This week we have had the opportunity to look at the freedom we are invited to experience in setting aside dieting rules, dieting laws, dieting “Good Foods” and “Bad Foods” lists and dare to trust the God who created our bodies fearfully and wonderfully.
Is Psalm 139 beginning to take root in your heart? Do you believe you are fearfully and wonderfully made?
In the material we studied this week, what resonated for you? If you aren’t doing the book or your book hasn’t arrived yet, share what rang true for you or was impressed upon you here at the blog or in the comments. So much wonderful discussion has been going on! I would love to hear from you about it!
Have you been a “die hard” dieter in the past?
Are your dieting thoughts affecting you even now as you try to set them aside?
Do you have an accountability partner yet? If you go to the Accountability page here at the website, post your information and if you see someone you might like to connect with in email, please send me an email. Please don’t post to me in the comments on that page, as I probably won’t see it in a timely manner. Shoot me an email instead.
Turn to page 36 and have a look at the HEAL pyramid. You will refer to that during this video. If you don’t have the book, I think you will be able to visualize the pyramid just fine as I describe it. You will want to have your book or a journal to write down responses to the questions as we go through.
FOUNDATION – Relationship with God. When you get to the spot in the video, turn off the video, pray, then write down what God is leading you to establish as a goal for this level of the HEAL pyramid. What goal will you have for your relationship with God? We would love to hear in the comments, too. What action steps will enable you to realize your goal?
Second Level – Relationship with FOOD. Again, when you get to the spot in the video, stop, pray, and then write down what God is leading you to establish as a goal for your relationship with food. What action steps will enable you to realize your goal?
Third Level – Hunger/Fullness Eating. In the video, I indicate when to stop. Then pray and jot down what God wants for you in this area of your life. What action steps (or perhaps secondary boundaries) will enable you to achieve this goal?
Tip top level – Beneficial Food Choices. I urge you to approach this category with caution. If you have a history of obsession with dieting, it may not be time for you to establish a goal for this area. You want to learn to trust the Lord that you can eat anything between the parameters of 0 and 5 or hunger and satisfaction.
I hope that you have experienced God’s personal leading as you have established your goals in each of the areas of the HEAL pyramid. Please feel free to allow God to lead you to adjust these as we continue.
I would love to hear what your goals are! Let us know in the comments which area of the HEAL pyramid and what your goal is. If you like, share your action steps, too. In fact, you could use this for your accountability with your partner, too, if you like.
Sugar. Many of us feel like it sets us off…that we can’t escape its clutches if we give in to having a cookie–even if we are hungry. We feel convinced–and our experience may bear this out–that one cookie will start the binge rolling and we will be powerless to escape it.
But I wonder…and I know this isn’t going to be very popular. But I am just thinking about…what if this is just another way I am blaming something else, someone else, for something I need to take responsibility for.
See, if sugar is the evil that I want it to be, I am a victim. And we tend to feel sad for victims and self-righteous toward victimizers, don’t we? If sugar is the evil that I want it to be, it is the victimizer and I am the victim…I am the one who we all can feel sorry for and sugar is the villain.
But is this *true*?
Does this really make sense?
Who made sugar cane?
When God made sugar cane, what did he say about it like he did about everything else in creation? He said, “It is good.”
What is really going on then when I give in to overeating sugary foods and laying the blame on “sugar is addictive?” Is that true? Really?
Maybe *I* need to own responsibility for my behavior. Would God have created something, declared it to be “good,” if it was intrinsically evil?
Maybe it is my heart that bears the burden of the problem.
It is important to know that I don’t mean this with the idea that we should condemn ourselves for our struggle to stop eating once we have started eating sugar. Not at all. I will keep “crowing” about Romans 8:1, Romans 5:8, John 3:17, and Ephesians 1 as long as I have breath! That God didn’t send his son into the world to condemn the world. That He demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were yet sinnersChrist died for us, that before the foundation of the earth–before I had a single godward thought–he chose me to be holy and blameless in his sight, that there is NO condemnation for those of us in Christ.
But if I am responsible for this tension that exists with sugar and myself, then I can, in the strength that Christ offers, admit my weakness and his grace will be sufficient for me. In fact, I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness because when I am weak, I am strong in the Lord. I know that John 8:32 says that knowing the truth sets me free. Laying blame on sugar doesn’t give me freedom. I might get charged up being all self-righteous as I claim a “no-sugar” stand, eradicating it from my life…for as long as I last adding it to a “bad food” list. But then the pendulum swings radically the other direction and I give in. Maybe that is the reason for the problem, in fact.
