January 7, 2025 • 21 mins
Have you ever wondered, Does God really care about my relationship with food? Isn’t He more concerned with bigger, more spiritual things? If you’ve ever felt this way, you’re not alone.
In this episode of What’s God Got To Do With It?, we’re tackling a topic that hits closer to home than most of us realize: our relationship with food—and why God cares about it.
This isn’t a conversation about diets, calories, or “good” vs. “bad” foods. Instead, we’re digging deeper to explore how your relationship with food is tied to your beliefs, emotions, and self-image—and how those things affect your connection with God.
In this episode we talk about:
Why God cares about your struggles with food and body image.
How guilt, shame, and control can weigh down not just your body but your spirit.
Steps to invite God into this area of your life and find freedom through His grace.
With Scripture, personal stories, and practical steps, this episode is your invitation to lay down the chains of guilt, shame, and perfectionism and walk into the peace and freedom God has for you.
HOST: Leanne Ellington // StresslessEating.com // @leanneellington
To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.
Follow Leanne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanneellington/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
If you want to go on a journey. If you're skeptical,
don't worry, not get a preach. I'm gonna keep it
clean and talk to me and reclose where faith needs
falls of nature and get in touch with your creator
with a bacon, love and jew. She even speaks Hebrew.
What's that, Gotzato? What's that? Well sabosation? You should talking transformation?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Gonzato? Hey? Hey, and welcome back to What's God got
to do with it? It is I Leanne Ellington, and.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Today we're diving into a topic that I think hits
closer to home than most of us realize.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And we are talking about food.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
And before you roll your eyes or think like, oh no,
here we go another conversation about diets and calories and
whether klee is better than cupcakes, let me just stop
you right there. This is not that conversation. Instead, we're
going to talk about something far more meaningful, your relationship
with food and more importantly, why God cares about that relationship.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
And let me ask you this.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Have you ever wondered does God really care about what
I'm eating or how I feel about my body? Like
isn't he more concerned with bigger, more spiritual things. And
if you've thought that before, you are so not alone.
I used to think the same thing, and I used
to believe that food was my problem and my burden
to solve, like something that didn't matter to God. But
(01:41):
what I've learned on my own journey is this is
that God cares about all of you, and he cares
about your heart and your mind and your soul and yes,
even your relationship with food. Because food isn't just about
fuel or what's on your plate. It's tied up with
your beliefs and your emotions and your habits that shape
how we see ourselves and how we interact with the
(02:03):
world aka our identity, and those things they affect your
faith walk and your connection with God and your ability
to live in the freedom that.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
He's promised you that he's promised all of us.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So let's start with the big question, why does God
care about.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Your relationship with food?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, the short answer is because He cares about you,
and so in Firse Corinthians ten thirty one, Paul writes,
so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,
do it all for the glory of God. And this
verse is such a simple yet profound reminder that even
the smallest actions like eating or drinking can be a
way to honor God. But here's the thing. How can
(02:43):
we honor God with our relationship with food if that
relationship is tangled up with guilt or shame, or stress
or struggle, or if it makes us feel like I
can't bring this to God.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
There's too much shame there.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And so God created you as a whole person, mind, body, spirit,
and all of those parts are interconnected. And so if
your relationship with food is causing pain or stress, it's
not just affecting your physical health. It's spilling over into
your emotional health and your spiritual health and even how
you see yourself in the eyes of God.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And as you've heard me say before, I call this
the weight of the weight.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And so when I talk about the weight of the weight,
I'm not talking about the number on the scale or
the size of your genes. I'm talking about the emotional
and spiritual weight that we carry when we're stuck in
an unhealthy relationship with food in our bodies. And you
know what I mean, Like that heavy, rusty chain of
guilt when you eat something. Air quotes off plan or
(03:43):
the shame that creeps in when you look in the mirror,
or the constant nagging voice that whispers you are not enough,
You're not doing enough, You're not you know, perfecting this enough.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You're not on plan enough. And I carried those chains
for years. And let me tell.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
You, they just didn't weigh down my body. They weighed
down my spirit. And they robbed me of my joy
and my peace and my ability to connect with God
in the fullness of who He called me to be.
And you better believe it. And you know it kept
me from connecting with others. And isn't that exactly what
the enemy wants?
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Like John ten Ten tells us, the thief comes only
to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that
they may have life, and have it to the full.
