Rewiring our brains for change

Yesterday I talked about an article I read in Good Housekeeping. The gist of the article was that it is possible to rewire the neurological paths our brains function in. (If you didn't read yesterday's blog, check it out! There's some good research in it!) Some of the fall-out of poor brain functioning with food is: bingeing, eating with no regard to hunger, throwing up or feeling the need to "work-off" everything we ingest, using pills or laxatives to monitor routines with food, and simply over or under eating food regularly...living in fear that food will forever craft the way we view ourselves.
I remember a time when I lived in the middle of all of these behaviors. What a muddy mess! Then one day I stood in my closet and cried out to God..."Jesus, You say that we can have life, and life abundantly. This isn't abundant life- it's a hellish prison. Help me break out!"
That was the beginning of my brain rewiring.

So how do you go from the desire for brain surgery, to the actuality of living it? Here are a few of the things that I did both short-term and long-term to eradicate wrong thinking and habits, and replace them with truth and life.

1. Be honest with God and yourself about the behavior that has held you captive. No excuses or rationalizations! (Food is my only friend...I deserve this reward of food...It's no big deal if I overeat, tomorrow I'll diet!) Confess this thinking and ask God to forgive the mess we've participated in with food.

2. Be intentional with food like you would someone or something you love. Pay attention to what you eat-- not in a tormenting, dieting way, but a smart and excited way. I literally rewired my brain as to what I enjoy eating. Coming from a cheeseburger and Captain Crunch addict, this was huge. I am free to eat what I want, but most of the time I choose delicious, healthy food because I've rewired my brain to like them.

3. Understand that continuing to "present" my body as a slave to food is my choice. God doesn't love me any more or less according to my behavior with food, but by continuing to participate in the craziness, my life isn't what it could be. I love this scripture: "So consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Don't let sin reign in your body, that you would go on obeying its lusts. And don't go on presenting your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourself to God, as alive from the dead!" (Romans 6:12)

Keep believing! Keep changing! Every small brain rewire is precious to God, because it means that you want to live a life free from bondage and full of hope.

Brain Surgery...Kind of...

I picked up a copy of the April edition of Good Housekeeping and loved an article I read by Geneen Roth. She is one of my favorite authors on compulsive eating, and I have several quotes from her in my book, Truly Fed. She talks about how she changed her behavior with food...really changed it..for good. She shared about the newest research regarding the plasticity of the brain, and how it is capable of learning new ways of behaving-creating new neural pathways- but doing so requires repetition,focus, and consistency. To change a habit you've got to change the wiring of the brain by doing things differently. She went on to say that the average time for real change is 66 days, but some people need as long as 254 days. "That's almost a year!" I've heard some people scream in anguish. But my response is "Yes it is...but how's it working for you now?" Typically they get the point. Anything worth doing, changing, or putting our hearts into, takes time and focus. I call it intentionality. We intentionally eat and live our lives, not randomly and haphazardly. Not ruled by the lure of binges and compulsivity, but sanity and hope.
I've been free from compulsive food behavior for over 20 years, and often I am asked "But how do you not return to the old behaviors that messed you up in he first place?"
It's a great question, with many phases to the answer, but my main response is "I've rewired my brain!" The habits I replaced my old behvior with are now the way I live and function with food. Geneen Roth says "Since whatever you pay attention to flourishes, I became an expert in agonizing about my behavior rather than changing it."
The gift we have, that Good Housekeeping doesn't mention, is the secret to the "brain surgery" we need. It goes like this... "Do not be conformed to this world, but be TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect." (Romans 12:2)
For the next few days I will talk about simple, but powerful ways we rewire our brains with food. It's not just Good Housekeeping, but Good Brainkeeping, and it's possible for every one of us- no matter how desperate or messed up we may feel!