What if I establish a boundary for myself and just, simply, learn to say NO to myself if tempted to cross that boundary? Maybe I am supposed to learn how to live in the power of the Holy Spirit–the fruit of whom is self-control.
What if sugar isn’t the monster we hope it is? What if the darkness is in my own heart and I need a Savior to cleanse me, to strengthen me, to help me? What if I need to depend on the Lord to enable me to grow, bit by bit, to be sanctified…to show me how not to lust or covet for something outside of a godly boundary. What if I need Jesus more because I recognize that God declared that even sugar cane is “good?”
Seems like God wants a deep intimate relationship with me based on what I see in Scripture. Needing him as much as I do not to give in to eating outside of my boundaries ensures that I will develop that…if I will let it.
What about you? How do you feel about sugar? Have you felt like it is the villain in your life? IS it? Or is there a deeper work that God is interested in doing in your life?
Image Courtesy of Daniel Bylsma Weather in Wells, Nevada
If you are like I was, you have dieted for years on and off and had “success” on and off, but have lost and gained the same weight. Even if you have been a Thin Within participant, this may be your experience with it, too–it was mine! Until 2006, that is.
There are a number of things that made a difference for me (three of them are mentioned in an audio link that I send you when you subscribe to my newsletter…what a shameless plug!). But I can summarize those three by saying the single key was a general shift in my mindset.
So…What made the difference for me so that I released the weight and then have stayed a healthy weight since?
And, more importantly, what will make the difference for you?
If you are doing the HEAL study with us, then you may have read the section entitled Breath of Fresh Air on page 15 (of the latest edition).
Even if you aren’t doing the study…the truth is the same! What you can do to experience a different, permanent result this time is, simply:
Change Your Focus
Think about it…in the past experiences with dieting or Thin Within, whether you were successful or struggling, what did you focus on? Was it, perhaps myweight, mysuccess, myfood, myeating, my body, mydeprivation…MY MY MY ME ME ME? 🙂
Think about it for a moment in another context… When you “fell off the wagon” was it perhaps mystress, mylack of support, mytrials, mylack of self-discipline, my busyness?
Oh…shoot! **I** quit!!!
The solution to the problem of being caught in this cycle, again, is to:
Change Your Focus
Ok, I know I said that already. I want you to believe me. 🙂
So maybe you buy it, but you want to know what should you change your focus TO?
Bear with me on this one, too.
Simply… Change your focus to…God.
HIS power
HIS provision
HIS will
HIS way
HIS love
HIS character
HIS performance
HIS actions and activity
GOD GOD GOD!!!
So, howpractically can you do this?
Here are some tools you can use that will make all the difference in the world. In fact, these tools–no matter what I am going through–if I shift the focus from ME and “How ever will *I* make it?” to “God is strong enough, mighty enough, loving enough, caring enough to do ANYTHING!” I find that nothing is impossible.
This really is all about HIM, even if it FEELS like it is all about “me” (or YOU in this case!).
Like Allie and Judy say in the HEAL book, To experience authentic healing and restoration, we need to focus on something bigger than ourselves.
God.
Here are the tools for you to try. And you just knew I would challenge you to choose one of them today!
Each time you hear yourself saying “I will never be able to…” recognize it as a lie and one that is about YOU and trade it for a God-thought, “God, you are more than able to perform anything!” Write them down…keep track. One column is LIES and you cross those out as you go and the other column is TRUTH and you make those phrases big and bold and biblical!
Develop a God List. Take a moment each day to jot down aspects of God’s character and his deeds. Here are some places where you can learn more about that: YouTube Video, How to Create a God List, Sample God List. You can use the inside of your HEAL book or, even better, a larger journal, or, for you techno-geeks (like myself), you can keep it in Evernote on your iDevices and computer! It is always at the ready that way!
Create a play list on your mp3 player or iPod that has songs that specifically state the truths about God and his character. I will be sharing some ideas for songs you can include here at the blog from time to time. Or you can have a look at my other blog to see the songs there that I have recommended for a similar play list.
Memorize scriptures specifically praising God for His character. Put post it notes up around your car, office, kitchen, wherever would help to keep you remembering that this is *not* about your will-power, but about God’s work in you. HE is able and more than willing.