But how can we live that abundant life if we're
constantly at war with ourselves? And so for years, my
relationship with food was a toxic and mean spirited battleground.
(04:35):
And I was constantly swinging between extremes like the obsessive
dieting one minute and then the emotional overeating the next,
And I tell myself this time will be different, only
to end up feeling like a failure when I couldn't
stick to my plan.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And in all those years, I never.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Once thought to invite God into that struggle, Like I
figured food was my problem to solve and my burden
to carry, Like why would God care about what I
was or how I felt about my body?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
But here's what I learned. God cared deeply.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Not because he was keeping tabs on my food choices,
but because he saw what that struggle was doing to
my heart.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And it wasn't just about food.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
It was about feeling unworthy and not trusting myself and
trying to use control as a way to feel safe.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And maybe that's where you are too.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And you know, this reminds me of one of my clients, Jesse,
and she came to me completely exhausted, and she was like, leanne,
I feel like food is running my life. I can't
stop thinking about it, and it's making me feel like
I'm failing, not just as a woman, but as a Christian.
And Jesse's struggle wasn't really about food, as you're probably understanding,
It was about deeper things, like, you know, feeling unworthy
(05:46):
and trying to use control as a way to feel
safe and believing that her worth was tied to her weight.
And again I've shared this before, but my stressless eating
program and the work I do with clients, it's not
a faith based program per se. But you better believe
that if my clients are open to it, I'm going
to invite them into a God conversation. And so for Jesse,
that's exactly where the shift happened. When she decided to
(06:10):
stop making like this just her problem, right, and she
started inviting God into the struggle. That's when everything shifted,
and not asking him for more will power or discipline.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
But asking him to show her how he saw.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Her and to help her let go of the shame
that she'd been carrying and trust in his grace. And
when Jesse started to see herself through God's eyes, her
relationship with food started to change. Psalm thirty four eighteen
says the Lord is close to the broken hearted and
saves those who are crushed in spirit. And so this
(06:45):
is the perfect place to invite God in. But also
this is where I'll say, and this is what I
share with all my clients, that once you make the
decision to heal this fix this cut out the cancer
that the disordered eating and self image and body images
that comes alongside it. And it really is like a cancer.
It doesn't go away on its own, it doesn't heal itself.
But once you decide to heal it, God will move
(07:08):
mountains out of your way to make it happen, but
only once you decide to make it happen.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
And there's a big difference.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Between deciding to go lose weight versus deciding to heal
the real problem in your brain. And that's the part
you've probably never failed at, because that's the one thing
I'm assuming you probably haven't tried.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And that's where you have to.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Go meet God halfway and go rewire your brain. And
that's where you use your free will, right because until
you do that, you're going to keep inviting God into
the same conversation and the same definition of insanity, which
we all know is doing the same thing over and
over again and expecting different results. And so if food
(07:49):
is a source of brokenness for you, that's exactly where
God wants to meet you. So how do we start
inviting God into this area of our lives. Well, the
first step is to simply be honest with God. And
I know that sounds so simple, but let's take a
second to unpack it, because for so many of us, honesty,
like real, raw, vulnerable honesty, it's really hard.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And so Psalm sixty two.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Eight says trust in Him at all times, you people,
pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge,
And it says, pour out your hearts, like, not just
the polished parts or the parts you think are acceptable,
but everything, the guilt, the shame, the frustration, the exhaustion,
because God already knows what's in your heart. But there's
(08:34):
power in naming it and saying like, here it is God,
here is what I'm carrying. And so for years I
carried so much shame about my relationship with food, and
I felt like I should have it all together, and
I thought like, this is something I should be able
to fix on my own, and when I couldn't, I
felt like a failure. And I remember sitting in my
car one day after another failed attempt to stick to
(08:56):
my plan. I was probably, you know, just post binge
from a gas you know, you know, chocolate bar, and
I was crying and feeling completely defeated, and I finally
said like, and I wasn't calling it God at the time,
because remember my relationship, my true relationship with God came later,
but it was I was like calling out to the
universe or something, and I was just like, I don't
know how to fix this.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I'm tired and I need your help.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
And the moment wasn't pretty and it wasn't polished, but
it was honest and honestly that was.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
The beginning of healing for me.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And so if you're stuck, I want to encourage you,
just be honest with God about where you are and
tell him about the guilt that you feel when you
eat something, or tell him about the frustration that you
feel when you look in the mirror, or tell him
about the exhaustion of trying so hard and feeling like
you're getting nowhere. And there is no shame in admitting
where you're stuck, and there's so much freedom in laying it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
At God's feet.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
The next step is, once you've poured out your heart
to God, get specific.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
With your prayers.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
The next step is, once you've poured out your heart
to God, get specific with your prayers. So Philippians four
six through seven says, do not be anxious about anything,
but in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your request to God, and the peace of God,
(10:26):
which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus. And so this verse doesn't just
tell us to pray, It tells us how to pray.
