Okay, okay, you should know that nobody is equating “diet” to “eat healthy.” This is not a list of reasons to use Jesus as an excuse to start a committed love triangle with Ben and Jerry. These are reasons that Jesus gave you to love and take care of yourself, which actually goes against the idea of dieting. Here’s why, according to verses from the greatest love letter ever written for you:

1. “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (NASB)

Deprivation doesn’t work, so control must be the solution, right? Wrong. The idea that following a diet gives us control is actually pretty twisted; because the reality is that when we diet, we subject ourselves to a set of restrictions that we ultimately feel no control over. Instead of saying “I can’t have that,” we should be saying, “I choose not to have that right now,” because we shouldn’t feel enslaved to a diet in order to feel like we’re making progress. We should instead be using our freedom in order to make healthy choices. How does that freedom encourage us to be healthy like a diet would? Christ gave us that freedom out of His perfect love for us, which gives us worth. We should be fueling our body with beneficial and nutritious foods not because we need a smaller number on our scale, but because Jesus deems us worthy to be taken care of.

2. "Body and soul, I am marvelously made!” Psalm 139:14 (MSG)

Being fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of our perfect Father, we should, of course, love our body. There is without a doubt such importance in setting fitness goals and reaching them, but the danger in focusing only on fitness is that our progress gradually starts to become documented by how much farther apart our thighs are or how much smaller our stomach is. Firstly, goals that include descriptions of outward appearance are very often unattainable.Secondly, when we allow the care of our bodies to be overtaken by obsession of appearance, we begin to neglect a bigger part of us: our soul. The Word tells us that our bodies and our souls are marvelously made, which means we should strive to take care of both of those things. In what way does following a strict diet benefit our soul? It doesn’t. However, living in the beautiful reality that is our freedom in Jesus is something that will bring us to better nutrition in a way that doesn’t compromise the liberation of our soul.

As we enter the bright new year of 2016, let’s leave behind the idea that we need to restrict our intake of foods and enter into the idea that we have the freedom to both make nourishing choices and to indulge in something sweet when we see fit. Health isn’t about telling someone that you can’t eat the chocolate they got you for Valentine’s Day, or that you’ll pass on the cake they offered you in celebration of their birthday. Health is about loving yourself because He first loved you, and respecting your body as the beautiful temple that it is. Enjoy your choices!