Keep a growing list of gratitudes–things that you are thankful for. These are gifts that God has blessed you with. It’s different than the God List. The God List is for keeping a list of what God is like. The list of gratitudes is a list of the gifts that he gives you personally. The idea is that you take note throughout your day of things he gives. Have a look at my online gratitude blog to see what I mean (I don’t keep it up to date like I need to!). In fact, YOU could start an online gratitude blog and share the link with us here!
Set the timer on your watch to go off every hour (I have been known to set mine to go off every 20 minutes…I am desperate!). Each time it goes off, I breath a prayer “All for your glory, Lord,” or “Jesus, help me honor you,” or…well, whatever you choose. Check in with the Lord this way and use your timer to remind you!
When we focus on the Lord, something happens…the attitudes of entitlement and justification that seem to cause us to reach for food dwindles. We are kept in a humble place. Instead of insisting on “my rights” we turn to the Lord and think “For your glory!” We also aren’t so prone to “failure” eating, since we understand that this isn’t about MY performance, but about God doing a work in me that HE will complete. It takes time to create a thing of absolute perfection…God will take my entire life and do the finishing touches on it when I go through the door to heaven and not one moment before!
When I focus on him, I am not so prone to engage in “Keeping Boundaries is Hard” eating, either. Gosh, in fact, if you were to go through all of the different types of eating that Barb’s study had us look at, I bet a BUNCH of them would disappear if we took a proactive approach to focus on and exalt God instead of thinking of ourselves quite so much. Dieting does, by definition almost, insist that we be myopic…self-focused. Let’s transform our experience! Let’s try something radical!
Who is with me? Will you start today? Right now?
What tool will you begin with (or continue, or restart) today so that your focus is more on the Lord and less on you? Be sure to check in here again and tell us how it went. I can’t wait to hear!
Hopeless Eating – Do you struggle with the thought that I will never conquer this challenge? Do you feel like eating and weight will always be a struggle forme? Barb shares in her study that truth journaling about this is crucial! Reason with me for a moment: Who is it you serve? What does HE say about your struggle? What does he say about YOU? By way of review (or new information if you haven’t yet seen it), I urge you to download, print out and speak out loud each day Who I Am in Christ. <– Click that link and you will see a pdf document that is filled with wonderful truth about who you are in Christ! It is so very difficult to speak this truth over your own life and to remain hopeless. Christ blew the LID off the grave so that hope might be victorious forevermore! If you like, review the video where I speak about hopelessness. It is here. Also, Truth Journalingis an invaluable tool to fight the lies with truth when we struggle to experience hope. We CAN get to the other side of the feeling of hopelessness. Let’s fight our way through it. Besides, will eating make it any better? It never has before. In fact, eating feeds the very hopelessness we want to combat!
What are some truths that can feed and fuel hope when it wanes for you? Share here so we can all benefit from one another!
Good Food – or Yummy Food – Eating – Do you struggle with thinking if it is there and I want it, I must eat it? This is the mentality that just says there isn’t any deep hidden meaning going on here right now in my desire. I just want the food and there it is so I will eat it. To not give in to yummy food eating we can be proactive. If we know we are going to be in a situation where we will have opportunities for eating food that tastes good when we aren’t hungry, we can plan for victory! Some of Barb’s questions are so helpful to me personally. In fact, I think I have started thinking sort of like her! LOL! (In a good way!) Will eating this right now break a boundary? Will I have to learn to say no to my temptation to break boundaries? If I don’t learn that, what do I know is likely to happen? Given my history, do I have the ability to eat whatever I want whenever I want in the quantities I want for the reasons I want without it coming at extreme cost? In light of the TRUTHFUL answers to these questions, what will I choose right now?
How about you? What are some questions you can ask yourself in the moment when the food is there and you, simply, just WANT it!?
Bad Scale Eating We just completed a “Ditch Your Scale” Challenge. Why not start your own challenge? Can you not get on the scale for a week? Do you feel like the scale has too much power over you? Do you feel like one person posted, “Sure, I will give up my scale as soon as someone pries my fingers off of it!” Many of us feel that way. We have an unhealthy relationship with that device that is meant to be a tool, but we can’t seem to drum up the willingness to grow through this. We continue to seek approval of the bathroom scale. Let’s pray that God will help us to stand on His Word and on His promises. Let’s do what one person here at the blog said and choose to stand on the promises of God found in Scripture that says he who began a good work will carry it on to completion. She said she would choose NOT to “check on his progress” by stepping on the scale for two weeks. Does weighing yourself cause you to celebrate by eating? Does it cause you to comfort yourself by eating? Then it might be a good thing to evaluate if you should have a friend or family member take the scale for a couple of weeks and pray you through this.
