Wouldn’t it be nice if we could solve all our eating problems in three weeks? I’ve been madly racking my brains for the last month trying to come up with a Bible study that would do just that.
I’m coming up empty.
Not only do we all have different problems with food, we all have different levels of bondage to food. Some of us are at the “I just want to lose a few pounds stage,” and some of us are at the “food is totally controlling my life stage.”
No matter what stage we’re at, though, we all need the same thing: a biblical perspective of life and food – so that’s what we’ll focus on in this study.
I’ll give you assignments for the renewing of the mind, Bible study, and self-analysis you can use to spend time with God in working through your eating issues.
Before we begin, though, let’s make sure we have our plan in place. This is what you’ll need to establish today.
The Plan
- Choose your boundaries. (In case you’re not familiar with how links work, look back at that word boundaries. It should be highlighted. If you click on it, it will take you to a post on boundaries. Any time you see a highlighted word, you can click on it for more information.)
- Establish secondary boundaries, if necessary, but try not to set too many. Your main focus should be on your primary boundaries.
- Make a renewing-of-the-mind goal.
- Find an accountability partner, if possible, to do this with you.
- Get a journal you can use for the Bible studies and exercises in this series.
- Download the iPhone app I Deserve a Donut or get the book – I’ll also be including some of the Donut questions in the Bible study.
Note: If you’re not familiar with the renewing of the mind, read The Renovation of the Mind. Today’s Bible study is also about the renewing of the mind.
The Challenge
For the next three weeks try to spend at least as much time renewing your mind as you do exercising – or watching television – or some other activity you always make time for.
Get up in the morning and prepare with truth. Then renew your mind throughout the day with truth. The more time you spend preparing your mind before temptation and in the early stages of temptation, the more likely you’ll be to say no to temptation.
If you have a hard time making yourself renew your mind, read this post: 8 Questions to Ask When You Don’t Want to Renew Your Mind.
Assignment
- Write your plan (from above) in your journal and start following it.
- Do this Bible study with your eating issues in mind: Working with God on Your Goal.
- Write the answers to the questions at the bottom of this blog post in your journal. Take some time and really think through the answers.
P.S. If anyone wants to share their goals for the renewing of the mind or boundaries in the comments, it would be fun to hear what everyone’s doing!
Taste for Truth 30 Day Weight Loss Bible Study
In the summer of 2012 I posted these weight loss Bible studies to go with the I Deserve a Donut app I’d recently published. They were so popular I decided to write more Bible studies plus edit and expand the ones I’d already posted. The book is called Taste for Truth: A 30 Day Weight Loss Bible Study.
A helpful companion book is I Deserve a Donut (And Other Lies That Make You Eat), which is also available as an android or iPhone app. Taste for Truth is a 30-day study and I Deserve a Donut is a tool you can use to renew your mind on a daily basis for ongoing weight loss/maintenance and to work through other problems in life.
Following Your Boundaries Questions
- Is there ever a good (i.e. easy) time to follow your boundaries faithfully?
- What would you gain by starting today to faithfully follow your boundaries, even when it’s difficult?
- What do you think will happen if you don’t start today?
- What sacrifices will you have to make to lose and/or maintain your weight?
- Do you have to make those sacrifices no matter when you make that commitment to follow your boundaries?
- Do you think it would be better to start following your boundaries faithfully now and just get it over with, or is there a good reason to wait?
- Are you the type of person who can go without boundaries in this area of your life and still maintain your weight? If not, what will you need to accept?
- When you think of what you feel like on the days you eat everything you want to eat, are there even some advantages to a strict-boundary lifestyle? Explain.
- What will your life and body look like a couple of months down the road if you continue to renew your mind every time you feel like breaking your boundaries?
- When you think of all you have to gain, is it worth following your boundaries today?
I think this series will speak to many- I don’t blog everyday, but I will try and read all these posts!
Really liked this part- “Are His reasons different than your reasons? If so, why?” We need our priorities and reasons to align with God. If we want to look appealing to the world and to fit the mold the world says we should then we are not going to be satisfied no matter how much weight we lose. God wants us happy and healthy.
So glad you have started this study, Barb! YAY!
Me too! And am LOVING the new app so far!! (Hey, Heidi!!)
I think the most important part is writing these things down in a journal and meditating on them. That really helps us plant these truths in our minds and hearts – and that’s when the fruit comes.
My goal is to love God with all my mind. My mind, as I experience it, goes off in so many directions at once, it is overwhelming! It is so undisciplined and random thoughts go flitting through like so many sparks in a fire. I know I need to just choose a smaller goal to work on – I’ll be praying for the Holy Spirit to show me, but would enjoy input from others.
