On Mondayand Tuesday, I posted parts 1 and 2in this series. Today is the final installment. Evening eating is one of the things that many of us struggle with–it is that “bewitching hour” between dinner and bed-time. Often the kids head off to bed and we want the reward for a day well done! Or conversely, we are lonely and want to comfort ourselves. Whatever the primary reason is for giving in to eating in the evening when we aren’t hungry, we can FIGHT the lies we believe with truth. I have been sharing my truth cards with you this week. I hope it is helpful. I would love to know what other truths you use to fight the lies that lead to night-time eating. What you share may help one of the people who visits this blog! 🙂
My enjoyment of my family/husband is NOT dependent on my eating with them when I am not hungry.
If my husband or kids start munching on something in the evening, there is nothing that says I have to join them. I can relish their company even more when I focus on them instead of the food. I wonder what it is that has created the lie that fellowship is equated with eating in our minds? It certainly doesn’t need to be that way. I can absolutely enjoy my family members without eating!
My enjoyment of movies, games, etc., in the evening does not hinge on eating too!
This is another lie that I tend to believe…that if we watch Netflix or play a game together that it is made all the better by eating. Truthfully, I feel like my conscience kicking into overdrive and the physical misery I end up in diminishes the enjoyment of the food AND the movie or game that I might be enjoying (AND the company of my husband and kids!).
I can RELISH the precious hours before bed and TOTALLY enjoy them—ALL THE MORE when I don’t blast through my boundaries and eat outside of 0 and 5.
This gets back to yesterday’s truths as well…that it FEELS SO WONDERFUL to be tender hearted to my boundaries. Don’t you think? Those hours before bed when I am not hungry are made so much more rich…so much more of a blessing when I don’t defy my conscience!
How About You?
Do these truths sound like they might work for you? How might you amend them to be more applicable? When do you use your truth cards for the most victory?
This is a stream of consciousness video…but maybe there is something here that can encourage you. Obviously, I have my work cut out for me this week! Do you? LOL!
Carelessly grazing as we walk through the kitchen, dipping into the candy dish on the office-mate’s desk, or sucking on mints just because they are there…these are little examples of Careless Eating. Careless eating is what often leads to that sudden panic… OH MY GOODNESS! I have been eating TOO much and I must GET SKINNY NOW!
All those moments when we said, “It’s just one bite” haunt us when we reach for a pair of pants hanging in our closet that we haven’t tried on in a couple of months. As we go to slip into them we wonder if our “just one bite(s)” will have cost us anything.
How does God feel about “just one bite?”
Is it possible that “Just one bite” is how we got in trouble in the first place? Either God has called us to the boundary of 0 and 5 or he hasn’t. If he has, does “just one bite” have a place?
How might those “just one bite” moments affect your appearance? Will this matter to you?
Monday
1. I haven’t asked you to do this in a while, so it is time. Are you committed to 0 to 5 eating? Do you believe it is from God for you? Why do you feel convinced in your heart that this is so? Write in your journal your thoughts about this and the statement “I know 0 to 5 eating is a boundary from God for my life” (or something similar). Date it and sign it if it will help. We want to recommit to this!
2. Visit Barb Raveling’s Careless Eating Study at her blog. Can you relate to her illustration about the alcoholic at all? Barb says: We can learn a lot from the life of an alcoholic. Although we can’t say not even one bite, we can say, not even one bite outside our boundaries. What do you think about that? Journal your feeling about that. What do you think of her statement, “The minute we think it’s just one bite, we are in danger.”
3. Do all the Bible Study questions that Barb has for us on that page, including looking up the bible verses. Journal what you discover.
4. Add any truths you have come up with to your Truth Cards.
5 Are you willing to take the challenge? TELL US! 🙂 Get an Accountability Partner. It isn’t too late!
2. Barb challenges us to incorporate the “Careless Eating Questions” into our lives so that when we are tempted to eat outside of our 0 and 5 boundaries we evaluate by using those questions. You can do these now, even if you aren’t experiencing temptation. I recommend going through these questions today and journaling your response.
