The holidays are quickly approaching, with Thanksgiving (in the United States) just a couple of days away. This means there may be a lot of opportunities to practice staying within our God-given boundaries. There may be temptations lurking around every corner, but with every single temptation, God has provided a way out. This is such good news!
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
There is nothing wrong with the sweets and goodies that surround our holiday parties and traditions. The Lord has said that ALL foods are hallowed in His name. I am determined to view all food as being “good”.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:4-5
Six years ago, I was practicing the principles of Thin Within for a short time. I released 5 pounds and was delighted to see that eating within 0-5 truly works! But then shortly after, I went home around Thanksgiving time and everything came to an abrupt halt. You see, my grand-parents make the most amazing and delicious turkey dinner my taste buds have ever laid their eyes upon. That is, if taste buds even had eyes! Since I knew this was a meal I only partook of every few years, I ate way more than my body needed. And then there were the leftovers, which were just as good as the fresh, out of the oven delicacies. And for some reason, I lost momentum and went back to overeating and struggling with my weight and body image.
Looking back, I realize it didn’t have to be this way. I could have enjoyed smaller portions of their amazing turkey dinner during the actual meal AND leftovers. And because I did choose to overeat, I could have observed, corrected, and then continued eating 0-5 and releasing weight. I let the guilt and condemnation weigh me down. I believed the lies that I would never get back to being a normal eater. And after this incidence I struggled for years with dieting, eating, and food, all because of one turkey dinner and its leftovers.
I blamed the food. That’s a diet mentality.
I felt so guilty that I decided to eat more and more. That’s a diet mentality.
Since that Thanksgiving meal, I asked my grandmother for her recipes. On a recipe card, I have typed out each step of how they prepare their turkey dinner, from brand names, to minutes of stirring. I have replicated this meal several times over the last several years, and though it’s not quite THE turkey dinner my grand-parents master, I think I have come pretty close!
You can do the same thing with holiday meals or foods. When you know that you can have that food later (even if it has to be next Thanksgiving or Christmas), you will find that you can actually relax and enjoy each delightful bite! Ask for the recipe! Take leftovers home! Freeze cookies. There are so many options to having that food for future enjoyment!
Heidi posted about the importance of being proactive in our eating in her post titled It Takes Energy!. On one of my truth cards I have copied some questions she asked:
How much energy do you put into lamenting poor choices…after the fact?
How much emotional energy do we put into beating ourselves up and then trying to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps?
What if I put some ENERGY into changing the way I think?
What if we went into the holidays geared up and ready? What kind of truths can you focus on to renew your mind about eating during the holidays? Do you have truth cards prepared for these moments?
My plan is to go into the holidays being proactive. I will have my truth cards. I will type out scriptures in my ‘notes’ section on my phone to read. I will read through the sections in Barb Raveling’s ‘I Deserve a Donut’ app. I will pray and ask the Lord for His strength. I will give thanks. I will have joy in knowing Christ has come to give us life and peace!
Those are all choices I can make BEFORE the holidays are even upon us.
I can be ready to turn down every temptation.
I can immediately expose every lie of the enemy with TRUTH!
Remember:
You can always have those foods again!
It’s completely possible to eat within 0-5 during the holidays.
Eat what you enjoy!
If you did choose to overeat, you can observe, correct, and wait until 0 the next time to eat.
ALL foods have been blessed by God and hallowed in His name. Give thanks and enjoy His provision!
How about you?
How can you prepare in advance for the approaching holidays? Do you have your truth cards ready and handy?
“I don’t care what my boundaries are…I wasn’t thinking about life on a day like this one when I ‘committed’ 0 to 5 eating.”
“Given what I am facing, surely God doesn’t expect me to just be ‘good’ after a day like today!!!”
“It’s just not fair. How come my sister can eat whatever she wants and never gain weight! It makes me crazy!”
“I am going to hang out on the boat this weekend with the ice chest, snacks, good friends, and just kick back. I’m not going to worry about my eating for a day! I have been good, after all. I deserve a break!”
Can you identify with these statements? Chances are, we all can.
In our society we are told that we deserve the best, we deserve all we can grab. Life should be fair! There is never a need to be sad or uncomfortable with so many options for making ourselves feel happy!
These are lies that we sometimes tell ourselves–lies that take us outside of our God-given boundaries of eating between physical hunger and physical satisfaction. If we want to really experience the victory that we have longed for, we have to be willing to recognize the lies when they appear and replace them with God’s truth. That is what our “Renewing of the Mind” bible study is about this summer. We want to change the way we think, because what we think, affects what we believe, and what we believe, affects our actions. Our actions over time establish patterns and it is those patterns that bring forth fruit in our lives…the results that we either rejoice in or are discouraged by–both in our character and outwardly.
If we want to choose a fruitful life that reflects the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, we have to start with what we tell ourselves. How often do we tell ourselves we are entitled to “the good life?” Is this creating an unworkable belief that runs counter to realizing our godly goals?
Here is a 7 minute video on this subject (if you are an email subscriber, you may have to visit the website in order to see it):
I believe that if Justification is a primary reason we eat outside of our 0 to 5 boundaries, then Entitlement is its twin. Truly, if we could eliminate Justification Eating and Entitlement Eating, much of our eating outside of 0 and 5 would stop altogether!