You know, at first I was planning to suggest that everyone focus on just one area of eating during the three week session – but then I realized some people would rather just attack the whole thing. If you do decide to choose one area of life or eating, you could always do preparation truth in the morning for that and then renew your mind throughout the day.
I always do the area that’s affecting my life and relationship with God and others the most – for me, that area has been writing (it provides me with numerous different “opportunities” for growth”) for about a year now – boy, I would like a change of pace from that struggle, but so far it’s not happening! It’s two steps forward, one step back.
Hi everyone! I’m Brenda, friends with Heidi and Jackie through Thinwithin. :)
Reading this post left me with a struggle last week—I realized I don’t always know if I’ve broken my boundaries in eating. I needed to clarify and firm up my boundaries! I spent time in prayer and journaling this morning, and here’s what I’ve come up with:
Eat only when I am physically hungry ( “0” in Thinwithin)
Stop eating before I am full. ( at a “5” in thinwithin)
Slow down, sit down, pay attention when eating.
Mastery over sugar and refined carbs (based on 1 Cor 6:12, “…I will not be mastered by anything”).
Mastery means: IF I choose to have sweets on any given day, I will limit myself to no more than 10% of my total calories. I know from experience that’s about 150 calories. So one ounce of chocolate, 3 bites of a dessert. Mastery also means freedom to NOT eat sweets on any given day.
I know from experience that full-on restriction of any food results in a binge or rebellion. I want what that verse describes, “freedom ( everything’s permissible), responsibility ( not everything is beneficial) and mastery ( I will not be mastered by anything. That’s right out of Thinwithin, but I’m feeling God drawing me to focus on this part now.
Thanks for letting me share! :)
Hi Brenda – hope it helped to clarify your boundaries! I often find myself focusing on my main ones (three meals and a snack) and then forgetting about my secondary ones (no sweets before supper except for a few chocolate chips). And i do much better when I wait til supper to have sweets. Hope you enjoy the study!
Brenda, I am just starting this study. I REALLY appreciate your perspective on mastery. It is helping me think through the process of establishing boundaries for eating. Thank you so much!
I just came across this resource at a time when I really needed it… I am excited to start this study as I know my overeating can only change if I surrender it to God!
Hope it helps, Kerry – I also have another blog on the subject that has some examples of how I truth journaled when I was getting over my own battle with overeating. It’s at http://www.ideserveadonut.com. I haven’t been writing on it for awhile but if you look at the categories on the right of the blog you can find posts on subjects that interest you.
I bought I Deserve A Donut and loved it. I’m look at the current Bible study book that’s been out since 2008. How is this different from the one coming out in December? Do you need to do the first book before this one or is it a major revision of the 2008 study?
The one I wrote in 2008 is for emotional eating – so it mostly deals with our emotions. Many women have told me it helped them more with other areas of their life (anger, worry, discontentment, etc) than with eating. It’s a good foundational study and is more of a traditional study than the new one.
The new study deals more with the lies that make you eat – so it’s more food specific. Also, it’s not as deep of a study I don’t think. More of a “just enough truth to get through the day following your boundaries” study. You don’t need to do one before the other.
Glad you liked I Deserve a Donut!
I jumped over here from Heidi Bylsma’s blog to get some extra truth and encouragement as I seek to get my healthy eating habits back on track — and also to control a difficult problem I have with judgmental and critical thinking. I lost my weight several years ago. It’s just a matter of maintaining and staying with healthy foods. I can waver a bit on that and need some accountability and encouragement to stay the course. My more difficult problem is that of renewing my mind. I tend to have critical and judgmental thoughts about others — way too much!! Unfortunately, there are many in my “environment” who are prone to gossip. I do not want to join in and am really feeling the Holy Spirit’s conviction to put an end to this kind of activity in my own life. I have received much backlash from others when I choose not to participate. So — I need some instruction and truth on “renewing my mind.” This is such a battle! There’s nothing harder than controlling your thoughts and tongue! Anyway — one day at a time — one moment at a time — one word at a time — one thought at a time — with God’s divine power that demolishes strongholds! KK
Hi Karen, It’s great to have you hear. Heidi is a good friend of mine and I love her encouraging blog. I have also struggled with a critical and judgmental spirit. For me it was a lot easier to change in that area of my life than it was with eating. I wrote the judgment, pride, and anger questions in I Deserve a Donut based on my own experiences in struggling with those issues. One of these days I’ll blog more on that subject. I’ve been wanting to but just haven’t gotten around to it. I agree – it’s a battle to control our thoughts! But a battle that draws us closer to God as we rely on Him for help – that’s good!