3. Jot down any truths you have come up with for your Truth Cards.
4. Share with us here in the comments any thoughts that God has laid on your heart, truths you have added to your cards, or new insights (or old ones) that you got from the questions or the bible study.
Wednesday
1. Visit Barb Ravelings “Appearance Eating Bible Study”. How important is it to you to lose weight? Ask God to show you just how fixed your heart is on the physical results you want. What if you could have God in all his fullness and beauty, but not be the size/shape you want? What then? Would he be enough?
2. Can you relate at all to my confession in the video? How so?
3. To what source are you looking for your happiness?
4. Is there any living you are waiting to do until you look a certain way? What would God have you do…today?
Thursday
1. Visit Barb Raveling’s Appearance Eating Bible Study again.  Complete Questions for your Journal numbers 1 through 5 and journal your answers.
2. Share here anything that God impresses upon your heart. What you share may encourage another person who visits and reads the comments–even if they don’t post. Consider it a ministry to others that you do in faith! (It ministers to ME! LOL!)
3. As you consider a person in your life that you feel requires you to be a different size or shape, it might be helpful to do some forgiveness work. When I do forgiveness work, it includes “telling on them to God.” Think of being a colossal tattle tale…you are God’s precious little child running to him to tattle on whoever it is. Pour it all out. What did they do to you? How do you feel about it? Tell your Heavenly Abba (Daddy) and then leave it with him. Ask him to help you to forgive…to choose to trust it all to His care.
Friday
1. Visit Barb Raveling’s Appearance Eating Bible Study yet one more time. 🙂 Complete questions 6 through 10 and journal your responses as time allows.
2. What truths can you add to your truth cards…or, if you aren’t yet creating a deck of truth cards, what truths is God speaking over you?
3. Share with us here how you feel God leading you to approach your desire for weight loss (Barb’s question 10).
4. If you haven’t done so as a part of any of the other questions in today’s assignment, you may want to reaffirm your confidence that God is calling you to 0 to 5 as your primary boundary. What are the secondary boundaries he is calling you to? Write these down to affirm them and date it.
Here is the link to my friend, Barb Ravelings, “I Deserve a Donut” iPod or iPhone app. It is only $1.99! You can download it now and then walk with me through using it, or read this and then decide if you want to download the app.
It is my goal to think the way God does about life, about 0 to 5 eating, about my body, about my situations and people in my life–to renew my mind–and to welcome the transformation that God intends happen. Barb’s app is specifically intended for dealing with challenges with emotional eating, but it has been used by God do far more in my life than just help me overcome emotional eating. God is using it to transform me over all. This app is SO helpful.
So this is what I am doing even now as I share this with you. The above image shows the screen you get when you select her app on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad. I choose “Emotions” since I am struggling with being teary this morning.
Once I click on EMOTIONS. This is the screen I get:
As you can see, there are more emotions that Barb has included than fit in my screen shot. But for today, I select “Insecurity.” Since insecurity is such a BIG deal with lots of aspects to it, Barb has included a number of options within the “Insecurity” category:
Even Insecurity has a lot of options. So, lately, I have struggled with “Feeling Rejected/Condemned.”
Upon selecting this option, I find a list of questions followed by statements to consider. These questions, I prayerfully ponder and journal. I will do a bit of that here so you can see the process as it unfolds for me.
Barb’s app gets right down to it instantly:
1. Is it possible to live life without ever being rejected or condemned? If not, what’s the sad truth you’ll have to accept right from the beginning?
2. What did this person do to make you feel rejected or condemned? Be specific.
3. Does she do this sort of thing with other people, or does she only do it with you? If she only does it with you, why do you think she only does it with you?
4. Do you think her behavior is a sign that she doesn’t love or respect you in particular, or is this just an example of the way she responds to people in general?
5. Did you do anything to make this person reject or condemn you?
If I haven’t done anything that caused this person to reject or condemn me, is there anything I need to accept about this person and how she handles relationships?
6. Is God’s love enough to satisfy you even if this person rejects or condemns you?
7. What do you think God wants to do for you in the midst of this difficult situation? (See insecurity verses for ideas.) Barb has a bunch of Bible verses that can minister to us in our insecurity. They are wonderful to look up, study, journal and pray through, and memorize.
