How to *Prevent* “Preventative Eating”

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What IS preventative eating?

Well, it’s what you do when you are preparing to go into a situation where you know you won’t be able to have food: a courtroom, a class, a seminar, church service, classroom situation, doctor’s appointment, DMV line, etc. Since you know you will not be able to have food for an hour or two (or longer) and you are concerned you will get hungry and not be able to eat, preventative eating is stocking up ahead of time–eating when you aren’t at a 0 or eating beyond 5 in preparation for the situation that may be ahead. It is eating so you won’t get hungry when you don’t think you will be around food.

There are some obvious problems with this. 🙂 Like there is nothing about it that respects the 0 and 5 boundary that God has asked us to respect!

We also have no idea if we will get hungry then or not. Not for certain!

This video explains a bit of what I am talking about. (If you are an email subscriber, please visit the blog if the video isn’t viewable.)

We often discover that if we are careful to give ourselves permission to eat to prevent hunger, it often leads to “I have broken my boundaries once already, so I may as well break them the rest of the day” sort of eating. Or “I have blown my boundaries” or what Barb Raveling calls “Failure Eating.”

As I shared in the video, there are a couple of ways of handling a situation like this.

  1. Plan your hunger so that you are at a 0 with time before the event to have a meal that will be likely to sustain you for the period of time you won’t have access to food.
  2. Carry a small bag of nuts with you to “shave the edge” off the 0 if you do land there during your class, appointment, or flight. A few cashews or almonds can go a long way and then you will have the pleasure of enjoying a meal at 0 after your class, appointment or flight.
  3. Renew your mind about being hungry before you actually are and then allow yourself to pray your way through “0” to the “other side” and enjoy that while you are hungry, your body is likely using its very efficient stores to fuel you!

When you are tempted to stock up and eat before you head off to a situation where you may not have access to food for a few hours, consider using these questions:

Preventative Eating Questions

1. Why do you feel like you should eat now?

2. Would you break your boundaries if you chose to eat now?

3. Are you willing not to eat right now?

If yes, consider what God’s solution might be to this situation. What do you think HE wants you to do?

If no, consider doing the justification or entitlement questions. It sounds like this is more about having an excuse to eat than it is about a legitimate concern to eat.

3. Should this be an exception to your 0 to 5 eating boundaries?

Yes – Why?

If the answer is YES, then how will you know when you are justifying eating and when you have a legitimate reason to eat? What will be the standard?

Given what you know about yourself and your history, do you think you can trust yourself to be honest about breaking a boundary?

No, if not, then do you really need to consider this option any further? What options are available to you instead? Are you willing to do one of them?

4.  Are you afraid of being hungry? Why?

Where does fear come from?

What would God want you to do to deal with this situation?

5. What options can you consider to avoid being hungry during the class, appointment, or seminar without breaking your 0 to 5 boundaries?

6. Is avoiding hunger during your appointment, flight or class a need or a desire?

If a need then what possible solutions are there that you can use while respecting your boundaries?

If a desire, consider doing the justification or entitlement questions.

  1. Are you willing to experience discomfort if doing so means honoring the boundaries that God has established for you?
  2. Is alleviating your hunger or the possibility of being hungry worth the spiritual, emotional, and physical consequences that you will face if you break your boundary and eat to prevent hunger?

FEAR BIBLE STUDY

Much of my “preventative” eating has been rooted in fear. Maybe you can relate! We may be afraid of being uncomfortable …hungry… and not able to get to food. When we dismantle this fear and evaluate it, it really helps to diffuse the emotional volatility that is a part of it.

For me, I feared being hungry and without food because of abuse related to my childhood.

God wanted me to allow myself to get hungry…and to experience his presence in the midst of my fear and my physical hunger. He wanted me to see that there was nothing to fear. That my fear was rooted in lies that I believed.

Renewing my mind about this was vital to break free from “preventative eating” and so I have to review truths such as these when I am tempted to eat to prevent hunger ahead of time:

  1. Being hungry is not so painful that I can’t manage it.
  2. When I am hungry there is nothing terrible that will happen to me.
  3. It is TRUE that I will have food sometime relatively soon.
  4. The comfort that I need and that I sometimes turn to food to give me is only found in the Lord (and he sometimes uses people).
  5. No alleviating of my potential discomfort is worth the violating of my boundaries.
  6. Who knows? Maybe I won’t even BE hungry before the event is over with. I just don’t know!
  7. Food will be available when the event is over. If I am at a 0 I will be free to get food.
  8. If I am hungry for a while, I will be ok.

Look up the following bible verses and write down what you learn about the need for preventative eating:

  1. Psalm 37:25
  2. Psalm 81:10
  3. Psalm 73:23-26
  4. Isaiah 41:10, 13

Can you find any others? If so, share them with me so I can add them to this list.

What blessings are in store for you if you stand against the temptation for “preventative eating?”

Do you have any events this week, any appointments, errands to run, meetings to attend where you might be likely to engage in “preventative eating?” What strategy will you prayerfully employ so that you don’t break your boundaries?

Gratitude

For quite a while, I have known a key to “success” — spiritual, emotional, and physical — is to foster an attitude of heartfelt gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving to the Lord. It is odd to me, then, that I have not *done* what I *know* is vital. You see, no matter how I have “lost” weight in the past, it has always been pride that has been my undoing–even if it has been on the path that Thin Within endorses.