What does God call you to do relative to the bathroom scale? If you are able to use it as a tool and not allow it to define what you will do next, then you may have a wonderfully healthy relationship with it. If, however, you give it the power to make you feel like a success or a failure, consider doing something radical! 🙂 What will it be?
I dunno, but this lady looks nutty like I feel today. I saw this picture and there was something about it that screamed “ME!” Can you relate? For me, it is because of…well…have a look at this video (if you dare). It is more of a rant than a teaching video. Truly…it is Heidi letting her hair down if you will. SCARY.
See why I said I am this woman? She looks like she is prepared to travel. Like she is putting a lid on all her emotions…but they are ready to surface at any given moment. I need TRUTH to put my feet on the ground! I need TRUTH to keep me from freaking out when I travel at all, let alone for 16 days. I need TRUTH to keep me from letting my emotions run amok with me!
So, as I prepare this post ahead of time, I am preparing my mind for action–for obedience. Right now, as you read this, I am in New York. If you watched the video, you know how I feel about this! LOL! But I am preparing now (while I am still home writing this) for obedience. I am speaking TRUTH to my spirit daily as I prepare for the trip and the emotions and other stuff that all go with traveling!
Daily – I will wake up each morning to have a quiet time and first on my list after warming to Jesus’ welcome to the day will be to use My Affirmations about 0 to 5 eating list to renew my mind.
Because this list travels with me everywhere via Evernote, I will also pull it out mid-morning (before lunch) and mid-afternoon as a reminder about what is really important to me.
I will remind myself that vacations are a wonderful time to train myself to keep my boundaries no matter what happens in life. Life will be filled with all kinds of challenges and opportunities. I want to train myself for godliness, for obedience and that I can “celebrate” with means other than food and overeating!
I plan to shoot an email to my accountability partner each day that I have internet access.
I will ask God daily to open my eyes to His Wonders so that I might keep track in my gratitude blog. If internet access isn’t available, I will use my 1000 Gifts app on my phone to take pictures of the gifts God brings my way. It is pretty tough to give in to “entitlement” or “justification” eating (what typically travels with me on vacations) if I foster a humble spirit grateful to God for all his gifts and blessings!
What strategies will you plan to use when you next go on vacation or have a holiday? Mother’s Day and Memorial Day are coming up. What challenges might face you and what will you do to plan for victory? How will you make provision for obedience?
Emotional Eating Barb encourages us to make use of Renewing Your Mind Tools that she has at her website so that we can overcome the temptation to eat out of emotions. I have included that link here. Barb has written a full-length workbook called Freedom From Emotional Eating. While it is from a dieting perspective, I found it valuable when I went through it a few years ago. Please, though, if you are struggling with the dieting mentality, don’t run out and order this now. There is time later! But if you feel you have some distance and space from the dieting mentality and feel somewhat confident that your 0 to 5 boundaries won’t be derailed in favor of counting calories or points any time soon, then by all means, order her book!
Many of us are habitual…can I say this…drama queens! Ok, maybe you aren’t, but I know I have been. God is really working on training me to diffuse the drama rather than INFUSE the drama (with extra fuel). It is really helping! The video was just an example of a mild version of how dramatic I can be! Crazy, huh?
The truth is…TRUTH MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.
At the heart of emotional eating one simple truth diffuses my tendency to go to food:
Food won’t meet the need of my heart.
It just won’t.
What strategies will you use to diffuse emotions that might lead you to look for comfort in food? Please share with us any victories you have experienced recently and/or any questions or even prayer requests you have about an upcoming potential situation.
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Note: This is our final day of the “Ditch Your Scale” Challenge. Some of us bailed early. Some of us bailed mid-way through. Some of us made it all the way through. No matter what, let’s celebrate that GOD IS DOING A NEW THING and prayerfully ask him to show us the importance we place on the bathroom scale. If we are living according to His leading, eating 0 to 5 as he directs us, do we really need to be concerned with our weight? The truth is, we will land on a healthy size and stay there…without worrying about keeping ourselves “honest” with the bathroom scale. Just a thought. Would love to hear from you about this. 🙂
