Overcoming Emotional Eating God s Way. Copyright by Kimberly Taylor. All rights reserved. Notice You do have permission to forward this special report or give it away as long as you do so in its entirety, give proper credit for the information, and share the link to the www.takebackyourtemple.com website. However, no part of this content may be copied, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Disclaimer The information in this report should be considered as general information only and should not be used to diagnose medical conditions. Please see your health care provider for diagnosis and treatment of any medical concerns you may have, and before implementing any diet, exercise or other lifestyle changes.
Getting Started Is emotional eating ruining your desire to reach and maintain a healthy weight? During or after one of your emotional eating episodes, have you ever felt: Out of control? Depressed? Frustrated? Condemned? Hopeless that it will ever get better? I know the feeling. Emotional eating ruled my life for over 20 years, possibly longer. Because of it, my weight increased until it reached 240 pounds. I thought dieting would fix the problem. I tried every diet known to man, even the liquid diet that Oprah tried. I lost the weight, but I gained it back plus more. Why? It s not hard to see - my emotional eating habit remained! The diet was just a temporary bandage over a deep wound. As soon as I felt emotions that were too painful to handle, food was waiting with open arms. But I didn t know any other way to live. My Decision to Change One day, I had a chest pain that took my breath away. I was obese and having blood pressure problems. When I had that chest pain, my life freeze framed; instantly, I recalled that my grandmother had died at the age of 47 of a stroke. I was headed down the same path. I was only 38 years old at the time. But while I was standing in my living room, terrified of moving because I was convinced that I would have a heart attack and die, God spoke to me clearly. He said, It is not supposed to be this way. 3
In that moment, I had a choice. I could either accept that what God was saying was true or I could continue living with what I thought was true. In that silence, I made a decision. I decided to believe God. When I got courage to move, I sat down and grabbed my purse. I had a doctor s appointment card later in the week to follow-up on my blood pressure. I took out the card and wrote on the back of it, Today is the day I turn my life around. And you know what? Because I accepted God s word as true, He did turn my life around! I was expecting condemnation from Him, but instead I received true love and restoration. I slimmed down from a size 22 to a size 8. I gained peace, joy, and confidence in the future. But that wasn t the best part the best part was that I discovered that God can be trusted and that His word is true. He is the Great Physician. He healed my emotional pain and comforted me during tough times. You Can Change Too God can do the same for you. But like me, you have a decision to make: Do you believe that God s word is the source of truth? Or will you use yourself or others as the source of truth? To make the decision easier, think about the results you ve been getting. Are you happy with them? Imagine getting the same results over the next 5, 10, or 20 years. Does that picture thrill you or terrify you? If you are ready to do something different and get better results, then come with me as I share how to overcome emotional eating God s way. 4
What I m showing you today while valuable is just the beginning. If you are tired of excess weight draining away your energy and enjoyment of life, then my 5 steps will help you become a weight loss success story too. To learn more, click here: http://www.takebackyourtemple.com/program/ 5
Questions to Uncover Emotional Strongholds A takebackyourtemple.com reader wrote me about her overeating issues. She made two statements that showed me what the problem is: "Food...is something that I have not been able to overcome." "Food still controls me." These statements showed me that she is dealing with an emotional stronghold. Strongholds come from negative thinking that turn into false beliefs. But praise God, you can tear strongholds down! "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-6 NKJV)," I asked her two questions to help her uncover any fears behind the stronghold: What does your life look like when food is no longer the focus? What are you afraid will happen when emotional eating is no longer an issue? I asked her to write down the answers to those two questions with a pen and paper, being prayerful the whole time. You may want to do the same. The purpose of the first question is to help you know if you can even see yourself having a healthy relationship with food. Some people have practiced their eating patterns for so long that they can't imagine living without them. The second question helps you see if there are any fears holding you back. A saying goes, "An intolerable situation will exist in your life as long as you are willing to tolerate it." In other words: As long as you can live with it, you will. You may be unhappy in your situation, but if you are not doing anything to change it, then you have learned to live with being unhappy. That is not what God wants for you! 6