Hi Barb, I’ve read a lot of your writings on weight management, etc and I’m trying to be a “renewed” reader now :-) I was wondering if 1. you have any new group Bible studies starting soon? 2. you recommend weighing and how often? 3. your thoughts on trying to keep a “streak” with the boundaries?
Thanks so much and love you for your insight and heart.
Hi Trina, I don’t know of any new group studies starting. If I hear of any, I usually post them on the weight loss resources tab up at the top of the blog – sorry about that! As far as weighing goes, I think it depends on the person. I’d probably recommend once a week unless it becomes a stumbling block. The problem with weighing is that we can get discouraged when the scale is higher than we think it should be – so I would recommend renewing your mind right after you weigh if the number is higher than you think.
By streak with boundaries, do you mean try to keep the boundaries for as many days in a row as possible? That sounds good as long as you don’t beat yourself up if you break the streak. It might be kind of a fun competition with yourself and I do recommend keeping boundaries all the time if possible, so the longer the streak the better!
Hope that helps, Trina, and thanks for the encouragement! I appreciate it!
I am so thankful for this to come at the time I need it the most. Over the last year I have lost 90 pounds and still need to lose over 100 more but the Lord has been faithful. But my focus needs to be on the Lord more and not everything going on around me. I have had alot of trials and tribulations recently and they affect my ability to making boundaries and I kind of “go with the flow” and it never works out too good. I need a fresh anointing from the Lord and I need to seek him with all my heart and enable Him to be first as I renew my mind in the things of God and it may be daily basis or it may be moment by moment. Thank you for supplying your gifts Barb in this way.
Hi Cyndi, It’s good to see you again! And that is SO AMAZING that that you have lost 90 pounds already. What an accomplishment! I know it’s hard when you have trials because it’s so tempting to eat for comfort. I’m so glad you’re continuing to renew your mind and pursue God. He is faithful and will help you lose that next 100 pounds.
Thank you for this, I have just found your webpage/blogsite via Google search, I am planning to start 2 Jan 2016 at the latest, and to use the time between now and then to read things through thoroughly gain some momentum and get on with finally getting God in his rightful place and dealing with my food issues. I shall be 46 in January we are expecting our first grandchild in a couple of weeks – i am 5’6”, 248lb I have just registered with very high blood pressure (the first time ever) and I owe it to God and my family to be in good health for a good number of years to come yet. I know the key is with God, in the word, … God is the key, yet in 15 years of faith I have yet to really get this right in the core of my being for this aspect of my life. Thank you for reaching out :)
Hi Ali, Sorry it took so long to reply! For some reason this was stuck in my spam filter and I just discovered it today. That’s exciting that you are going to God for help with getting healthy! If you want some companions on the journey, there is a Taste for Truth Bible study starting up on January 11th. You can find the info under the Podcast and Resources heading at the top of the blog and then the Online Bible study tab in the drop down menu. Praying you’ll be blessed in the journey.
Thank you so much for this, Barb! I’ve ordered the books. I’m very encouraged. :)
Wonderful, Sarah! I hope you enjoy them! Also wanted to let you know that a new Taste for Truth FB study just started up on Monday. Here’s the info if you’re interested in it: https://barbraveling.com/online-bible-studies/. It’s a great place to find support!
Happened upon this tonight after looking at some other Christian weight loss books online, and I’m so glad I did! I immediately went to Amazon and bought the books for the study. One of my boundaries is to limit Facebook time to an hour or less each day, with a secondary boundary of no mindless scrolling through my friend and newsfeed. I have to have a set purpose for logging on to Facebook; this study’s group being a key example. I’m excited to continue my weight loss journey (down 27 pounds since July!) from a Christian perspective!
Wow, that’s great – you’ve already lost a lot, Kat! I think this is the perfect timing for the weight loss Bible study. Hope you enjoy the study and the group experience! It’s always nice to have fellowship with others who are going through the same battle :)
I am just starting this study and have appreciated how God is directing. Last year my focus verse was Romans 12:2 with the focus word “renew”. My prayer throughout the year was for God to renew my mind in my various circumstances. This year my verse is 2 Cor. 12:9 with the focus word “grace”. My prayer has become that God renew my mind with His grace. My eating has been an ongoing battle for me. At the age of 66 you would think I could get it done. There have been periods of my life of temporary victory. But then the battle returns in full force. I have never worked through having boundaries before. I see this as a big step toward the mastery talked about in I Cor. 6:12. I am looking forward to learning more from this study. Thank you that it is still here available to read through!
