Millions of people are hooked, emotionally dependent on food. I remember when it finally hit me: I was addicted to food. Very honestly, it was very hard for me to say, “I am addicted to food.”
Food addiction is a habit you develop over many years. You have thoughts and behaviors connected to this habit. I made a decision that I was never going to try the world’s way of dieting again and asked the Lord for help in this area of my life. I heard that still, small voice say, “Break the habit!” I didn’t realize how hard that was going to be. Now, two years later, the habit is gone, and I have lost 80 pounds that I do not plan to find.
I have “taste and see that the Lord is good” (See Ps. 34:8). The food trap has nothing to do with weight—whether you are overweight or underweight. The food trap is when you allow food to be an emotional pickup. You love the way it tastes, how it makes you feel, but hate what it does to your body and how it controls you.
When you eat for emotional pickup, it then becomes the weight that so easily ensnares you.
“… let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1b).
Food is a natural source for deception and dependency. We must have food to survive and thrive; we are physically dependent on food. God created us to need food and to enjoy the taste of food. Food becomes a trap when it is used as a substitute for comfort. It becomes a roller- coaster ride of emotions, a love-hate relationship. Its obsession fills your thoughts and actions and robs you of your self-esteem, holds you captive and has life-damaging consequences. How much power have you given food over you?
Habits can be broken, and as children of God, we have a Counselor, the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). Job said, “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). Hosea 4:6a tells us, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge …” We need to start by humbling ourselves, admitting that we can’t do it alone and that we need God’s help. Ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your understanding. Study nutrition and how different foods affect your body and control that “feel good” part of the brain. Remember, you are breaking a habit that has taken years to form, so rest in the Lord, be faithful and diligent in your relationship with God, be transformed by renewing your mind and your body will follow. As the food habit is broken, the weight falls away!
Food has served the devil well since the Garden of Eden, when he used food as a temptation for the fall of mankind. Why should we be surprised he is still using food today to keep the child of God from walking in the joy and peace that belong to him or her through Jesus Christ?
Until you face the fact that addictions are rooted in a spiritual problem, you will stay on the roller coaster, fighting the battle of the bulge. There is a power greater than your taste buds!
After I surrendered my food addiction causing my weight problem to God, He gave me a battle plan that started on the inside and worked 80 pounds from my body!
“‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be brought under the power of anything” (1 Cor. 6:12). {eoa}
Joyce Tilney is author of Why Diets Don’t Work—Food Is not the Problem. Visit whydiets.com for more information about her walk in breaking this addiction. Joyce is founder of Women of God Ministries, teaching women today, from women of yesterday. Visit: wogministries.com for more information.
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