It invites us to bring everything to God, our worries,
our fears, our desires, and to do it with thanksgiving,
which I know seems really hard. It's like, wait, I'm
(10:46):
supposed to be like grateful for my toxic relationship with food.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
But here's what I've learned.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Most of us pray for the wrong things when it
comes to our struggles with food and body image. And
I can't tell you how many times my clients tell
me that they're praying for more willpower, like Lord, give
me the strength to stick with this plan, or help
me be more discipline?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Like does that sound familiar? Right?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
But what if we stopped praying for willpower and started
praying for peace? And what if instead of asking for discipline,
we asked for self compassion?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
And so one of my.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Clients, Renee, had been stuck in a cycle of dieting
and overeating for so many years before she came to
me and she told me, Leanne, I've prayed so many
times for God to help me stick to my diet
or just take this control food has over me from me,
but it never works, and I don't understand why He's
not helping me. And so I asked her, what if
(11:40):
instead of praying for willpower, you started praying for wisdom
like new revelation, And what if you ask God to
show you how he sees you and to help you
let go of the shame that you're carrying, And what
if you use your free will to go rewire your
brain and then ask Him to meet you in those
(12:01):
conversations like what if it was spiritual and it was neurological?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And so at first, you know, I'll be honest, Renee
wasn't sure.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It felt really counterintuitive to her, but she gave it
a try, and over time her prayers shifted and she
started asking God to help her find peace in her
relationship with food and to see herself through his eyes
and to show her the magic impossibility of the brain
and the nervous system.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
And guess what happened.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Like that piece that Paul talks about the kind that
transcends all understanding. It started to take root in Renee's heart,
and she stopped focusing on controlling her food and started
focusing on healing her heart and rewiring her brain and
then asking God to meet her there. So let me
encourage you, like, get specific with your prayers and ask
(12:51):
God to help you see the root of your struggles
and ask Him for wisdom and peace and compassion towards
yourself while you go rewire your brain. The third step
is to shift your focus. So so many of us
are stuck in a mindset of food roles and numbers
and macros, and we're focused on what we shouldn't or
(13:11):
should eat and how many calories we've consumed or what
the scale says. But what if we shifted our focus
to something deeper? And so First Corinthians six nineteen through
twenty says, do you not know that your bodies are
temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom
you have received from God? And so think about that
(13:32):
for a second. Your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit. And that means it's not just a project
to fix or a problem to solve. It's a sacred
gift from God. And again that feels a really foreign
to a lot of women, like you know, really think
of it, you know, as a sacred gift. But when
I started seeing my body as a gift rather than
a burden or a curse, because that's really the opposite.
(13:54):
If it's not a gift, then it's a burden or
a curse. When I started doing that, it changed everything
for me. But instead of focusing on controlling my food
or reaching a certain way, I started asking myself, am
I treating my body with love and respect? And am
I making choices that honor this incredible gift that God
has given me? Because until I think of it that way,
I am out of alignment, and I'm out of integrity
(14:15):
with who I want to be. And that is the
opposite of the identity with which I'm rooted in. And
so this isn't about perfectionism. It is not about following
a set of rules or hitting a specific goal. It's
about seeing your body the way that God sees it,
worthy of care and respect and love. And if that's
not how you're viewing it, that's where your beliefs and
(14:38):
your self image and identity have to shift. Right, If
you think it's something to be punished or controlled or
beaten down to submission through exercise. That is where the
problem lives, Okay. And so when you start shifting your
focus from numbers and rules to honoring God with your body,
it changes how you approach everything, from the way you eat.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
To the way you move, to the way you think
about yourself.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
The fourth step is to celebrate progress, not perfection, right,
And it's so hard. It's like, oh, I'll celebrate when
I get there, I'll celebrate at.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
The finish line.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
But Isaiah sixty one seven says, instead of your shame,
you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace,
you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so let me
say this loud and clear. God is not asking you
to be perfect, and he's not sitting up there with
a checklist keeping track of every bite you eat or
(15:31):
every step you take. What he cares about is your heart,
and he cares about the effort you're making to heal
and to grow and to draw closer to Him. And
so one of the things I tell my clients all
the time is to focus on small winds, like maybe
you took a moment to pray before eating instead of
rushing through your meal, or maybe you caught yourself in
(15:54):
a negative thought about your body and you chose to
find the data rather than.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Feeding the drama.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Because those small moments matter and they are a sign
of growth and they're worth celebrating.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
But if you totally skip over.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Them, you are not going to know and your brain
is going to be continued to be programmed for failure.
