Do you ever feel like food has taken control of your life?

You want to eat healthfully and only when you’re hungry, but you find yourself reaching for food when you’re happy, sad, angry, bored, or exhausted from a long day. You vow to stop – tomorrow. But that rarely happens. You wonder, “How can I be a Christian and still struggle so much in this area?” I’ve been there and I’m excited to share the five spiritual principles and practices that helped me break free from compulsive emotional eating.

STEP 1: CONFESS

“Hi, I’m Danna and I’m a foodaholic.” I never actually said those words in a public meeting with other foodaholics, but I imagined it many times in the years I struggled to overcome my emotional eating issues.

Most people – even the thin – engage in emotional eating at times. It’s eating for any reason beyond pure physiological hunger for the physical pleasure it brings. Who hasn’t done that? Often, the trigger involves a negative emotion such as stress or loneliness. But sometimes, we simply eat because it tastes so good! Is that a sin? Probably not. Until it is.

My emotional eating journey grew into such frequent compulsive overeating that I began purging to avoid excessive weight gain. I felt so out of control that I sometimes wished my issue was with alcohol or pills because it seemed those would be easier to permanently remove from my life. But food? Food is essential for survival. Daily life and celebrations revolve around it. From family meals to holiday banquets, food is always at the center.

In the Bible we see many examples of eating and feasting in a positive light. When the bankrupted prodigal son finally returned home to his father, a feast was thrown in celebration. Jesus performed his first miracle – turning water to wine – at a wedding feast. Christ tells us “I stand at the door and knock”, inviting us to open the door so he can come in and eat with us.

God created us to celebrate and enjoy food beyond simply nourishing our bodies. And yet for some of us, that beautiful gift of taste and the enjoyment it brings has become one of our greatest enemies as well. We’ve allowed ourselves to seek food first when faced with a wide variety of emotions and circumstances.

We eat when we’re happy. We eat when we’re sad. We eat when we’re stressed and busy. We eat when we’re bored. When food becomes our comfort, our stress reliever, consumes our thoughts, or causes us to feel out of control…it has likely become our idol.

Our relationship with food has been developing since the day we were born. Consider this: God created breast milk to be slightly sweet. Our taste buds have been delightfully tickled from the moment of our first meal. Most of us associate food with love and comfort because they have been beautifully intertwined. So, where do we begin to unravel our unhealthy relationship with food and rebuild it into one that promotes health and balance? How do we enjoy God’s delicious gift of taste in a way that brings him glory?

I believe the first step is: Confession.
Confess what? Our unhealthy (dare we say sinful) relationship with food. It’s sinful if it’s hurting us physically, emotionally, or spiritually. We need God’s power to equip us to overcome. This begins with seeking his forgiveness.

It will take time to change the habit of running to food for the wrong reasons. God wants us to run to him. Try to see each temptation as an opportunity to seek the Lord and his comfort and strength. Give yourself grace for the journey and focus on progress rather than perfection.

If you continue to confess and repent – intentionally turning away from the habit – you will one day introduce yourself like this: “Hi, I’m a fully recovered emotional eater and no longer a foodaholic.

PRAYER
Lord, I confess that I often run to food instead of you when I’m experiencing certain emotions. I want to honor you in all my habits and let go of those that don’t. Help me to “present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to you”. Please help me give myself grace to overcome and to lean into your power in my weakness. Amen. 

STUDY
I encourage you to prayerfully meditate on the scripture below and ask the Lord to speak to you personally about your emotional eating. Ask him to reveal the lies you are believing about food. Memorize and claim one or two scripture to use as your “sword of the Spirit” in times of temptation. Run to Jesus instead of food as He guides you through this journey  to break free.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

 Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Revelation 3:20
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (NIV)

 Psalm 34:8
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

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