Based on the verses that Barb has included, I get these answers to the above question:
God wants to be my shield, my glory, and to lift my head (Psalm 3:3)
He is the defense of my life and he wants me not to dread anyone or anything. In the day of trouble, He conceals me in His tabernacle; He wants to lift me up on a rock. (Psalm 27: 1b, 5)
He wants to establish my steps. He delights in my way. He will not let me be hurled headlong when I fall. He wants to hold my hand. (Psalm 37:23-24)
He wants to be my refuge and my fortress. He wants me to trust him. He delivers me from the snares of life. He will cover me with his feathers and hide me under his wings where I can seek refuge. He is faithful to me. (Psalm 91:2-4)
He wants me to rest in the fact that He has made me fearfully and wonderfully. He wants my soul to sit in and know this truth. (Psalm 139:13-15)
He wants to build me up. He gathers me–as any outcast–to himself. He heals the brokenhearted and wants to heal my broken heart and bind up my wounds. (Psalm 147:2-3)
He wants to change my name. Instead of “Forsaken,” “Rejected,” “Desolate,” “Unwanted,” He calls me “My delight is in her.” He delights in me and as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, my God rejoices over me! (Isaiah 62:4a, 5b)
He remembers me; His heart yearns for me; He has mercy on me. (Jeremiah 31:20)
He has loved me with an everlasting love and drawn me closer to himself with loving kindness. He will build me up again. He will cause me to dance and rejoice again some day! (Jeremiah 31:3,4)
He is in my midst as a victorious warrior. He exults over me with joy. He quiets me with his love. He rejoices over me with shouts of joy! (Zephaniah 3:17)
He is coming to me to dwell with me. (Zechariah 2:10)
He demonstrates His love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. (Romans 5:8) He loves me!
I am His workmanship, created for things to do that He calls me to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
He will complete the work in me that he has begun. (Philippians 1:6)
He does NOT condemn me! (Romans 8:1)
Nothing will separate me from His love. (Romans 8:35, 38,39)
I am his own possession. He showers me with mercy. (1 Peter 2:9.10)
8. Who are you in God’s eyes?Â
Many of the above verses and others that I have journaled speak of this. When I use this app, I go over this again. It is very affirming. If you wonder who you are in Christ, have a look at Who I Am In Christwhich is a pdf document.
9. How do you think God wants you to respond to this person who is condemning or rejecting you?
10. Is there anything I need to accept?
ASSIGNMENT:
1. If you have an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, download this app and give it a try! Share with us here what happens!
2. Use the questions that I have shared with you here to process something that might lure you to eat (that is if rejection or condemnation are emotions that fit for you). Prayerfully process the questions and see if God uses them to help your mind be renewed.
I hope you have been blessed by the focus on the truth God speaks over you, that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
It has encouraged me to no end to see you participate in the study with one another  in your comments and there are a bunch of you who have posted on the Accountability page! Be sure to email me and let me know if there is someone you want me to send your contact information to. Let’s get paired up for the next 5 weeks. 🙂 I don’t want anyone left behind!
This week, we have a chance to look at the *mechanics* of this way of eating and living. Where last week a foundation was laid for our relationship with our good and patient Savior and establishing the fact that we want to EXALT Him instead of making it be about ME ME ME, this week, we learn to rely on the signals that our Great and mighty, creative, God has put in our bodies. He has made our bodies to be trustworthy indicators–especially as we submit to our God in prayer and ask Him to guide us to be obedient and honest.
Here is today’s video:
You may need to renew your mind if you are fresh out of dieting or if you have been vacillating back and forth between Thin Within and a diet. Just jot down (in a moment when you are convinced)Â truths about eating based on the physical cues of your body vs. eating according to a plan provided by a dieting company or industry (who loves to make money out of our failure).
What IS true about letting your body signal you for hunger and satisfaction? Here are some truths to get you started:
When I am hungry and eat, contrary to popular “wisdom,” I am not going to go into starvation mode and not lose weight. Instead, I am showing my body that it is perfectly safe to get hungry as I will eat when I am hungry!
It may seem like a small amount of food that satisfies me. That is because it is! But I can eat again as soon as I am hungry!