And so if you find yourself falling into the trap
of perfectionism, remember this. God's love for you isn't based
on your performance, and it doesn't only exist when you
get to the end of.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
The finish line.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
It is based on who you are right now as
His beloved child. And so finally, the fifth step is
to walk in freedom as if you already have it.
And this is where it might sound a bit woo woo,
but it really is just science and tewod Corinthians three p.
Seventeen reminds us where the spirit of the Lord is,
(16:42):
there is freedom. But here's the thing. It's not just
a destination. It's not something you arrive at one day
and never struggle with again. Freedom is a journey and
it's a daily choice to trust God, and it's a
daily choice to use the tools that you've used to
rewire your brain and let go of the chains that
have been holding you back and to step into the
(17:03):
fullness of who He's called you to be. And so
one of my favorite metaphors for this is just walking
through a door, because when Jesus died on the Cross,
he flung that door wide open.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
But we still have to choose to walk through it. Right.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
We have to choose to leave the chains of guilt
and shame and control behind and step into the freedom
he's offering us.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
That's where our free will.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Comes in, and that choice it's not always easy, but
it is totally worth it, and sometimes we need help
teaching our brain to make those choices. Okay, but this
is where I was talking about how it really is
just science. You are either positively anticipating your future and
all the thoughts and the beliefs and the behaviors that
get laid down off the back of that, or you're
negatively anticipating your future, and so you're either, you know,
(17:47):
feeding fear and dread and worry and anxiety, or you're
feeding hope and belief and faith. And you literally get
to choose, right, like you that is one thing you
have the choice over. But most women are sleep walking
through their lives and accidentally negatively anticipating and then creating
more of that. And so which one are you choosing?
(18:08):
Because you're choosing either way? And so what if you
started influencing your thoughts in the direction that you want
to go? And your relationship with food might feel small
or insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I
promise you it is not. And when your relationship with
food is out of balance, it creates a ripple effect.
It impacts your thoughts, your emotions, your relationships, and yes,
(18:31):
even your faith. But when you invite God into this
area of your life, everything changes. You stop seeing food
as the enemy and you start seeing it as a
way to honor him. But you have to create those
transformations in your brain, right. You've got to stop seeing
your body as a problem to fix and start seeing
it as this incredible, miraculous creation that we know from
(18:54):
the science and the power of the nervous system. You
have the change to mold it and change it and
shift it any time you choose. Okay, but it won't
be molded and shifted and shaped in a different direction
if you're still on that definition of insanity and doing
the same thing over and over again. Okay, So before
we wrap, I just want to remind you God cares
about your relationship with food because he cares about you,
(19:16):
and he doesn't want you living in a cycle of
shame and guilt or obsession. He wants you to experience
freedom like not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually too.
And so I want to invite you to just start
this conversation with him, be honest, pray for guidance, and
trust that He's walking with you even in this and
whatever your struggle with food or body image looks like. No,
(19:38):
you are just so not alone. God sees you, he
loves you, and he's inviting you to walk with him
on this journey towards freedom.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
But again, I.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Invite you to get off the definition of insanity, get
off that roller coaster, use your free will to go,
rewire your brain, and ask him to invite you into that.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So thank you for tuning in and spending this time
with me and receiving what I'm sharing. And in the meantime,
I am praying for you as you take these steps
towards healing and peace. So by for now, we'll be
back with more What's God Got to Do with It?