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 1:2). After writing down the answers to those questions, write down why it is important for you to develop a healthy relationship with food. This reason must be strong enough to get you through those challenging times, the ones in which you will be tempted to go back to your old ways. Whatever your reason is, remind yourself of it with each eating choice so you will be encouraged on your journey to freedom. Now a word of caution the solutions recommended in this guide will not work if you keep your binge foods in your house continuously. It is as selfdefeating as an alcoholic keeping a well-stocked liquor cabinet in her house and then expecting herself not to want to take a drink! If you are not willing to remove temptation from yourself, then you must ask yourself what do I believe these foods are doing for me? What am I afraid that I ll lose if I don t have these foods around me? We break down this issue more specifically in the Take Back Your Temple program at: http://www.takebackyourtemple.com/program/. 7
What to Do During Emotional Storms Your emotional eating habits have probably been with you for a long time. So the thought patterns that support them have dug into your mind. To change, you must first pause between the temptation to emotionally eat and actually doing it. But you are going to pause in a specific way. Remember this fact: Memories drive addictive behaviors. Whenever you are tempted to emotional eat, it is because you've learned to associate pleasure to it. You've taught yourself that it is a way for you to escape painful feelings. Typically when you are tempted to emotionally eat, you crave high fat or high sugar foods. These food types produce a chemical in your brain called Dopamine. Dopamine is one of the brain s feel good or reward chemicals. Without knowing it, you are actually medicating yourself against emotional distress. But you can relieve stress and make yourself feel calmer in a better way. Stress comes when you feel like a situation is beyond your ability to handle. Here is an important key: When you experiencing distressing emotions, your body starts preparing itself for action physically. Because your body thinks you are in danger (real or imagined), it wants you to either escape or fight to deal with the situation. E-motion means that your body wants to get in motion! So you need to calm your body down first. Otherwise, you ll tend to act impulsively. Instead of moving to the refrigerator, cabinet, vending machine, or wherever you get food when you are emotionally upset, then you are going to put your body in motion another way. You are going to take a 10-minute praise walk first. I recommend setting an egg timer for 10-minutes or using a timer app on your smartphone to keep track of time. 8
While you don t have to set a timer, I think it helps you be less anxious in trying to keep track of the time yourself. Walk around for 10 minutes and as you walk, raise your arms towards the ceiling as if praising God. It s okay if your arms get tired; simply lower them to rest and then raise them again as often as you can during the 10 minutes. During this praise pause, unplug from the problem and start thinking about the things for which you are grateful to God. Try it. Unplug from the situation for 10 minutes minimum. Don t worry - the issue will still be there when you get back! After the 10 minutes have passed, you will likely be physically calmer than you were before. Research has shown that simply praising for just 2 minutes will lower your body s stress hormones by 25%! From a calmer emotional state, you ll see the problem with fresh eyes, possibly discovering solutions that you never saw before. By the way, when you are in a calm, content, and peaceful state, research has shown that is when you are least likely to binge eat. So this is the state you want to be in most of the time. Here is another fact: A psychologist once studied people who suffered from depression and other neurotic disorders and he discovered they all had one thing in common. Can you guess what it was? They were all fault finders. They focused on the worst within themselves, in other people, and in their life situation. But people of faith are called to think differently. We have the power to renew our minds to God s good news, found in His word. You have the power to maintain a heart of gratitude in every situation. Scripture says: "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You (Isaiah 26:3)." 9
You will start to experience such peace that you won't want to go back to your old ways of doing things. You will enjoy this new feeling of lightness. We breakdown this whole process in much more depth in the Take Back Your Temple program at http://www.takebackyourtemple.com/program/. 10
What to Do After Emotional Storms Once you are physically calmer, then you need to shift your focus to the positive. You can handle any situation with God s help! Ask yourself the following questions: What thought made me upset or uncomfortable? Emotions are birthed from your thoughts and amplified by your memories. If you have pen and paper, write down the thoughts you were having. You want to face them. With every situation there is the event, which is simply what happened, and then the meaning, which is what you tell yourself about what the event means. For example, you argued with your husband because he forgot your anniversary: - The event was that he forgot your anniversary. - But you told yourself that this means he doesn t love you. Do you see the difference? The meaning part is what makes you have an emotional reaction. So determine what meaning made you react. Is this thought true? Consider the possibility that your thought could be wrong. It may not be, but consider the possibility. A big clue that a thought could be wrong is always or never thinking: He is always doing this to me. If there is even one example in which your husband didn t forget your anniversary, then that thought is wrong. Another clue to a thought that could be wrong is exaggerating your emotions. For example, I am the loneliest person in the world. It may be true that you are lonely, but the loneliest person in the world? Have you met everyone in the world to verify that you are the loneliest person? If not, then that thought could be wrong. 11
