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.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, February 22, 2010
What's Eating You?
I recently picked up an old book titled The Power of Positive Thinking. There was a line in this small book that grabbed my attention. "Many people suffer poor health not because of what they eat, but from what's eating them."
Often it's not what's being put into our mouths that causes heartache in our lives, but why we are putting it in our mouths!
Mindless eating with no regard for hunger, eating out of boredom, frustration, or loneliness. Eating because we are angry with someone, or mad at ourselves. Eating to fill a void or emptiness that food seems to temporarily fill. Eating to get back at someone,or numb ourselves... The truth is that we were created with three types of hunger that function in our lives.
1. Body hunger is the natural function of the body to eat, be satisfied, and then need to eat again when hunger arises.
2. Emotional hunger is the need for certain emotional needs to be met. Love, companionship, respect, hope...are all examples of emotional needs we have that long to be comforted and addressed.
3. Spirit hunger is when our spirit needs to feed from God's love and His words to us through the bible, prayer, and fellowship with other believers.
When we stuff these types of hunger with food alone, we are starving the actual needs, and blindly stuffing food down as the false answer to all that we feel or desire. We eat instead of pray. Eat instead of believe for better things in our lives. Eat instead of feeling an emotion that is scary or has no quick resolve. Maybe we need to put the food down and actually feel our lives. Turn away from the refrigerator or mocha latte and pray. Food is meant to be enjoyed, but not to be a security blanket. Only God's love and assurance give that kind of security.
Often it's not what's being put into our mouths that causes heartache in our lives, but why we are putting it in our mouths!
Mindless eating with no regard for hunger, eating out of boredom, frustration, or loneliness. Eating because we are angry with someone, or mad at ourselves. Eating to fill a void or emptiness that food seems to temporarily fill. Eating to get back at someone,or numb ourselves... The truth is that we were created with three types of hunger that function in our lives.
1. Body hunger is the natural function of the body to eat, be satisfied, and then need to eat again when hunger arises.
2. Emotional hunger is the need for certain emotional needs to be met. Love, companionship, respect, hope...are all examples of emotional needs we have that long to be comforted and addressed.
3. Spirit hunger is when our spirit needs to feed from God's love and His words to us through the bible, prayer, and fellowship with other believers.
When we stuff these types of hunger with food alone, we are starving the actual needs, and blindly stuffing food down as the false answer to all that we feel or desire. We eat instead of pray. Eat instead of believe for better things in our lives. Eat instead of feeling an emotion that is scary or has no quick resolve. Maybe we need to put the food down and actually feel our lives. Turn away from the refrigerator or mocha latte and pray. Food is meant to be enjoyed, but not to be a security blanket. Only God's love and assurance give that kind of security.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Antidote to Fear
I once heard a speaker say that fear is the most powerful of all thoughts- with one exception, and that exception is faith. Faith always overcomes fear. Master faith, and you will master fear. I love the thought of mastering fear, because deep at the core of disordered eating, I think fear lies, rotting and growing, spreading like a fungus on a wet rock.
** fear of no self-discipline
** fear that you will loose control
** fear that you will stay trapped in behaviors you hate
** fear that food will stay in the "bully" realm of your mind
** fear that other people "get it" and you don't
** fear that God is irritated with you on this topic- or worse-doesn't care
The first time the word fear is mentioned in the Bible is when Adam and Eve are being pursued by God after they have done something they are ashamed of. They hid because they were afraid to face God.
Why do we run from the very one that comforts us?
If the antidote to fear is faith- then the question is how do we turn our defeated, fearful minds into minds that exercise faith rather than condemnation? Faith rather than destructive habits? Faith rather than the overwhelming fear that nothing will ever change in our lives?
I believe in the "plunger" method- and I've used this method repeatedly in my freedom walk with food. Like a plunger unclogs a stopped drain, so this method unclogs my fearful mind. Every time a fearful thought invades my mind I replace it with thoughts based on scripture such as:
"Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me." Jesus(John 14)
"Peace I leave you; My peace I give to you- not as the world give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." Jesus (John 14)
"Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, that your joy may be made full." Jesus (John 16:24)
Food has no power. It's just food. We give it the power to make us afraid.
May we plunge out the fear,and replace it with faith in a God bigger than what defeats us.
** fear of no self-discipline
** fear that you will loose control
** fear that you will stay trapped in behaviors you hate
** fear that food will stay in the "bully" realm of your mind
** fear that other people "get it" and you don't
** fear that God is irritated with you on this topic- or worse-doesn't care
The first time the word fear is mentioned in the Bible is when Adam and Eve are being pursued by God after they have done something they are ashamed of. They hid because they were afraid to face God.
