How to Defeat Harmful Habits (Counseling Through the Bible Series) (39 page)

Do you eat even when you are not hungry?

Do you ever feel ashamed of how much you eat?

Do you fear not being able to stop eating once you start?

Do you ever feel embarrassed about your personal appearance?

Do you ever eat secretly to prevent others from knowing what or how much you eat?

Do you lose weight on diets, then gain the weight (and more) back again?

Do you feel that you have to eat everything on your plate and that you’re being wasteful if you don’t?

Do you think you could control your weight if you really wanted to?

Do you resent it when family or friends express concern over your weight?

Do you find that food consumes your thoughts, your actions, your very life?

If you answered
yes
to three or more of these questions, you could be a compulsive eater. If at times you feel frustrated over your eating extremes, let this Scripture motivate you:

“I do not understand what I do
.
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…
Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God
—
through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

(R
OMANS
7:15,24-25).

God created you and has a plan for you. His plan does not include harming yourself with out-of-control eating habits. Consider these verses from the Word of God:

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple
and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him;
for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple”

(1 C
ORINTHIANS
3:16-17).

Note:
If you are experiencing any of these physical symptoms listed above, be sure to consult your health care professional.

While overeating is certainly a component of bingeing, not everyone who overeats on a regular basis is necessarily bingeing on food, just as it’s true that not everyone who abuses alcohol is bingeing on alcohol. Being human, we all engage in sinful behavior. As the Bible says, not only have we all sinned, but we can all change because we have an all-powerful Lord who loves us and by whom we have been “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).

Ask yourself these quantifying questions if you think you may be binge eating:

• Do you consume large amounts of food in secret?

• Do you eat and eat and eat until you make yourself sick?

• Do you feel that you are totally out of control when you are eating?

• Do you eat in an attempt to escape from problems or to comfort yourself?

• Do you eat to satisfy an emotional need or to feel better about yourself, but end up feeling even worse?