But in the meantime, I would definitely love to hear
from you, so just tell me where you are in
(20:18):
your story or maybe what questions you have, like where
do you feel you need clarity or support or wisdom
in your own journey.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I definitely want to hear from you, So head on
over to What's God Got to Do with It?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Dot com and scroll down to the form to share
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Speaker 1 (20:51):
Of What's God Got to Do with It?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
New episodes drop every single Tuesday, and while you're there,
be sure to rate and review to show your it
really means so much.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
What's God Got to Do With It?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
It's written and.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Hosted by me Leanne Ellington, Executive produced by Elizabeth Fazio.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Post production and editing by Houston Tilley
Speaker 2 (21:17):
And original music written by Cheryl Stark and produced by
Adam Stark.
If you want to go on a journey. If you're skeptical,
don't worry, not get a preach. I'm gonna keep it
clean and talk to me and reclose where faith needs
falls of nature and get in touch with your creator
with a bacon, love and jew. She even speaks Hebrew.
What's that, Gotzato? What's that? Well sabosation? You should talking transformation?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Gonzato? Hey? Hey, and welcome back to What's God got
to do with it? It is I Leanne Ellington, and.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Today we're diving into a topic that I think hits
closer to home than most of us realize.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And we are talking about food.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
And before you roll your eyes or think like, oh no,
here we go another conversation about diets and calories and
whether klee is better than cupcakes, let me just stop
you right there. This is not that conversation. Instead, we're
going to talk about something far more meaningful, your relationship
with food and more importantly, why God cares about that relationship.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
And let me ask you this.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Have you ever wondered does God really care about what
I'm eating or how I feel about my body? Like
isn't he more concerned with bigger, more spiritual things. And
if you've thought that before, you are so not alone.
I used to think the same thing, and I used
to believe that food was my problem and my burden
to solve, like something that didn't matter to God. But
(01:41):
what I've learned on my own journey is this is
that God cares about all of you, and he cares
about your heart and your mind and your soul and yes,
even your relationship with food. Because food isn't just about
fuel or what's on your plate. It's tied up with
your beliefs and your emotions and your habits that shape
how we see ourselves and how we interact with the
(02:03):
world aka our identity, and those things they affect your
faith walk and your connection with God and your ability
to live in the freedom that.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
He's promised you that he's promised all of us.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So let's start with the big question, why does God
care about.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Your relationship with food?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, the short answer is because He cares about you,
and so in Firse Corinthians ten thirty one, Paul writes,
so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,
do it all for the glory of God. And this
verse is such a simple yet profound reminder that even
the smallest actions like eating or drinking can be a
way to honor God. But here's the thing. How can
(02:43):
we honor God with our relationship with food if that
relationship is tangled up with guilt or shame, or stress
or struggle, or if it makes us feel like I
can't bring this to God.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
There's too much shame there.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And so God created you as a whole person, mind, body, spirit,
and all of those parts are interconnected. And so if
your relationship with food is causing pain or stress, it's
not just affecting your physical health. It's spilling over into
your emotional health and your spiritual health and even how
you see yourself in the eyes of God.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And as you've heard me say before, I call this
the weight of the weight.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And so when I talk about the weight of the weight,
I'm not talking about the number on the scale or
the size of your genes. I'm talking about the emotional
and spiritual weight that we carry when we're stuck in
an unhealthy relationship with food in our bodies. And you
know what I mean, Like that heavy, rusty chain of
guilt when you eat something. Air quotes off plan or
(03:43):
the shame that creeps in when you look in the mirror,
or the constant nagging voice that whispers you are not enough,
You're not doing enough, You're not you know, perfecting this enough.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You're not on plan enough. And I carried those chains
for years. And let me tell.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
You, they just didn't weigh down my body. They weighed
down my spirit. And they robbed me of my joy
and my peace and my ability to connect with God
in the fullness of who He called me to be.
And you better believe it. And you know it kept
me from connecting with others. And isn't that exactly what
the enemy wants?
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Like John ten Ten tells us, the thief comes only
to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that
they may have life, and have it to the full.
But how can we live that abundant life if we're
constantly at war with ourselves? And so for years, my
relationship with food was a toxic and mean spirited battleground.
(04:35):
And I was constantly swinging between extremes like the obsessive
dieting one minute and then the emotional overeating the next,
And I tell myself this time will be different, only
to end up feeling like a failure when I couldn't
stick to my plan.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And in all those years, I never.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Once thought to invite God into that struggle, Like I
figured food was my problem to solve and my burden
to carry, Like why would God care about what I
was or how I felt about my body?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
But here's what I learned. God cared deeply.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Not because he was keeping tabs on my food choices,
but because he saw what that struggle was doing to
my heart.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And it wasn't just about food.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
It was about feeling unworthy and not trusting myself and
trying to use control as a way to feel safe.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And maybe that's where you are too.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And you know, this reminds me of one of my clients, Jesse,
and she came to me completely exhausted, and she was like, leanne,
I feel like food is running my life. I can't
stop thinking about it, and it's making me feel like
I'm failing, not just as a woman, but as a Christian.
