Food Addiction: Breaking the Chains by God’s Power

Do you struggle with overeating and food addiction? Break the chains of food addiction with the power of God.

For much of my life I was a binge eater, emotional eater and compulsive overeater. While I wouldn’t have defined myself as a food addict at the time, I see in hindsight that I was struggling with food addiction.

Today, I am 125 pounds lighter and have been at my goal weight for many years. I have food freedom. However, I am also careful about how I manage food and live within boundaries that keep me safe.

If you believe you are struggling with food addiction, sugar addiction, or compulsive eating, please know that you are not alone. Help is available. You can heal and you, too, can live in food freedom.

In this post I share my recovery experience. I am not a medical professional and this article is not meant as a substitute for medical advice.

Is Food Addiction Real?

Food addiction is defined as a compulsive or uncontrollable urge to eat food that does not relate to feelings of hunger. (Source.)

My definition: Food addiction is eating to the point of pain on a regular basis.

The concept of food addiction is controversial in the world of medicine and psychology. While food has some addictive properties (especially processed foods with sugar, fat, and salt), everyone agrees that it’s not the same as a mind-altering drug like cocaine or even alcohol.

Yet for many of us who struggle to manage our food intake, we know there are certain foods that feel highly addictive.

Here are some ways that food can feel like an addiction.

• When you start eating specific foods, you can’t stop even though you eat to the point of being stuffed or sick.
• Eating these foods regularly affects your life in negative ways.
• You say you won’t eat a specific food or foods again, yet find yourself buying and eating it.
• Your behavior with food affects your relationships in negative ways.
• Overeating negatively impacts your health, work, and social situations.
• You try to stop eating specific foods and feels like you can’t.

Do you wonder if you are a food addict? Here is a food addiction quiz you can take.

I also recommend checking out the Yale Food Addiction Scale. While this scale has to be scored by a professional, reading through the questions is helpful to see if you might be dealing with food addiction.

What Does the Bible Say About Food Addiction?

While the words “food addiction” are not in the Bible, God’s Word has plenty to say about food.

• Food is a good gift meant for our pleasure. Genesis 2:9 says, “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.”
• We give in to the temptation of gluttony, which is overeating food on a regular basis. Proverbs 23:20 tells us, “Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat.”
• Overeating is a sin. Overeating on a regular basis is sinful behavior.
• Food addiction, like all sinful behaviors, separates us from God. Because God is perfect, our sinful behavior separates us from Him. “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” Isaiah 59:2.
• Because of Jesus, we receive God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness. As Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

Click here for more Bible verses about food and weight loss.

Food Addiction Separates You From God, Yet Hope is in Jesus

From my own experience with compulsive overeating, binging, and emotional eating, I know that addictive food behaviors separated me from God.

When I was binging, I wanted to hide from everyone. For years I lived embarrassed and ashamed. I hid wrappers and packages. I ate massive amounts of food in secret.

I was not walking in God’s will for me or fulfilling His desires for my life because I was sick, tired, and living with a sugar-and-fat hangover much of the time.

Today, I have food freedom. I have not “arrived” because God continues to refine me, yet I live a life of joyfully receiving God’s good gifts.

God desires for you to live in food freedom, too.

{Video} I Love Doughnuts, but I Love God More

I originally shared the testimony in the video below about my love affair with (and addiction to) doughnuts in our Faithful Finish Lines 2.0 members-only group. This is a deeply personal story that brought me to tears as I shared it.

The women in our membership group said that the video helped them so much, so even though it feels vulnerable, I have decided to share it here with the hope that it will help you, too.

Do you love God more than the foods you are addicted to? If so, read on for how to break the chains that bind you to food addiction.

How to Break the Chains of Food Addiction

Here are the steps to break the cycle of food addiction by the power of God.

1. Stop eating the addictive food.

The first step to break any chain to addictive food is to stop eating the type of food that leads to your loss of control.

This does not necessarily mean you have to give up this food forever, but as someone who has struggled with food addiction, I believe the fastest way to healing is to give up your addictive food or foods for a season.

I know this is an intensely difficult and scary step.

Healing happens when you abstain from eating the food that is leaving you in bondage.

For many years, I continued to eat foods that triggered me to binge. Then I complained and was bitter toward God for not healing me. I wanted Him to heal me AND I wanted to continue in my sinful behavior, but that’s not how recovery happens.

If you are struggling with intense cravings, use our 3Ps method to handle food cravings.

