Just my opinion, but addiction is a word that is overused today. In addition to saying someone is addicted to drugs or cigarettes, you hear about people addicted to gambling, sugar, sex, food, pornography, etc.

Unless there is a physical basis, I prefer the Biblical concept of mastery over the word addiction. Human beings, especially Americans, like to think of ourselves as independent, self sufficient, and in control of our own lives. The Bible teaches that we shouldn't kid ourselves - we will serve (or be slaves to) something, and it behooves us to choose wisely what will be our master.

For instance Jesus said, "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other…You cannot serve both God and Money." Luke 6:13

Paul wrote, "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:14

And when Solomon's son was king, the nation rebelled against God. Egypt, where they had been in slavery many years before, invaded their land and conquered part of it. God's prophet went to the king and said, "They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands." 2 Chronicles 12:8

In other words you can serve God, or you can serve someone else, but someone or something will be your master. This principal holds true in the area of diet and exercise.

If you have no plan and you think you can eat what you want, you will find yourself trapped by commercialism the pleasure of your taste buds. One day you realize you are enslaved to junk food. On the opposite extreme you can follow a diet that is faddish and restrictive (pork rinds and wheat bran come to mind). You have allowed a charlatan to be your master.

If you have no plan to exercise, you will become a couch potato. You are enslaved to a weak body. Or you can follow an exercise guru who has you on a strict regimen that you grow to hate even while you stick to it with devotion.

I find the Blood Type Diet to be a benevolent and gentle master. I have a large list of tasty food to choose from. I'm asked to stay away from highly processed fake food. There are also avoid foods for my type, but ironically many of those were foods I naturally didn't like. If I follow the food lists, I have lots of energy and nagging health problems often disappear.

I'm told to find an exercise that is right for me and to pursue it. As a type O, I can choose from a variety of physical, aerobic type exercises. While I love running, my daughter found it to be a "cruel master." However the calming stretching exercises that she loves, would be burdensome to me. We exercise according to our types, and we are both in good shape.

The next time you hear someone say "I'm addicted to food," you can respond, "Of course you are! The question is not whether food will be your master, but whether you will follow a benevolent or an oppressive plan for eating.