Hi Barb! I love that you have both a word and a verse that you focus on for the year. Grace is a great word for working on weight loss too as we also need to give ourselves grace when we slip up – or maybe more accurately, remember that God gives us grace and thankfully accept it! Praying God will bless you as you go through the studies, Barb!
Why would you call it, I Deserve a Donut? That honestly seems like practicing evil, to me.
What I mean by that is, if a person has a weakness and then you get them thinking about and concentrating on that weakness, you have done them a dis-service and are hurting them. And that is practicing evil. Would you constantly talk about or wave a drink of alcohol in front of an alcoholic, or smoke in front of someone who is trying to quit? Probably not. So why talk about donuts and even use that word in the name of your app, to people with that particular weakness? Do you even think, woman?
Hi gjh! I laughed when I read your remark because yes, I do think. :) The full name of the app is “I Deserve a Donut (And Other Lies That Make You Eat)” so I’m not trying to promote the idea that we deserve donuts. It just occurred to me that I think I do still have a picture of a donut on the android app icon – do you have the android app version? In the iPhone app, I just have a D for the app icon. Are you just objecting to the word donut and picture of the donut on the Android app icon, or are you objecting to the app itself and the idea that we should look at the lies we believe that make us want to overeat and replace them with the truth that will change our desires? I might be able to answer your question better if I fully understand it.
I love the name of the app. I had lost 60 pounds last year and have gained 20 pounds back since Thanksgiving. Have been praying for God’s help to get back on track and to be the person he wants me to be. Donuts are my weakness!! And my employer serves us free donuts every Friday. When I was on track I’d eat none or one every once in a while. Now I just scarf down 3 and deal with guilt all day. It’s become a habit and one that needs to be broken. It’s like food has become a sin….if I thought about God as much as I thought about food…..well, you can finish that thought I’m sure. Anyways, I’m not sure I would have looked into this app if it had been named anything else, but it was almost like a blinking neon light for me and I thought it was funny and fitting that God would lead me to the truths I need by hanging a donut in front of me. Hahahaha! I’m so excited about this study and can’t wait to get started! Here’s to becoming healthier so I can serve the Lord better!
That’s so funny, Amber. I’m glad the app caught your attention. :) What a temptation to have free donuts every Friday – I guess you need an app called I Deserve a Donut! Hope you find it helpful!
Barb,
Thank you for this site!! I use food to calm my nerves and I am finding the reflection and meditation comforting. In the past I have been able to drop the weight, but find it all too easy to gain it back. I am looking forward to building the habit of renewal to support maintaining a healthy weight.
So glad you’re finding the Bible studies helpful, Amy! Praying God will help you develop the renewal habit!
I found you on Pinterest.
This series has been an eye opener for me!
I’m going to blog about this and share my weight loss journey with my readers.
I will link to your blog everyday and link to your books on Amazon.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
My journey begins today.
I will send you the link when I post.
God Bless you, Barb. <3
Hi Deborah! Sorry it took so long for me to write back. I’ve been out of town the past week. So glad this blogging series has been helpful! I think that’s great that you’re planning to blog about your experiences. Would love to see your blog if you get a chance to post a link to it here. And thanks for linking to my blog and books – I appreciate it. Praying God will bless you as you go to Him for help with this issue!
I look forward to becoming closer to God and being a witness for others as I take this journey.
That’s great, Cindi! I’m praying the same for you!
Last year I lost 70lbs. And I didn’t find it so hard. This year I’ve put back on 40lbs. I’ve realised I just can’t do it on my own anymore…. setting realistic goals/boundries And leaning on God’s strength… thank you in advance for this study. The questions have helped already!
Oh good, I’m glad they’re helpful, Lisa!
Hi Barb! Thank you so much for your blog and bible studies. I have 65 pounds to lose but more importantly, I pray that I am able to lose this stronghold that food has on me! Oh how I long for the day where I am not obsessed with food, how many points a food is, how much I can have, etc… I am turning this over to God because I can’t do this alone! I am seeing that I have a much bigger problem than just food. I have a problem with gluttony and slothfulness. Indulging my every want and feeling. For someone who hates boundaries and restrictions, I now see that to live joyfully and healthy that I do need and want boundaries in my life. So what started out as a search for help for weight loss, I am so hopeful that God is helping me to break free from self indulgence in other areas of my life as well! So again thank you!!
Wow, that is so great to hear, Suzanne! I also have a tendency toward slothfulness and indulgence so I know how hard it is to change. I’m praying God will give you victory in this area of your life and so glad you’re going to Him for help with it!
Every word spoken in your comment is my life right now, looking forward to establishing boundaries and renewing my mind daily!
Praying God will bless you as you do that, Sarah!