It can be easy to think that we just need the right ingredients, meals, and diet plans that will suddenly transform our bodies. However, Jesus Ate Carbs by Abbie Frye probes deeper beyond a physical transformation to a spiritual one that invites God into every aspect of our lives.
Many thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a complimentary copy of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Content to be aware of: heavy reliance on Ruth Haley Barton; theology around sentence of “God reveres us and is in awe of us” (pg. 130); contemplative spirituality practices; direct messages from God to the author, such as “God told me that He has me in the ministry of reconciliation” (pg. 180) [The Bible reference is provided, so this could be more a matter of awkward wording as God does speak to us through His Word. However, the remainder of the paragraph provides additional wording around this verse.]; quotation from a Sister
Book Synopsis
Food Is Not the Enemy
As an infant you ate intuitively. As an adult you’ve been taught to ignore God’s design and follow a culture of obsession, restriction, and shame. But God never designed you to micromanage food, fear fullness, or idolize thinness. He created you with a body that is “fearfully and wonderfully made,” a body that is good and can be trusted.
In Jesus Ate Carbs, Abbie Frye, known as the “non-diet dietitian,” shows you how to surrender the food rules you’ve absorbed from diet culture, reconnect with your body’s God-given biological signals for hunger and fullness, and finally stop treating your body like a problem to fix. Through her SATISFIED framework, Abbie helps you
- understand the connection between your relationship with your body and your relationship with God,
- break free from diet culture and let go of the belief that there are “good foods” and “bad foods”,
- recognize when you’re turning to food for comfort and find what to reach for instead, and
- learn how to genuinely view your body as God does (hint: it’s a masterpiece!).
Jesus Ate Carbs isn’t another plan to follow or diet to try. It’s an invitation to let go of the shame and anxiety that have defined your relationship with your body and food and build a new one filled with kindness, patience, and joy so that you can eat, live, and rest the way God designed.
Source: Amazon
Book Thoughts
This book offers the refreshing premise that what we eat doesn't matter so much as how we eat it. Drawing from Colossians 2:20-23, registered dietitian Abbie Frye demonstrates how our eating has devolved into the arbitrary rules that Paul spoke against in his letter. Whatever guidelines may have been intended to be beneficial can now ensnare people or cause fear when deciding what foods to consume. As a result, we can have a disordered view on diets and our bodies. The focus of Jesus Ate Carbs is not solely on carbohydrates, but on what it means to eat in freedom while inviting God into our meals, first and foremost.
Moving beyond saying grace, there are many helpful chapters to help readers reflect on whether food may be a substitute for any deeper, unresolved emotions. Food cues are examined as gifts of grace from God, and spiritual fruit is emphasized as the priority over the weight on the scale. It is a reframing of how ongoing nourishment can function as an invitation to commune with the Creator of our bodies. Readers seeking a biblical perspective on ordered eating will find much to chew on, especially with an appendix of answers to frequently asked questions surrounding food, diet, health, and worship.
Side note: This book offer strong biblical support for many of the concepts shared; however, there is a slight tendency for some biblical passages that describe certain events to become prescriptive. As long as discernment is exercised when reading these principles—along with its context to be aware of—there is much to glean from this resource. The key is to actively invite God into each decision and meal, which is heavily promoted in each chapter.
Book Summary
- Format of book: 📱
- Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Recommendation: 👍
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