And Jesse's struggle wasn't really about food, as you're probably understanding,
It was about deeper things, like, you know, feeling unworthy
(05:46):
and trying to use control as a way to feel
safe and believing that her worth was tied to her weight.
And again I've shared this before, but my stressless eating
program and the work I do with clients, it's not
a faith based program per se. But you better believe
that if my clients are open to it, I'm going
to invite them into a God conversation. And so for Jesse,
that's exactly where the shift happened. When she decided to
(06:10):
stop making like this just her problem, right, and she
started inviting God into the struggle. That's when everything shifted,
and not asking him for more will power or discipline.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
But asking him to show her how he saw.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Her and to help her let go of the shame
that she'd been carrying and trust in his grace. And
when Jesse started to see herself through God's eyes, her
relationship with food started to change. Psalm thirty four eighteen
says the Lord is close to the broken hearted and
saves those who are crushed in spirit. And so this
(06:45):
is the perfect place to invite God in. But also
this is where I'll say, and this is what I
share with all my clients, that once you make the
decision to heal this fix this cut out the cancer
that the disordered eating and self image and body images
that comes alongside it. And it really is like a cancer.
It doesn't go away on its own, it doesn't heal itself.
But once you decide to heal it, God will move
(07:08):
mountains out of your way to make it happen, but
only once you decide to make it happen.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
And there's a big difference.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Between deciding to go lose weight versus deciding to heal
the real problem in your brain. And that's the part
you've probably never failed at, because that's the one thing
I'm assuming you probably haven't tried.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And that's where you have to.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Go meet God halfway and go rewire your brain. And
that's where you use your free will, right because until
you do that, you're going to keep inviting God into
the same conversation and the same definition of insanity, which
we all know is doing the same thing over and
over again and expecting different results. And so if food
(07:49):
is a source of brokenness for you, that's exactly where
God wants to meet you. So how do we start
inviting God into this area of our lives. Well, the
first step is to simply be honest with God. And
I know that sounds so simple, but let's take a
second to unpack it, because for so many of us, honesty,
like real, raw, vulnerable honesty, it's really hard.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And so Psalm sixty two.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Eight says trust in Him at all times, you people,
pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge,
And it says, pour out your hearts, like, not just
the polished parts or the parts you think are acceptable,
but everything, the guilt, the shame, the frustration, the exhaustion,
because God already knows what's in your heart. But there's
(08:34):
power in naming it and saying like, here it is God,
here is what I'm carrying. And so for years I
carried so much shame about my relationship with food, and
I felt like I should have it all together, and
I thought like, this is something I should be able
to fix on my own, and when I couldn't, I
felt like a failure. And I remember sitting in my
car one day after another failed attempt to stick to
(08:56):
my plan. I was probably, you know, just post binge
from a gas you know, you know, chocolate bar, and
I was crying and feeling completely defeated, and I finally
said like, and I wasn't calling it God at the time,
because remember my relationship, my true relationship with God came later,
but it was I was like calling out to the
universe or something, and I was just like, I don't
know how to fix this.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I'm tired and I need your help.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
And the moment wasn't pretty and it wasn't polished, but
it was honest and honestly that was.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
The beginning of healing for me.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And so if you're stuck, I want to encourage you,
just be honest with God about where you are and
tell him about the guilt that you feel when you
eat something, or tell him about the frustration that you
feel when you look in the mirror, or tell him
about the exhaustion of trying so hard and feeling like
you're getting nowhere. And there is no shame in admitting
where you're stuck, and there's so much freedom in laying it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
At God's feet.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
The next step is, once you've poured out your heart
to God, get specific.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
With your prayers.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
The next step is, once you've poured out your heart
to God, get specific with your prayers. So Philippians four
six through seven says, do not be anxious about anything,
but in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your request to God, and the peace of God,
(10:26):
which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus. And so this verse doesn't just
tell us to pray, It tells us how to pray.
