How’s your relationship with food? This is something I used to feel so much shame over. For years I didn’t want to share that I had food issues. And then once I started sharing, I realized that I’m not alone. Our relationship with food is complicated. Food is necessary. We need it to survive. There’s so much varying information on diets, nutrition, fads, health, and healing all in regards to food. Can you think of another topic that is a basic human need, and has SO much “extra” surrounding it? I’m not sure I can.
Food can be an addiction, it can be a comfort, and it can bring healing and freedom. It can be overcontrolled, overanalyzed, and feared. And I will argue it can be a drug – a well-accepted drug in fact. I have done it all – I’ve restricted, I’ve been stuck in patterns of overeating, I’ve purged, I’ve taken out sugar, I’ve followed “plans,” I’ve had meal replacement shakes, I’ve done intuitive eating.
Here’s what I always come back to: the food isn’t the problem. Food in and of itself is a good gift from the Father. The same Father who provided manna and quail and taught the Israelites how much to gather at the proper time is the same God who provided a grocery store full of a variety of groceries. Do the products of food have different nutritional contents? Yes. But are Oreos or Cheetos “bad?” No.
Food isn’t the problem. The problem is our view of food. The problem is using and abusing food. The problem is a mind that is trying to use food to solve a heart problem. The problem is using or abusing food because our thoughts are wreaking havoc inside our minds. Food isn’t the problem. And I don’t think we always want to hear that, because we think that if we could just control the food, our problems will be solved.
WRONG. If it were that simple, diets would work. But diets don’t work, because the food is not the problem. What can we do with this endless cycle? I don’t do it perfectly, and honestly, perfection is not an attainable goal. Let’s not make our goal to be a “perfect eater.” Instead, let’s make our goal to look more like Jesus. He is the one who continues to heal my heart.
Here are a few tips as I’ve journeyed:
- Don’t expect an overnight fix. This may take years of healing. You’re not starting over every Monday. You are on a journey to find freedom, and it will take time.
- Talk to the Father about it. Ask the Spirit to reveal the truth to your heart, not just about your relationship with food. If food isn’t the problem (as mentioned earlier), then what is? What’s the root cause of the desire to control or neglect or anything in between?
- Ask Him to show you His heart for YOU. Getting secure in our identity as children who don’t have to strive and fight for our place like orphans is a part of what will draw us AWAY from our control or our addiction and into HIS arms where He ALWAYS has plenty to supply all our needs.
- Talk to someone else about it. I know it can FEEL like you need to keep this junk away in the dark. But sharing with a trusted friend brings it to the LIGHT, and the darkness cannot handle even a small flame. It HAS to flee. Satan has to flee when the truth is shared, and you lose the chains of the Enemy where he has your secrets so tightly bound.
- Make getting free your first priority, and then you can focus more on details like what foods serve you well and what foods don’t. I’m a certified independent Revelation Wellness Instructor, and @revelationwellness has been used by the Lord to bring much healing to my life that I couldn’t find in any other self-help book. I HIGHLY recommend reading “the Wellness Revelation” by Alisa Keeton because this book alone is SO helpful in getting at the root of our issues.
YOU are worth taking the time to dig up these roots, friend. You are worth far more than dropping hundreds of dollars on a quick fix that might get you down 10-20# but deal nothing with your heart. The food isn’t the problem. Let’s dig up those roots so we can live well.