Consider how wonderfully refreshing it is to live with integrity, acknowledging and praising the God of the Universe as he walks personally with you, inviting you into a life of discovery. He is sufficient! No, maybe not in the way we have come to expect in our world of drive-thrus, instant coffee, and microwave ovens. We think we are entitled to bigger, faster, and more. But our God IS huge! His glory fills the entire earth and he invites us to step up into intimacy with him–even as we train ourselves for godliness. It is SOOoooo worth it!
Assignment:
1.) Each week, I have asked you to evaluate if GOD has called you to a primary boundary of eating 0 to 5. If you aren’t convinced that this is something God is calling you to do, I believe you won’t be successful. You will find a million reasons NOT to eat 0 to 5. But if you know God is calling you to do it, if you have a conviction that is deep and abiding, then write it down in your journal and each time you reaffirm that this is, indeed, a conviction that comes to you from God, date it in your journal. I urge you to do this today, too–even if you already did yesterday.
2.) Evaluate if you need to adjust your secondary boundaries. Have you successfully lived with the secondary boundaries you established for yourself previously? It might be time to move forward…to add another one or tweak a prior secondary boundary. For those of you new to this, if you have noticed that you are unaware of physical satisfaction as it approaches, you can observe and correct–see if there are any trends as you look over the past week or so. Are your eating occasions outside of 0 to 5 (your primary boundary) when you are in the car? When you watch TV? Typically limited to one food in particular or when you are with a certain friend? If so, this provides the perfect opportunity to establish a secondary boundary to support you relative to that trend. If you are unclear what secondary boundaries can be helpful to you, post a question here in the comments section. Chances are, someone has dealt with the same challenge as you and has an idea for some supportive secondary boundaries!
3.) Visit this page at Barb Raveling’s website–read and do the bible study and journaling activities on the page. You can print her blog post out and then journal your answers if you like.
4.) What do you believe about entitlement? How has it been affecting your eating?
5.) In the video, I gave the example of my driving as another area of my life where I struggle with an attitude of entitlement. How about you? Where do you see an attitude of entitlement: “I deserve the good life.” “Life should be fair.” or “I shouldn’t have to suffer!” affecting you? What are God’s truths about these situations?
6.) In the video, I mention four steps that can help you eliminate an attitude of entitlement. Try one (or more) of the following and see if it helps you!
Create Truth Cards that remind you daily the truth about entitlement, what God’s view of this is, whether life should be fair or not, and all that comes to the one who is willing to suffer if God calls you to do so. Here is a video about Truth Cards.
7.) Share here with us what God shows you about “Entitlement Eating” this week. How can we pray for you?
8.) Recording of our online class from this week of study (it is a sound file only, so don’t expect a video):
Description:
“I deserve the good life!” “Life should be fair!” “I deserve to never be sad or uncomfortable and if I am any of these things, I will use food to make me feel better because it is my right!”
Many of us have experienced this. Some of us may even live with a sense of entitlement. If we do, chances are we will never be consistent in our Thin Within efforts to eat between the parameters of 0 and 5 (or hunger and satisfaction).
What is God’s view of this attitude? What are we to do instead? How?
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.
Sometimes, we hear food calling our name. It seems to insist that we come, give it attention, consume it…even though we aren’t hungry. I am pretty sure you know what I mean.
For me, it is often the ice cream that I have in my freezer. I am free to have ice cream, but want to enjoy it within the parameters of hunger and satisfaction. There are times, though, when I can’t get it out of my head. I can grit my teeth all I like with a resolve “I WILL NOT THINK ABOUT FOOD,” but that seems to do little good.
This video just shares in brief (a bit over 3 minutes), what I suggest instead. I hope it helps!
If you would like more information about the God List and Praise-Feast (or Praise-Fest), visit my other blog where I have described how to do these things in some detail.
Hubs isn’t cooperating.:-) Now that HE is trying to eat 0 to 5, we have to get creative. So I got hungry, but he didn’t want dinner yet. Well, that means a snack. 🙂 I asked hubby to serve up whatever he thought would be a fair representation of a snack I might have eaten in the past. This is what he said was a typical snack for me (see above). He is right. You can’t really tell just how much ice cream is in this bowl…but a LOT! Nothing wrong with ice cream. In fact, I am pretty sure I will have some at *some* point today! LOL! I chose NOT to have ice cream this time for two reasons 1.) I really want some salsa! Weird…veggies winning over ICE cream? How bizarre is that? God IS doing a new thing! LOL! and 2.) Ice cream sustains me too long…I want to be hungry when hubby is and veggies don’t “stick to my ribs” too long where ice cream does!
So, then I dished up that salsa I was hoping to have for dinner (he wants something else other than Mexican…) to have as a snack instead. My goal was to eat just enough that I am not miserable from hunger any more and can wait until he is ready to have dinner before I eat my next meal. So, in TW-speak, this would be eating 0 to 2 or so. This is what I dished up:
Not much to it…LOL! But eating slowly, I don’t really notice how little it is! If you eat half as much twice as slowly, you feel like you are getting just as much! LOL!
After enjoying my veggies…something I ONLY do in fresh salsa:
I had some to return to the serving dish!!! Crazy, huh? What you see in the photo below reflects what I didn’t eat of the portion I served myself. See what I mean? There isn’t much food, but what I eat is REALLY YUMMY!!!!!! WHOO HOO!
I could never return to dieting…this is too easy and too fun.
Whatcha think? 🙂 (Nevermind…don’t answer that…”nutcase” to be sure…)