It invites us to bring everything to God, our worries,
our fears, our desires, and to do it with thanksgiving,
which I know seems really hard. It's like, wait, I'm
(10:46):
supposed to be like grateful for my toxic relationship with food.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
But here's what I've learned.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Most of us pray for the wrong things when it
comes to our struggles with food and body image. And
I can't tell you how many times my clients tell
me that they're praying for more willpower, like Lord, give
me the strength to stick with this plan, or help
me be more discipline?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Like does that sound familiar? Right?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
But what if we stopped praying for willpower and started
praying for peace? And what if instead of asking for discipline,
we asked for self compassion?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
And so one of my.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Clients, Renee, had been stuck in a cycle of dieting
and overeating for so many years before she came to
me and she told me, Leanne, I've prayed so many
times for God to help me stick to my diet
or just take this control food has over me from me,
but it never works, and I don't understand why He's
not helping me. And so I asked her, what if
(11:40):
instead of praying for willpower, you started praying for wisdom
like new revelation, And what if you ask God to
show you how he sees you and to help you
let go of the shame that you're carrying, And what
if you use your free will to go rewire your
brain and then ask Him to meet you in those
(12:01):
conversations like what if it was spiritual and it was neurological?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And so at first, you know, I'll be honest, Renee
wasn't sure.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It felt really counterintuitive to her, but she gave it
a try, and over time her prayers shifted and she
started asking God to help her find peace in her
relationship with food and to see herself through his eyes
and to show her the magic impossibility of the brain
and the nervous system.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
And guess what happened.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Like that piece that Paul talks about the kind that
transcends all understanding. It started to take root in Renee's heart,
and she stopped focusing on controlling her food and started
focusing on healing her heart and rewiring her brain and
then asking God to meet her there. So let me
encourage you, like, get specific with your prayers and ask
(12:51):
God to help you see the root of your struggles
and ask Him for wisdom and peace and compassion towards
yourself while you go rewire your brain. The third step
is to shift your focus. So so many of us
are stuck in a mindset of food roles and numbers
and macros, and we're focused on what we shouldn't or
(13:11):
should eat and how many calories we've consumed or what
the scale says. But what if we shifted our focus
to something deeper? And so First Corinthians six nineteen through
twenty says, do you not know that your bodies are
temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom
you have received from God? And so think about that
(13:32):
for a second. Your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit. And that means it's not just a project
to fix or a problem to solve. It's a sacred
gift from God. And again that feels a really foreign
to a lot of women, like you know, really think
of it, you know, as a sacred gift. But when
I started seeing my body as a gift rather than
a burden or a curse, because that's really the opposite.
(13:54):
If it's not a gift, then it's a burden or
a curse. When I started doing that, it changed everything
for me. But instead of focusing on controlling my food
or reaching a certain way, I started asking myself, am
I treating my body with love and respect? And am
I making choices that honor this incredible gift that God
has given me? Because until I think of it that way,
I am out of alignment, and I'm out of integrity
(14:15):
with who I want to be. And that is the
opposite of the identity with which I'm rooted in. And
so this isn't about perfectionism. It is not about following
a set of rules or hitting a specific goal. It's
about seeing your body the way that God sees it,
worthy of care and respect and love. And if that's
not how you're viewing it, that's where your beliefs and
(14:38):
your self image and identity have to shift. Right, If
you think it's something to be punished or controlled or
beaten down to submission through exercise. That is where the
problem lives, Okay. And so when you start shifting your
focus from numbers and rules to honoring God with your body,
it changes how you approach everything, from the way you eat.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
To the way you move, to the way you think
about yourself.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
The fourth step is to celebrate progress, not perfection, right,
And it's so hard. It's like, oh, I'll celebrate when
I get there, I'll celebrate at.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
The finish line.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
But Isaiah sixty one seven says, instead of your shame,
you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace,
you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so let me
say this loud and clear. God is not asking you
to be perfect, and he's not sitting up there with
a checklist keeping track of every bite you eat or
(15:31):
every step you take. What he cares about is your heart,
and he cares about the effort you're making to heal
and to grow and to draw closer to Him. And
so one of the things I tell my clients all
the time is to focus on small winds, like maybe
you took a moment to pray before eating instead of
rushing through your meal, or maybe you caught yourself in
(15:54):
a negative thought about your body and you chose to
find the data rather than.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Feeding the drama.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Because those small moments matter and they are a sign
of growth and they're worth celebrating.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
But if you totally skip over.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Them, you are not going to know and your brain
is going to be continued to be programmed for failure.
