When the Cookies are Calling Your Name

Picture this. You just finished the laundry, and all of a sudden you notice the yummy cookies in the cupboard next to the washing machine.

It’s not lunch, you’re not hungry, and yet those cookies are calling out your name. What are you going to tell them?

Thanks, but no thanks, little cookies, I think I’ll renew my mind instead. 

Here are some questions you can journal through and Bible verses you can use the next time those cookies start calling your name. 9 times out of 10, I won’t even want the cookies by the time I’m halfway through the questions or the verses (which is better than not wanting them by the time I’m halfway through the bag of cookies!).

Note: These questions and Bible verses are from I Deserve a Donut (And Other Lies That Make You Eat). If you’d like a Bible study to help you with your weight loss efforts, check out Taste for Truth: A 30 Day Weight Loss Bible Study.

Good Food Eating

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how great do you think this food would taste? *
2. How much would you need to eat to be satisfied? **
3. Can you eat this food without breaking your boundaries?
4. How often will you follow your boundaries if you only follow them on the days you feel like following them? (Be honest.)
5. Do you think God wants you to follow your boundaries? Why or why not?
6. Are boundaries easy to follow or do you usually have to give up something to follow them?
7. What will you have to give up to follow your boundaries this time?
8. What will your life and body look like a couple of months down the road if you develop the habit of consistently following your boundaries?
9. When you think of all you’ll gain, is it worth the sacrifice?
   1. No: If not, which boundary will you break? Is that a good boundary? Why?
   2. Yes: If so, will you be more likely to break your boundaries later if you eat this now? Why or why not?

* Be sure to take into consideration the quality of the food and your level of hunger before you answer this question. Then consider: is it worth eating anything less than a 9 if it’s not good for you and you don’t need it?

** If your answer is No amount will satisfy me, turn to the emotional eating questions.

 Bible Verses

 Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

Luke 12:15 Then (Jesus) said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of possessions.”

Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Philippians 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Philippians 4:11-12 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.