Why do we run from the very one that comforts us?
If the antidote to fear is faith- then the question is how do we turn our defeated, fearful minds into minds that exercise faith rather than condemnation? Faith rather than destructive habits? Faith rather than the overwhelming fear that nothing will ever change in our lives?
I believe in the "plunger" method- and I've used this method repeatedly in my freedom walk with food. Like a plunger unclogs a stopped drain, so this method unclogs my fearful mind. Every time a fearful thought invades my mind I replace it with thoughts based on scripture such as:
"Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me." Jesus(John 14)
"Peace I leave you; My peace I give to you- not as the world give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." Jesus (John 14)
"Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, that your joy may be made full." Jesus (John 16:24)
Food has no power. It's just food. We give it the power to make us afraid.
May we plunge out the fear,and replace it with faith in a God bigger than what defeats us.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Pressure to live on a magazine page
As I sit here with my daughter in her condo in Atlanta, I have glanced at all the magazines she has on her glass coffee table in front of me. Every time I turn the last page of the magazine I'm struck with two thoughts:
1. How does my body, face, skin, and hair compare to those on the magazine pages?
2. I wonder what kind of insecurities the women on those pages face?
As Christians, we've all heard the verse from Psalms that says "I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Although our heads know this, it's hard for our hearts (thighs, tummies, stringy hair) to believe it! We look at women that seem to have it all- and we always fall short of that illusive glossy magazine page. When I get that sinking feeling, I remind myself that even those women on the pages don't look like the images portrayed. Their images have been cut, pasted, air brushed and doctored- and we are the victims that stand wistfully wishing we looked like someone other than ourselves.
At the heart of this is Satan's successful strategy to make us discontent and unhappy with who we are. As long as we stay wrapped up in this blanket, we don't really move freely in our lives- as God intends.
Discontentment leads us to envy what others have that we want. It makes us feel forgotten- as if God overlooked us in certain areas of creation, and it holds us back from freely expressing love and hope in our own lives and the lives of others that God brings to us. I can think back to many times I pushed away from opportunities to love because my pants felt too tight, or I felt intimidated by someone that looked better than me.
The good news is that in God's magazine, we are the front page cover girls! We are precious, and perfect for the exact life He has planned for us. This is more than something we tell ourselves to make us feel better. It is the truth...splashed across the pages of God's word, and the faces of God's women. We are fearfully and wonderfully made- no matter how the current magazine cover makes us feel.
1. How does my body, face, skin, and hair compare to those on the magazine pages?
2. I wonder what kind of insecurities the women on those pages face?
As Christians, we've all heard the verse from Psalms that says "I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Although our heads know this, it's hard for our hearts (thighs, tummies, stringy hair) to believe it! We look at women that seem to have it all- and we always fall short of that illusive glossy magazine page. When I get that sinking feeling, I remind myself that even those women on the pages don't look like the images portrayed. Their images have been cut, pasted, air brushed and doctored- and we are the victims that stand wistfully wishing we looked like someone other than ourselves.
At the heart of this is Satan's successful strategy to make us discontent and unhappy with who we are. As long as we stay wrapped up in this blanket, we don't really move freely in our lives- as God intends.
Discontentment leads us to envy what others have that we want. It makes us feel forgotten- as if God overlooked us in certain areas of creation, and it holds us back from freely expressing love and hope in our own lives and the lives of others that God brings to us. I can think back to many times I pushed away from opportunities to love because my pants felt too tight, or I felt intimidated by someone that looked better than me.
The good news is that in God's magazine, we are the front page cover girls! We are precious, and perfect for the exact life He has planned for us. This is more than something we tell ourselves to make us feel better. It is the truth...splashed across the pages of God's word, and the faces of God's women. We are fearfully and wonderfully made- no matter how the current magazine cover makes us feel.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Can you picture your life free from weird behavior with food? What would a day released from the nag of food look like? Many women I know have answered these questions with painful resolve. "I can't even pretend to picture a day in my life that's not wrecked by food..." they moan.
In the book of Habakkuk 2:3 God tells us to record our vision, so that the one who reads it may run. When I first began to get free from food bondage, I remember reading this verse, and literally creating a vision of myself free from the torture of my mental bullying with food. As I began to write this vision down, I enjoyed the thoughts of waking up in the morning with something other than food on my mind. I loved to imagine going through my day not thinking about what I could and could not eat, and dressing for the day without a barrage of negative comments smacking against my heart. At first I thought the vision was just wishful thinking, but then I read further into the verse.
