This is a basic…really, it is great for starting for the first time and it is great for re-starting…

Wait.

Period. That’s it.

Wait.

For what?

For the Lord. 🙂

Ok, so maybe this doesn’t sound so practical. So here is the embellished version of it. When you feel drawn to food, wait. Take time to sit still for 5 minutes. It doesn’t sound like much, but when we are drawn to food for any number of reasons, 5 minutes seems like a loooooong time. I am going to make it a habit before I put anything in my mouth, to wait…maybe even pick up my journal and a pen.

Then…ask yourself (as I will ask myself): What is my reason for being drawn to food right now?

Start with something as simple as: Am I physically hungry? Is there no more food in my stomach and my body now needs fueling?

That is a straight-forward, yes or no question (though, sometimes not as simple as all of that).

If I answer this question after sitting for 5 minutes with a “Yes,” then I am welcome to eat. No food restrictions, no diet foods, no need to obsess or fuss about this or that. (I will talk about portions in another post.)

But here is the thing…if you are anything like me, if you sit for 5 minutes and you know deep down inside that your thoughts of food have nothing to do with physical need, then the real question is this:

“Lord, what is this about?”

In other words, what is it about this moment, about the circumstances, my emotions, my thinking, that is causing me to think that food is the answer?

We have to take these sorts of questions to the Lord and listen and let him answer–thus the reason for the 5 minutes. If we are willing to sit even 5 minutes (even if we think it is physical hunger…surely we won’t die if we wait 5 minutes) and ask HIM these questions…and then really LISTEN for the answers, we may be surprised.

I want to share here at the blog the things that I have been discovering recently about myself that have caused me to be drawn to food more frequently…but first…I want to give us all “practice” in waiting 5 minutes when we are drawn to food…

Wait. Just wait.

Ask Him why you want food right now.

See what He says.

I will do it, too. 🙂