Even recently, I have seen the insidious nature of pride (again) as it creeps in so subtly. Earlier in this weight-releasing journey I would lean hard on the Lord to tell me when to stop eating and even what would be a good choice to eat. It is almost like I have now taken the things that he has graciously done for me, taught me and turned them into my own set of rules for keeping the weight off. This is rooted in pride. I need to continue to ask God, ask God, ask God. When I invite him into each moment, I foster a humble dependence on Him that not only blesses His heart (I believe), but it lifts me up as well.

Today I read day 17 in my Thin Within book. The TW group that I lead has an extra week off because of Thanksgiving, so we have two weeks to spend on days 16, 17, and 18. How fitting that day 17 is on gratitude! This morning, I spent time pondering afresh many of the blessings that God has bestowed on me. I will be posting them to my gratitude blog site (I haven’t posted there in a LONG LONG time!), but thought I would also post here.

To elaborate on the connection between gratitude and the Thin Within journey–which is really just a journey toward Christ-likeness–let me share an example from my life and see if you can’t relate.

As I eat, I may hear a conviction in my heart: “Child, enough for now. That is enough fuel for your body.”

I decide to play a game of sorts… “Did I hear you right, Lord? You said enough?” (Said as I take another bite…)

“Yes, Child. You have had all the food your body requires and I do hope you enjoyed the blessing I have provided to you.”

Taking yet another bite, I respond, “Lord, I must not be hearing you right, as I still am not at a ‘5’ on the hunger scale…” You see, in this place, I am saying *I* know best–that it is my *right* to have more food! In fact, it doesn’t matter if I am at a 5 or not. God has chosen to reveal HIS will to me…and the humble response will be obedience…not “Can we discuss it and see if I agree?” kind of obedience. It is pride that keeps me from just heeding His will and doing what He says.

In fact, it isn’t about the food at all. It is about what saying no to Him about *anything* does to my heart…it hardens my heart just a bit. Do I really want to do that?

When I *daily* spend time listing out things I am filled with gratitude to God for, it puts me in the place of humility…and Him in His rightful place–as provider, sustainer, satisfier, my all in all. How can I say NO to such a wonderful Lord? When I struggle with wanting food for any reason other than physical need, if I can choose to write out even 5 things for which I am grateful to God, I see a definite change in my attitude. I go from “I can TOO eat what I want. This little bit won’t matter after all!” to “Whatever you desire for me, God…” Again, the bite of food isn’t the point…it is the heart attitude that is.

When asked in my Thin Within book this morning to list things I am grateful for, it was easy to list a number of things:

1. For new trash cans (I know that sounds silly and I won’t explain it, but God knows!)…
2. For the cedar chest now snuggled into the bay window near our dining table (another one that God understands…LOL!)
3. For my pony, Breezy, who continues to give me wonderful rides during which I can fellowship with friends with whom I wouldn’t otherwise spend time.
4. For lunches out with my Mom–that she is fun to be with and still in good health at 82 years of age.
5. That God has removed the extra weight from my body, lowered my blood pressure, and that I no longer fear keeling over from a heart attack…
6. For the privilege of leading a Thin Within class at my church.
7. For the joy that the ladies in my TW class give me. Oh! How I LOVE them so! Lord, don’t you just love them so? 🙂
8. For Jordan, the dog we got at the shelter about 6 weeks ago…God has used him to help heal our hearts, we missed Samson and Bo so much…and still do, though Jordan helps so much. He is such a blessing!
9. That I can nap with my arms around “psycho-dog” Daisy…she is crazy much of the time, but does a good imitation of a stuffed animal when I snooze with her and cuddle with her.
10. For my mustang, Dodger’s, huge try…
11. For Harley, my Morab horse, and his incredible beauty and the joy he gives me.
12. For Doc, my big baby (another horse) …who has the most kissable nose on the planet! He is just so incredibly sweet, even though he is in such pain all the time.
13. For a husband who loves you, Lord.
14. For a family time last night of watching the movie, Amazing Grace, and even how it tied in with some of the things the kids have been learning about in our history class in homeschool! That was an unplanned blessing! (Thank you that Daniel CHOSE to join us!)
15. For the privilege of participating in the writing of the Thin Within book with Judy and Dr. Arthur…I still shake my head at how atonishing that was…is…and the continued blessings that come from that.
16. For the pre-release copy of “Raising Fit Kids in a Fat World” that Judy sent me! Oh, Lord! I can’t wait to see what you DO with this! It is sooooo reflective of your wisdom, your fun-loving nature, and joy in your Children! Thank you for the privilege of letting me participate in that project as well.
17. That my two teenagers still cuddle me, hold my hands, put their arms around me–even in public!!!
18. For the privilege of homeschooling another year…
19. For my retreat time with you, Lord, where you helped me to see YOUR priorities for my life…I have your peace as a result, even if there seems to be so much to do in the time I have.
20. For a church that preaches and teaches your Word…thank you.

These are just off the top of my head this morning…I am thankful that I have so many things that I am so thankful for! LOL! Truthfully, as I ponder all of these things…and there are so many more…it is only fitting that the Giver of such gifts is exalted, esteemed, worshipped. In this place, I can’t imagine exalting myself, my opinion, my desires above whatever He calls me to.

I am positive that one of the greatest weapons for fighting against my own rebellion, pride and/or apathy in my Christian life and in my quest to be healthy inside and out (which for me are the same thing) is choosing to give thanks, even with an act of my will…even when I don’t feel it. As I choose to give thanks, list the blessings that God has given me, I find something amazing takes place…I find that my own spirit begins to soar, be buoyant…is lifted up out of the pit.

I want to encourage all to try the same! 😀