which to view your struggles with food and a how it pertains to your relationship with God. I found this book to be rather profound, and I related to Lysa's story in a big way. Several reviewers criticized the book, saying that it focused on only one cause of weight struggles - emotional eating. While is this true, I don't think that Lysa intentionally ignored other reasons. She wrote about her experience, which included a struggle with weight because she was an emotional eater and turned to food in times of stress and despair. The point of the book was to share what she learned through her journey. I could have easily flown through this book. It's not a long book, but I found myself taking my time and really stopping to think about what Lysa was saying and how it applied to my own experience.

Lysa's style won't be for everyone, and this book is definitely centered around Biblical principles. I have by no means been "cured" of my food cravings, and there are days when it's difficult to walk away from temptations, but what I do have now is a changed perspective on food and tools that I can use to bring me closer to the life that God wants for me. The "struggle" isn't so much of a struggle now, as I have come to know there is someone in my corner that I never realized was there before - God.