And so if you find yourself falling into the trap
of perfectionism, remember this. God's love for you isn't based
on your performance, and it doesn't only exist when you
get to the end of.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
The finish line.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
It is based on who you are right now as
His beloved child. And so finally, the fifth step is
to walk in freedom as if you already have it.
And this is where it might sound a bit woo woo,
but it really is just science and tewod Corinthians three p.
Seventeen reminds us where the spirit of the Lord is,
(16:42):
there is freedom. But here's the thing. It's not just
a destination. It's not something you arrive at one day
and never struggle with again. Freedom is a journey and
it's a daily choice to trust God, and it's a
daily choice to use the tools that you've used to
rewire your brain and let go of the chains that
have been holding you back and to step into the
(17:03):
fullness of who He's called you to be. And so
one of my favorite metaphors for this is just walking
through a door, because when Jesus died on the Cross,
he flung that door wide open.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
But we still have to choose to walk through it. Right.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
We have to choose to leave the chains of guilt
and shame and control behind and step into the freedom
he's offering us.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
That's where our free will.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Comes in, and that choice it's not always easy, but
it is totally worth it, and sometimes we need help
teaching our brain to make those choices. Okay, but this
is where I was talking about how it really is
just science. You are either positively anticipating your future and
all the thoughts and the beliefs and the behaviors that
get laid down off the back of that, or you're
negatively anticipating your future, and so you're either, you know,
(17:47):
feeding fear and dread and worry and anxiety, or you're
feeding hope and belief and faith. And you literally get
to choose, right, like you that is one thing you
have the choice over. But most women are sleep walking
through their lives and accidentally negatively anticipating and then creating
more of that. And so which one are you choosing?
(18:08):
Because you're choosing either way? And so what if you
started influencing your thoughts in the direction that you want
to go? And your relationship with food might feel small
or insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I
promise you it is not. And when your relationship with
food is out of balance, it creates a ripple effect.
It impacts your thoughts, your emotions, your relationships, and yes,
(18:31):
even your faith. But when you invite God into this
area of your life, everything changes. You stop seeing food
as the enemy and you start seeing it as a
way to honor him. But you have to create those
transformations in your brain, right. You've got to stop seeing
your body as a problem to fix and start seeing
it as this incredible, miraculous creation that we know from
(18:54):
the science and the power of the nervous system. You
have the change to mold it and change it and
shift it any time you choose. Okay, but it won't
be molded and shifted and shaped in a different direction
if you're still on that definition of insanity and doing
the same thing over and over again. Okay, So before
we wrap, I just want to remind you God cares
about your relationship with food because he cares about you,
(19:16):
and he doesn't want you living in a cycle of
shame and guilt or obsession. He wants you to experience
freedom like not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually too.
And so I want to invite you to just start
this conversation with him, be honest, pray for guidance, and
trust that He's walking with you even in this and
whatever your struggle with food or body image looks like. No,
(19:38):
you are just so not alone. God sees you, he
loves you, and he's inviting you to walk with him
on this journey towards freedom.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
But again, I.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Invite you to get off the definition of insanity, get
off that roller coaster, use your free will to go,
rewire your brain, and ask him to invite you into that.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So thank you for tuning in and spending this time
with me and receiving what I'm sharing. And in the meantime,
I am praying for you as you take these steps
towards healing and peace. So by for now, we'll be
back with more What's God Got to Do with It?
But in the meantime, I would definitely love to hear
from you, so just tell me where you are in
(20:18):
your story or maybe what questions you have, like where
do you feel you need clarity or support or wisdom
in your own journey.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I definitely want to hear from you, So head on
over to What's God Got to Do with It?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Dot com and scroll down to the form to share
your thoughts, your questions, your feedback, and you can do
that instantly. So What's God Got to Do with It?
Dot Com You'll find all the ways to do that.
And if you like this podcast and want to hear more,
go ahead and follow, like, and subscribe wherever you listen
to podcasts to get your weekly dose.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Of What's God Got to Do with It?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
New episodes drop every single Tuesday, and while you're there,
be sure to rate and review to show your it
really means so much.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
What's God Got to Do With It?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
It's written and.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Hosted by me Leanne Ellington, Executive produced by Elizabeth Fazio.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Post production and editing by Houston Tilley
Speaker 2 (21:17):
And original music written by Cheryl Stark and produced by
Adam Stark.
Host
Leanne Ellington
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