Restraint

Quiz: What’s better than a scrumptious carrot cake?

Easy: A carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Seriously, who can say no to a delicate, delectable, silky carrot cake covered in a sufficient amount of piquant cream cheese frosting? It's practically irresistible for me to deny myself a piece of such goodness.

Carrots cakes are generally moist and the richness of their fantastic flavour improves with time. Cream cheese on the other hand is tangy and adds a luxurious sweetness to regular buttercream converting it to cream cheese frosting. This union of carrot cake and cream cheese frosting is a convenient excuse for anyone to become a sweet tooth.

Making a carrot cake is pretty straightforward. My carrot cake recipes can be represented mathematically as:

A + B = C

Where:

"A" = a dry mix of all-purpose flour(2cups), baking soda(2tsp), nutmeg(1tsp), ground ginger(1/2tsp), ground cloves(1/2tsp), salt(1tsp) and ground cinnamon(2tsp).

"B" = a wet mixture of vegetable oil(1cup), yoghurt (1/2cup) eggs(4), finely grated carrots(2.5cups), brown sugar(1 1/2cups), white sugar (1/2 cup) toasted almond nuts(3/4cups), raisins(1/2cups) and vanilla(2tsp).

A gentle addition of mixture "A" into mixture "B" divided equally into two 8-inch round pans, then baked in an oven preheated to 180°c for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean produce "C" - Carrot cake.

You see, making carrot cake is fun. Not only do you get to relish this cake, but you also get to realize you are capable of solving a mathematical equation.😂

Being an avid baker and particularly one notorious for making cakes just for the fun of it, I am often confronted with the dilemma of whether to have a slice of cake now or save it for later and if I should stop at one slice.

Considering that over the years, humans have labelled sugar and some other foods like cakes as bad and even blamed them for being responsible for several ailments. However, the truth is, sugar has never been the enemy. To be clear, no food, cake inclusive is the offender. The real culprit has always been our lack of restraint.

Being humans, it is somehow ingrained in us to pass blame. It feels easier to blame food for being food than to blame ourselves for not keeping our appetite in check. Our desire to consume food roams about freely like a dog without its leash. We allow ourselves to eat whenever we want to and as much as we desire, when in fact the reverse should be the case.

Our behaviour as relates to food, especially sugar must be from a place of self-control. No food would be against us if we exercised moderation while consuming it. We must shift from blaming sugar for the flaws in our eating patterns and rather work on controlling ourselves from having too much of it and the substances made with it.

It is alright to love sugary grubs but with that love should come restraint, after all both love and self-control are fruits of the same Spirit (Galatians 5:22‭-‬23). It’s good to eat sweet things, but one can take too much and having too much is an indication of someone who lacks restraint over his desires. Such a person is like a city whose walls are broken down and is subject to attacks (Proverbs 25:27‭-‬28), even attacks on health.

Do you want to exercise restraint?

Is your self-control gauge indicating a failure?

Self-control is not something anyone stumbles upon casually, it is learned by those who train their capacity for it. Thankfully, a man's capacity to truly exercise self-control over food and other areas of life is born when he encounters Jesus for the Spirit of Jesus is a source of power, love and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7 ).

You don't have to be led by your feelings and tendencies to over eat or abuse any substance. The Spirit of Jesus is available to give you restraint and guide you into all things including the portion of food you should consume per sitting and I encourage you to take His help today.