My relationship with food is far from perfect, and I don't always act like I'm "free". BUT I can say that I have FOUND my freedom! Praise the Lamb. And I know where to find that freedom when I get off track. Working so closely with women who suffer from disordered eating patterns has really kept me in check to say the least! My time spent listening and encouraging them through their struggle has served as a mirror for me to see my own bondage. So often I have to ask myself how I’m doing in this area and where I need work and accountability! These points I'm sharing mean a lot to me because I spent a lot of time doing things the wrong way to figure out what actually works. And knowing what I know now made all those wrong turns worth it. So here they are!

Stop “Deserving” Food

When we start to believe in a system where we earn desserts or deserve rich food because we’ve been “good” all week or worked out extra hard, we are allowing a place for depravity. Often our reasoning for “deserving” indulgences is inconsistent and shallow. “I deserve this cake because I worked out today”. You're telling yourself that you work out to eat cake. Some of you might be saying “Why yes, yes I do work out to eat cake.” But think about this: next time you want cake and you haven’t worked out- you feel like you don’t “deserve” it because you haven’t earned it, you eat it anyway, and then you feel guilty later. Why do we do this? LET’S STOP THE MADNESS. Do you see something wrong with this cycle? It's based off of feelings and we can rarely trust our feelings. When we believe in a system where we earn and “deserve” food that means we believe sometimes we don’t deserve food. That’s very dangerous territory. For myself, I want to make these decisions based off of long-term goals. I want to be good to my body, I want to feel my best and I want to set myself up for success. I want to workout because it’s good for me and I want to eat cake because it tastes great, not because I had to earn it.

I need grace from ME.

Extending grace to others is not always easy, and giving grace to ourselves can be even harder. Someone asked me once if I would want to be friends with the person inside of my head. And the answer at the time was “Uh, no”. Why? Because she was mean! And critical & demanding.. and she needed to RELAX. Grace is displayed when we give or receive something that’s undeserved. This doesn’t mean you have to lie and tell yourself you’ve done such a fantastic job with your diet the same week after eating like buddy the elf for 5 days. Grace means acknowledging you haven’t made the best food-related decisions lately, but you deserve a do-over and you are capable of getting things back on track. Grace… get you some. Jesus gives us Grace all the time and we need to be more like Him, alright?

Eat Whole Foods

When I am monitoring my intake, I can always count on whole foods to tell me when I'm full or when I've had enough. God designed food to tell us when we’re satisfied. He uses things like lean protein, healthy fats, fiber, and water in food to help us feel satisfied. When foods are highly processed, a lot of the “you’re full” signals have been taken out. Have you ever tried to eat 4 donuts? I bet you didn’t even have to try. Bet it was REAL easy. The flour that was once a whole grain (wheat) in those donuts has been broken down by man (pre-digested, if you will) and it can’t tell you you’ve had enough. Have you ever tried to eat 4 oranges? No, you probably haven’t because after you had one you were good to go. You can thank fiber and water for that. Now, I’m not talking about cuties. Those are another story. Bottom Line: whole food has existing properties that help us know when we are full and processed food has lost some of those properties.

Don’t Always Trust Your Feels

Feelings are a beautiful thing. But I've learned that I cannot live by mine, especially when it comes to how I feel about my body or what I want to feed it. Sometimes I want a pop tart for breakfast. I know the difference I will feel if I eat oatmeal instead of a pop tart. But some mornings I need to have a pop tart and later be reminded why I don’t eat those for breakfast regularly. Some days I love my body and I am filled with gratitude for all that it can do for me. Let me be honest, other days I can feel fat and tired but just because I feel those negative thoughts doesn't mean I should make decisions based off of them. Don’t trust your feelings, trust the truth.

Ask Hard Questions

With indulgences, foods that I don’t eat on a regular basis like rich desserts, I run some questions through my mind first. Is this a choice you will feel good about later? Will this make you feel physically tired or sick later? I make sure to ask myself these questions especially if it's a choice I was not anticipating. Now, if I am at a wedding I’ve been thinking about the cake since Thursday. So, no, I don’t need to run these questions through my mind before I wait in line shamelessly for a piece of cake. But if there’s some cake sitting in the office, and it’s Monday morning, yes, I need to ask myself some hard question. And listen… make sure your questions are nice. Remember these questions are meant to help you, not to hurt you.

Have Accountability

Now that I'm married I have this built-in accountability system. My husband knows which foods I eat that are going to make me feel terrible (because I tell him over and over and over) and even how much caffeine I can actually consume without later feeling like a psycho (because I lay awake in bed at night bothering him). But let's be real, we are not together all the time and sometimes I think that I can eat differently because no one is looking. As soon as I become aware of the fact that I am alone and potentially change my behavior, I see a red flag. Why would I not eat this in front of other people? Why would I not eat this in front of my husband? Is it something I know I truly shouldn't have or is there some shame and guilt associated to it that should not be there? Those are questions for you to answer, but accountability is important. Take advantage of the accountability in your life and when it’s not there, evaluate why you change your behavior when the accountability isn’t there.

Use Freedom Statements

By far the most important. I have truth that I can always go to when I find myself caught in lies. There’s really nothing fancy about this one other than the life-changing truth found in John 8:32 and Romans 12:2. We can literally TRANSFORM the way that we think with God’s truth. Your current negative thoughts you have about yourself can become unrecognizable to you when you allow God’s truth to change you. It’s not just the truth that sets you free, but the truth that you KNOW (John 8:32). Check out my post on Scripture Based Freedom Statements & print some for yourself here!