Sara's fear of food and its effect on her body was insidious. She asked herself, "How will my body react this time?" "Is this food safe for me?" "Is it worth taking the risk?"

Coping with food allergies much of her life, she had collected magazines and books on how to manage food—what to eat and what to avoid for any condition that might arise. Health foods and nutritional supplements filled the kitchen cabinets and overflowed into the rest of the house.

The search for relief from chronic problems with food eventually led her to investigate Christian Science and its wholly spiritual approach to healing. Through her study of this Science, Sara found not only relief from her troubles but a permanent cure.

The complete statement of Christian Science, found in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, together with the inspired message of the Bible, provides spiritual and moral support, as well as practical direction vital to overcoming food-related challenges.

The Bible records Christ Jesus' words "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matt. 6:25). For someone dealing with a fear of food, taking no thought for what one eats might seem impossible, even suicidal. If anything, food fears often force thought to focus on the chemistry of food and its effect on the body.

Whether one is coping with concern for "heart-healthy" eating by watching cholesterol intake, or controlling the fat or salt content of food out of concern for the "body, what ye shall put on," Jesus' words actually point the way to freedom from the bondage of food fears. "Is not the life more ..."? Isn't real life more than a perpetual chemical reaction? Could it be that the human body represents more than meets the eye, and that the spirituality of man can no longer be overlooked in the pursuit of better health?

Elaborating on the nature of man as the likeness of Spirit, God, the first chapter of Genesis defines man as having the spiritual dominion, beauty, and goodness of divine Spirit, God. Spirit's allness means that there is no material substance to fear or contend with. If we are to experience the dominion that is described in the Scriptures as inherent in man, this more accurate spiritual perspective must replace the matter-based concept of life, the source of disease-oriented fears.

In The People's Idea of God, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Scientific discovery and the inspiration of Truth have taught me that the health and character of man become more or less perfect as his mind-models are more or less spiritual. Because God is Spirit, our thoughts must spiritualize to approach Him, and our methods grow more spiritual to accord with our thoughts" (p. 7).

This spiritualization of thought isn't a process of earning or learning something through unrelenting work or special worthiness. It involves accepting the facts regarding the spiritual substance of life and our relation to God, divine Mind.

You might begin by thinking of the human body as being like a mirror that images forth what human consciousness believes is true about man. When thought is influenced by the Divine, we perceive God's creation as pure, whole, and inviolable. The body shows forth this understanding in freedom, vitality, and normal health. But when thought is influenced by limiting, material views of man as a mortal—subject to evil, disorder, disease, deterioration, randomness, vulnerability—the body manifests this false belief of reality in extreme sensitivity and sickness.

The People's Idea of God explains further on: "Mind is supreme; and yet we make more of matter, and lean upon it for health and life. Mind,that governs the universe, governs every action of the body as directly as it moves a planet and controls the muscles of the arm" (p. 8).

Real Life is Spirit, God, and is wholly good. God, Life, is also the divine Mind, which governs every element of its perfect universe. Reflecting the vitality and wholeness of infinite Spirit, the true substance of man's being is spiritual. Matter's supposed bodily presence is a misconception of God's creation, which loses its grip over us and ultimately disappears in the light of spiritual understanding.

God's ability to maintain man's life at the point of perfection—to nourish and protect His ideas—is pointed out in Jesus' words: "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ... But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:26,33).

As the body shows forth how we think of ourselves, spiritually or materially, so food possesses only the substance of the thought attributed to it. You may have heard that we are what we eat, but these words from Shakespeare are actually much more to the point: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

The influence of an individual's thought on his or her experience explains why theories relating to healthy eating are in constant flux. While one person thrives on a high fat, low carbohydrate diet, another has an adverse reaction to the same diet. While some adhering to an all carbohydrate, no fat regime succeed in maintaining a healthy physical form, others may experience illness.

The differences are often chalked up to metabolism. But Christian Science introduces the fact that the human metabolism, like the body itself, is a mental concept, an image of thought that merely reflects what is governing it.

Science and Health points out: "We are told that the simple food our forefathers ate helped to make them healthy, but that is a mistake. Their diet would not cure dyspepsia at this period. With rules of health in the head and the most digestible food in the stomach, there would still be dyspeptics" (p. 197). The human metabolism is the mechanism of processing chemical changes by which energy is provided for the body. But Science and Health states, "When the mechanism of the human mind gives place to the divine Mind, selfishness and sin, disease and death, will lose their foothold" (p. 176).

"No gastric gas accumulates, not a secretion nor combination can operate, apart from the action of mortal thought, alias mortal mind." It continues, "So-called mortal mind sends its despatches over its body, but this so-called mind is both the service and message of this telegraphy" (p. 399).

The Science of Christianity can erase mistaken beliefs associated with food problems from the minds and bodies of those holding them. It accomplishes this by revealing the spiritual power and control of the divine Mind, God, who cares for all of His creation.

The young woman mentioned earlier learned something about this one night. Sara felt herself drowning in the fear that what she had eaten had produced another kidney infection. She affirmed in prayer her God-given dominion over fear—over any false belief of material existence. Although she was praying at first through gritted teeth, she found that God gave her the strength and inspiration to stand up to the fear, and to defeat it. Nothing but that Christly consciousness of her divine right to be free could have given her such peace and rest. Sara woke the next morning, not only improved, but never to suffer from that problem again.

Life really is more than what we eat. Body is more than what we perceive with the human eye. Gaining dominion over a restricted sense of life and body, including a fear of the effect of food on the human system, involves knowing ourselves spiritually as God has made us.