When it comes to addictions, sometimes “no” is easier than “sometimes.”

2. Focus on today.

One of the aspects that’s been toughest for me is the thought of never eating a certain food again. I can give up sugar for a day, a week, or even a month, but the thought of never eating sugar again used to be terrifying.

If abstaining from certain foods feels scary, focus on today.

I don’t know where God will lead you in your recovery journey. Maybe you’ll only need to give up a food for a season or maybe it will need to be for a lifetime. That decision doesn’t need to be made today.

Trust that God will lead you to the next right step.

Do you need to eat it today? No. Choose to abstain in order to grow in faith and dependence on God.

3. Lay it on the altar.

Giving up addictive foods is intensely difficult at first.

A visualization that’s helped me greatly is picturing laying the food on the altar.

Rather than focus on what I have to give up or what is being taken away from me, I offer it to God as a sacrifice.

Often this is something I need to do many times over, sometimes many times per day at first, when I am wrestling with wanting to eat something that is outside of God’s plan for me.

4. Walk through the fire.

Friend, when you give up a food you love, you are going to experience pain. Don’t expect this to feel good and don’t think you are doing anything wrong when it’s difficult.

Your body and brain have adapted to the pleasure and dopamine release that come from eating this type of food on a regular basis.

Please understand that the pain passes. You won’t always struggle like this. This will NOT be a life-long battle of this magnitude.

For most people the most intensely difficult time lasts two to four weeks. Imagine 2-4 challenging weeks in exchange for a lifetime of freedom.

Today, I do not white-knuckle it through my days dealing with constant food cravings. I have difficult moments, but I don’t live life miserable. (Just the opposite is true – I have more joy and freedom than I ever thought possible.)

Recognize that you are now in the midst of a spiritual battle. When you were overeating, emotionally eating, and binging, your enemy Satan had no reason to attack you because you were doing what he wanted. Now that you are turning to God, Satan will attack you with everything he’s got. He wants you to stay stuck in bondage.

Recognize the spiritual battle but don’t be afraid of it. You have victory in Jesus’ name.

The path to food freedom is to walk through the fire. Feel the feelings. Don’t try to circumvent, avoid, or deny.

Whatever emotions come up, feel them. Many of us have spent years avoiding emotions by stuffing them down with food. Now it’s time to allow the feelings to come.

Pray for God’s strength during these difficult moments. God has not left you to handle this alone. He promises to be with you and comfort you.

Use every tool in your spiritual and emotional toolbox to handle these challenging moments. Pray. Read scripture verses for comfort. Do practical things to take care of yourself like going for a walk, taking a bath, and talking to loved ones.

If the feelings become overwhelming, consider therapy. (Read more about therapy and food addiction recovery resources below.)

Relying on God during this process will strengthen your faith like nothing you’ve ever experienced.

5. Love God more.

As I shared in my story about the doughnuts in the video above, during those tough moments I begged God for the strength to endure the situation.

I love doughnuts, but I love God more.

Whatever food you love, remember that turning away from it during moments of temptation is a way of showing God your heart and love for him.

Forgiveness Brings Food Freedom

During recovering from food addiction, there will be times you mess up.

When those times happen, accept God’s forgiveness.

You will slip up and eat foods that aren’t on your plan. You will cave and eat the sugar, chips, or junk food. You will binge when you swore you would never do it again.

Because of Jesus, you walk as a forgiven and free child of God. You are not in bondage to sin and darkness. You are a child of the light.

Rather than expecting perfection of yourself, each time you fall down repent and get back on track immediately. (Use our Back on Track action plan to get back as soon as possible.)

Food Addiction Help

If you want more help with food addiction, here are some resources.

• Go to therapy. I went to therapy for weight loss and I absolutely believe it was key to my losing and maintaining a 100 pound weight loss. Look for a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. (Check out NEDA for recommendations.)
• Find a support group. Connection is the opposite of addiction. Find a group of people who support your recovery. Our Faithful Finish Lines 2.0 membership, while not a treatment for addictions or eating disorders, is a wonderfully supportive community of women who will hold you lovingly accountable.
• Don’t lose hope. I know the hopeless feelings that overwhelm you when you’ve been stuck in a disordered eating pattern for years. Please know that healing and recovery are possible.

If you deal with food addiction, believe that, by His power and grace, God will break the chains that bind you.

Do you struggle with addiction to food? As you feel comfortable, share about it in the comments below. You are also welcome to email me at sara@theholymess.com. We personally respond to every email we receive.

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