What does God s word say about it? God s word is stability, your ultimate source of truth. You will need to renew your mind so that your thoughts are consistent with God s word. If you don t have one, I recommend getting a Bible that you understand for study. I recommend the New King James version or the New American Standard version. Whatever Bible version you choose, it should have a topical index at the back. Flip to the Index until you find a topic that relates to your current situation. If you have access to the Internet, you can also go to a website like Biblegateway.com and use their topical index. For example, if you are angry find scriptures related to anger and peace. If you are depressed, find scriptures related to sorrow and joy. If someone hurt you, like in the forgotten anniversary example, you will want to read what the scripture says about forgiveness. In my opinion, Psalm is the best book in the Bible to go to if you are seeking emotional comfort. That is why I wrote a book called Psalm Therapy to help you uncover the healing messages in the book of Psalm. Meditate on the scriptures you find. You might highlight them in your Bible or write them on index cards. In fact, if it is an emotion that you battle a lot, then memorize the key related scriptures. As you meditate on these scriptures, ask God to show you the truth of the situation, comfort your pain, and minister to your heart. Ask Him also what you should do to handle the emotion. If you need to cry and are in a place to do it, don t be ashamed. Do it. Allow yourself to feel. You won t fall apart. God will keep you safe. God gave us emotions for a reason. However, they were meant as a tool for us, not to rule us. 12
When used properly, your emotions can tell you which beliefs to keep and which to let go of because they do not serve you any longer. 13
If you d like to get the full picture of every single important piece of the weight loss puzzle, you owe it to yourself to check out the Take Back Your Temple program at http://www.takebackyourtemple.com/program/. The Way Forward This is your decision point. Once you complete your praise walk and mental shift, you must decide what your response will be. If your body is hungry, then eat. You will probably enjoy it more because now you will eat in peace and greater enjoyment. Ask God to lead you into what to do next. His word says: No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13 God s word says that if you are tempted to eat when you are not hungry, you are able to resist the temptation. It also says that God makes a way for you to escape the temptation. While God didn t send the temptation to you, He gives you the means to handle it so that you triumph. So pray, "Lord, show me the escape route right now that you want me to take." If you decide to eat anyway, do not condemn yourself. You must be kind to yourself during the change process. God himself is kind. Kindness is one of the fruits of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25). God is not about condemnation, but restoration. You may feel convicted by your behavior, but with conviction comes an answer. Conviction tells you, Hey, you re going in the wrong direction. Here is a better way. Conviction carries hope. 14
But Condemnation says, You re bad and you will always be this way. Condemnation carries hopelessness. The Bible says this about the error of condemnation: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. - Romans 8:1 God is about hope: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. - Jeremiah 29:11 The good news is that even if you still decide to respond in your old way for the moment, something is different. Because you changed your response, you have changed. You ve planted a new seed. It may take time to see the results, but continue practicing the new response. Your victory is inevitable if you hold on to your hope. It is said that it takes 21 days of consistent practice to change old habits and reset your mindset. No matter how many times you stumble, God will never give up on you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. God will show Himself strong in your circumstances; your weakness will be made perfect in His strength. I promise that if you trust God, your trust will not be misplaced. You will soon be able to testify of His healing power to others, just like I am doing right now! Will you trust Him with your emotions from now on? 15
Learn More To begin to overcome emotional eating God s way, then you must: 1. Decide to secure your emotions with truth from God s word. 2. Question yourself to identify any mental strongholds that stand in your way. 3. Remove any binge foods that tempt you consistently from your home. The best way to win a fight is to avoid getting into one in the first place. That includes food fights! 4. Move to take a praise walk for 10 minutes to relieve physical tension during an emotional storm. If you don t, you may act impulsively. Since your emotions want to move you, move in a healthy way. 5. Reset your mind in a positive direction by comparing your thoughts with God s word. Make your actions consistent with God s word. 6. Remind yourself that you are learning to trust your emotions to God. 7. Commit to practicing the new method for 21 days consistently for the start of permanent change. If you received great value from this free report imagine what is waiting for you if you invest in my complete, in-depth training on weight loss here: http://www.takebackyourtemple.com/program. It is worth your time to review. 16