My body is so efficient!
When I eat when hungry and stop when I am not, I choose an effortless, easy way of regulating my food intake.
Eating when I am hungry and stopping when I am no longer hungry is the most natural way of eating the amount that my body needs in order to be it’s God-ordained size.
Eating when I am hungry and stopping when I am not enables me to eat all kinds of foods that I enjoy. I don’t have to count. This works. It has for millennia!
This approach frees me from obsession about food and nutrition information. I am free to use what I know about nutrition and free not to. I can listen to the Lord’s leading instead of the “leading” of the popular diet guru.
God knows me intimately (Psalm 139) so it stands to reason that his way will provide me with what I need.
This is radically different from the world’s way of doing things!
Colossians 2:20-23 confirms this:
You have died with Christ,
and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world.
So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,
Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.
These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion,
pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline.
But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.
So let me ask you the same things I ask in the video…the same things we are asked in the material we are studying:
Has being obsessed (even just a bit) with food, eating and your body, hindered your growth to be all that God intends?
This is a convicting question! Notice that it zeros in on being obsessed with food, eating and your body…obviously, God has a plan for all of us that we haven’t yet realized! But the focus here is…what is keeping you from it? Is it possible that the very thing that you pursue because you “want to honor God” is pursued in such a way that it stands  in the way of being what you could be?
If the Father seeks worshipers who worship in Spirit and in Truth, and we are thinking about ourselves so very much…does that, perhaps, tell us the answer?
What self-destructive lies have you believed?
What TRUTHS can you embrace to counter the lies?
Are you willing to befriend your body? What might this look like for you? Do you need to renew your mind about your body in order to do that? Here is what that might look like for me:
My legs have enabled me to hike and bike ride and see amazing scenery where no car can travel.
My abdomen–the one that has stretch marks (now faded)–carried both of my children into this world.
My chest nursed my children to give them a good start. Even if I think I look like “National Geographic Woman” now (everything is dripping a bit south), I know that my body has done a remarkable job!
My hands have played the guitar and keyboard for the worship team and our church family
My teeth have chewed the food I need to get the nutrition I need and while I have sometimes used them to chew more food than I need, I am still thankful for them!
My feet–which I so often criticize for being too big–have carried my body for 52 years (less the first year of my life, I guess). They have taken me all kinds of places!
My shoulders–as broad as they are–have enabled me to be strong to move hay, to carry furniture when needed and other heavy burdens.
I think you get the idea. Sometimes, I need to renew my mind several times a day about whatever it is I am struggling with. To “befriend” my body, as the authors suggest, I might need to review this list a number of times!
How about you? What do you need to renew your mind about as we progress this week and begin to get in touch with our hunger/satisfied signals? Does befriending your body seem impossible and, even, repulsive? Ask the Lord to show you HIS truth!
Assignment:
Complete all of Lesson 2, the personal study and the group study.
Write out your responses to the questions on page 45 under “Sharing and Discussion Questions.”
Create personal HEAL goals for each level of the HEAL pyramid (page 36)
Renew your mind about anything that God leads you to renew your mind about. I recommend doing this as part of your time with the Lord first thing in the morning–even if it is in the shower or as you dress and get ready for the day.
Select an accountability partner if you haven’t yet!
Optional:
 Consider memorizing the verse on page 42
Add to your God List and have a praise fest! Do this at least once this week, if not several times.
What do you sense God is leading you to make a priority this week regarding your eating, renewing of your mind, your time with Him, an accountability partner, and anything else mentioned in our study so far?
Here is a tip that I use pretty routinely to help me curb my greed and to eat less food.
Whether it is ice cream or a tasty entree, I will routinely offer the last two bites (at least) to my dogs or, if they aren’t available, the trash can/garbage disposal. There is something very helpful to me in not acting like I am entitled to everything on my plate, even if the helping is smaller by far than portions in the past.
So, if you have a dog or two (and your vet approves :-)) you might consider offering the last bite(s) of your meal to him/her each time you eat. It really makes a difference for me. Even if I am not at a 5 yet, it helps me to just will myself to let go of those bites.
The dogs love it, too, of course!
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