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It testifies about the end, and it cannot lie.
Though it delays, wait for it, it will not fail. It certainly will come."
I realized that I needed to have a vision of my life, free from anorexic restriction and compulsive overeating. I needed to picture this life, and how I could live in it. Although it felt like the impossible dream at first- I wrote it down, and continued to look at it. The vision of freedom became my prayer of hope.
Oswald Chamber defines tenacity as "The absolute certainty that what you hope for will transpire." With God, tenacious prayer and vision always align with His character. He breathes life into our hopeless vision of ourselves, and helps us recreate a new vision of who we were mean to be.
In the book of Habakkuk 2:3 God tells us to record our vision, so that the one who reads it may run. When I first began to get free from food bondage, I remember reading this verse, and literally creating a vision of myself free from the torture of my mental bullying with food. As I began to write this vision down, I enjoyed the thoughts of waking up in the morning with something other than food on my mind. I loved to imagine going through my day not thinking about what I could and could not eat, and dressing for the day without a barrage of negative comments smacking against my heart. At first I thought the vision was just wishful thinking, but then I read further into the verse.
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It testifies about the end, and it cannot lie.
Though it delays, wait for it, it will not fail. It certainly will come."
I realized that I needed to have a vision of my life, free from anorexic restriction and compulsive overeating. I needed to picture this life, and how I could live in it. Although it felt like the impossible dream at first- I wrote it down, and continued to look at it. The vision of freedom became my prayer of hope.
Oswald Chamber defines tenacity as "The absolute certainty that what you hope for will transpire." With God, tenacious prayer and vision always align with His character. He breathes life into our hopeless vision of ourselves, and helps us recreate a new vision of who we were mean to be.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Struggles
I listened to a message today that was left for me on my voice mail. It was one of my sweet friends that has been through Truly Fed classes, and currently leads a group called Truly Fed: Going Deeper, when I am away. The tone of her voice was sad and defeated- yet at the end of the message she mentioned the powerful word hope. What do we do during times of struggle? How is it possible to experience seasons of freedom with food, and then fall back into patterns of destruction and despair?
We shouldn't be surprised when these times smash into our lives. We should expect them. When Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, He said "Lead us away from temptation" not "Keep them perfect and robotic!" When freedom is your heart cry with food-- giving up binges and overeating, walking away from restriction and starvation, or denying the urge to purge what's been ingested-- there is always what I call a holy tension that takes place. You want to pursue the freedom and the hope of life free from compulsion, but sometimes a dark force seems to take over and we end up behaving in ways that we hate. Paul got it right when he described this battle in Romans. "Why do I do the very thing I hate?" he moaned. Then he reflected that it was the sin inside him. But he didn't stay stuck there. His next utterance was "Thank goodness I have a Savior that doesn't condemn and has set me free from this horrible predicament." When you feel like you are returning to old behavior, recognize that Satan likes to whisper to you that people really don't change. He wants you to believe that what you thought was freedom was just a temporary blip on your screen of failure with food. During the phase in which I was healing from food bondage I remember saying "I know I'm free. I'm just not acting like it this moment." This enabled me to believe in a bigger freedom movement that was taking place in my life- not just the small picture of a momentary action. Your freedom isn't a blip...it is the picture of your new life!
We shouldn't be surprised when these times smash into our lives. We should expect them. When Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, He said "Lead us away from temptation" not "Keep them perfect and robotic!" When freedom is your heart cry with food-- giving up binges and overeating, walking away from restriction and starvation, or denying the urge to purge what's been ingested-- there is always what I call a holy tension that takes place. You want to pursue the freedom and the hope of life free from compulsion, but sometimes a dark force seems to take over and we end up behaving in ways that we hate. Paul got it right when he described this battle in Romans. "Why do I do the very thing I hate?" he moaned. Then he reflected that it was the sin inside him. But he didn't stay stuck there. His next utterance was "Thank goodness I have a Savior that doesn't condemn and has set me free from this horrible predicament." When you feel like you are returning to old behavior, recognize that Satan likes to whisper to you that people really don't change. He wants you to believe that what you thought was freedom was just a temporary blip on your screen of failure with food. During the phase in which I was healing from food bondage I remember saying "I know I'm free. I'm just not acting like it this moment." This enabled me to believe in a bigger freedom movement that was taking place in my life- not just the small picture of a momentary action. Your freedom isn't a blip...it is the picture of your new life!
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