How to Stop Emotional Eating Forever

What’s the number one reason for emotional eating? How would you answer that question?

The answer is simpler than you may think. So is the solution. Now, I’m not saying it’s simple.

Thoughts, behaviors, and choices that we’ve cultivated in our minds and lives have had a long time to take root and become habits. However, we can break bad habits, think differently, and change our lives.

When it comes to emotional eating, we often ask how. I’m excited to share some powerful truths today that will show you how to stop emotional eating forever.

I’m not coming from a position of always getting it right. Of always being healthy weight, fit, having good eating habits, and full of joy.

On the contrary, I’ve been there. Where? Fat, depressed, and stressed!

But thanks be to God, I learned how to stop stress eating. It’s these powerful tips to break the cycle of emotional eating I’m thrilled to share with you today.

How to Stop Emotional Eating

Emotional eating wreaks havoc on our lives, all while trying to fill a void.

I turned to food to combat negative emotions (negative self image, depression, stress, etc.). That is, until I learned the truth of God’s love and how His love was able to fill me completely.

There is hope to combat emotional eating and improve health. I want to teach you how and empower you to be victorious. Not only that, but discover what scientists have found about believing in God’s love and the health of your cells!

Food and Emotions

Today we’re talking about a topic that’s so important. I say that all the time, but this is the number one reason for emotional eating.

It’s also the number one reason for:

• Sleep disorders

• Depression

• Decreased immunity

• Lower test scores in school for kids

Now, maybe an answer has already popped in your head. Let me tell you what I’ve discovered: The number one reason for emotional eating is lack of love.

I know, it’s simple. It’s a four letter word. We see the word all over the place.

If you live in Virginia, or enter into Virginia, you’ll see it. The state motto, that’s displayed in a host of places, says, “Virginia is for lovers.”

I love Virginia. And the word love is all over the place in my state.

But it’s a word that’s used so flippantly most of us truly don’t understand or really comprehend what love is.

How to stop eating your emotions

Because of our lack of understanding of true, faithful, perfect love, many people resort to emotional eating. I know I did!

But what we’re doing is trying to satisfy something we don’t understand was meant to be satisfied in a different way.

I’m so excited because today we’re going to talk about God’s love for you and how that can actually change the chemistry of your body.

This is huge.

I’m excited to share with you the “secret sauce” that comes with this recipe of God’s love.

The #1 cause of emotional eating

Today we’re focusing on the number one reason for emotional eating: lack of love.

Check out this video where I talk about the #1 reason behind emotional eating – and how to end it for good.

It’s not that we just have a lack of love, but that we have a desperate need to understand love from God’s perspective. We are malnourished in our understanding of God’s love and lack a healthy, balanced love with other people.

God’s Love

As we focus on God’s love, I have some interesting information to share. So make sure you stay through to the end. Yes, I’m giving a teaser!

C. S. Lewis was a very prominent author in the mid-1900s. He wrote in a letter to a friend, in which he said, “God loves us. Not because we are lovable, but because He is love. And not because He needs to receive anything from us, but because He delights to give.”

1 John 3:1 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are..”

Don’t you love that word “lavished?”

That’s what we are. We’re children of God and He wants to lavish His love on us. God wants us to know that He loves us.

Really know. Not just in our heads, but in the core of our beings.

How do I defeat emotional eating?

God’s love is evident in how He created us. Have you watched the video about God’s fingerprints? Check it out below:

Dive into greater understanding of His love for you!

Now, many of you have also read my story. Maybe you read it on the My Story page of my website.

I struggled. I struggled with being fat, ugly, and depressed. You name it, I dealt with it. I ached for many reasons and it wasn’t because I wanted love. It was because I wanted out.

I wanted to get out. I wasn’t happy. It was awful.

Through those days, I couldn’t look in the mirror and say, “I love the body you’ve given me, Lord. I love what you’re doing in my life.”

I didn’t understand the true value of God’s love. As a result, I had to learn everything all over again. And that’s why I’m so passionate about wanting to teach this to you.

There’s so much to learn about God’s love.

There may be some things here you’ve never heard before.

You may have heard God loves you. (I hope you have!) But circumstances may have caused you to question His love. Or perhaps you’ve tried several times to draw into God’s love, but were left empty again.

Go to the table…of God’s love

Well, just as it is at a buffet table, you get a clean plate and go back…today you get a clean plate and go back and ask for a serving of God’s love.

Because He continues to give it and give it and give it.

Here is a fascinating video on on God’s amazing love for us!

God teaches us He loves and forgives and loves and forgives.

In fact, the cross reminds us of His love and forgiveness. All He asks is that we turn to Him.

In Matthew 22:36 (Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27),  Jesus confirms the greatest commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul, and with all of your mind and with all of your strength.”

God’s love is even evident in our cells.

Science, Love, and Emotional Eating

A recent study goes even further in helping us understand the connection between our perception of God’s love and illness. This is an amazing study. It gets me even more excited about God’s word and God’s love.

The latest study is written by Dr. Gail Ironson from the University of Miami. What she discovered from a 4 year study of patients suffering from a terminal disease is earth-shattering.

People in the study who didn’t believe God loved them lost their helper T cells 3 times faster than those who did.

Just in case you’re not sure what T cells are, let me elaborate. T  helper cells are similar to white blood cells. They’re your immune system in action. They fight for you. They protect you. And do everything they can to keep you alive and healthy.

They’re very important! T cells directly attack invaders as if your life depends on it.

The study goes on to say the viral load – how much disease participants had in their bloodstream – increased 3 times faster in those who didn’t believe God loved them. And their stress levels were higher, creating more damaging amounts of cortisone. In other words, trouble with the big T.

She summarizes her findings by saying that believing God loves you is an enormous protective factor. Even more so than scoring low for depression and high for optimism.

People who say to just speak positively and it’ll happen believe optimistic thinking is enough. That only works to a degree. Being grounded in the knowledge of God’s love for you works to an exponentially higher degree.

A view of the benevolent God is protective. But scoring high on a personalized statement, “God loves me,” is even stronger.

Putting Truth into Action

I always get excited when I hear of God revealing himself through scientific studies. What an amazing praise. Despite so many scientists attempting to disprove God and His power, God keeps showing up!

I went into a grocery store soon after reading this study. As the checker scanned my groceries, he sneezed. Everyone around said, “Bless you.” I said, “God loves you.” This young college student gave me that look.

I asked him if he knew why I told him God loves him. He gave me the same confused, confounded look. “No,” he answered.

“I told you that God loves you because when your cells hear God’s name, they respond. In fact, your T cell count just went up. Isn’t that amazing?”

He gave me that look again. But that’s okay! I planted a seed. The good news is, regardless of whether he believed me or not, his cells heard God’s name in a good way.

It’s amazing how this all works. How a study reveals God’s truth.

Your T cells respond to your beliefs. Your immune system is impacted by your beliefs. For your body to go on a warpath against invaders, they need to hear the battle cry. And they need to feel your beliefs.

Battle cry to gain control over emotional eating

We just learned the battle cry: God loves me!

Say that with me, right now. God Loves Me!

I know I can’t hear you, but I trust you said it out loud.

Turn to the person next to you, if someone is with you, and tell them, “God loves you, too.”

Don’t worry about looking weird! We do all sorts of weird and silly things in life. If we can’t look silly for God and to help our bodies fight the invaders of this world, then there’s nothing worth looking foolish for.

You see, your cells respond to the Maker’s name. Your cells know their Maker. It doesn’t matter how close to or how far away you feel from the Lord, your cells know the Maker’s name.

Here is a video on 7 steps to overcome emotional eating… for good!

If you would rather listen to the content of this video, here is a podcast episode on this topic. Give it a listen and please feel free to download or share it with your friends!

When we speak God’s word, when we say, “God loves me,” when we personalize it, our T-cell count goes up.

So if God’s love is this powerful and can change the very chemistry of our bodies, why doesn’t everyone make this proclamation every day?

We all have days the enemy tries to distract us from God’s love. Just the simple fact of treating our bodies as if we own it, shows our obstinacy to that love.

But we need to never let thoughts such as these invade our minds:

• God could never love me

• There’s no loving God

• God wasn’t there when my life fell apart

These are all spiritual destroyers and cellular suicide.

They’re lies of the enemy. They’re weights on our bodies.

How to Stop Overeating – Fight Back with Love!

When I started to understand God’s love for me, I was carrying such weight – both physical and emotional.

I carried mental weights such as being stressed and being unloving and unforgiving. All of this extra weight caused me to go to food for my comfort, creating harmful eating habits. Food was my best friend.

But God created us so that only He can satisfy our desires.

Only God can bring peace in our lives.

There’s a flavor that God has put in His love that’s satisfied by grace. There is a flavor enhancer in our bodies that craves God’s grace and love.

It starts by understanding that God loves you.

He offers his grace for us to experience His love. And when we acknowledge it and embrace it, it brings peace that’s beyond our comprehension.

This peace replaces the need for food to fill that void. Foods that might be harmful. Foods’ that link to disease. Or foods we eat in an attempt to fulfill a void of emotional hurt or lacking in our lives.

You see, I had to learn to go to God for my needs and stop going to food to try to satisfy me. It doesn’t work. Food will never satisfy you.

But God’s love is enough to fill that satisfaction that you need!

#1 Tip to stop emotional eating

This is one of my favorite points to share. The #1 reason we eat emotionally is a lack of love.

The #1 way to fill that, to not eat food in a way that’s detrimental to your health, is to understand God loves you.

I want to challenge you, every morning, first thing before anything else, say, “God loves me.”

Even if you go back to the childhood song and sing it each morning, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

Whatever you have to do to remind yourself that He loves you. And how much He does!

It’s written:

• in His word
• on creation
• in His food

In fact, it’s written everywhere.

This is the first step to perfect, complete healing in your body. To mindful eating, instead of mindless eating.

The first step to recognizing how much God wants to heal your body.

This is what we all need: more of God’s love.

I challenge you to say every morning, “God loves me.”

Whenever you face a difficulty or challenge, say, “God loves me.”

Whenever you sneeze, say, “God loves me. I need my T cell count to go up.”

I challenge you to do this.

How to Stop Emotional Eating and Lose Weight

Make the battle cry to stop eating according to your emotions. Win a victory for your health.

Emotional eating isn’t about physical hunger. It’s about an emotional, spiritual health need. Win the battle over emotional eating with emotional, spiritual tools.

I hope you will take this all-important step starting today!

Your eating habits will change if you start here. You don’t necessarily have to focus on your eating habits, your weight, or trying to lose x-number of pounds.

Instead, defeat emotional eating by increasing your body’s health from the inside. Food is not the problem. Food is the symptom.

A lack of understanding God’s love for us is what we need to “lose” in order to feel better and help ourselves become healthier.

I’d love to hear how this truth has changed your life.

Has it helped you lose insecurity, stress, and depression?

Is this truth helping you defeat a cycle of binge eating?

Has it helped you gain emotional health, mental health, mindful eating, and joy?

Do you have a greater, deeper understanding of God’s love that’s disconnecting you from a desire to use food to fulfill the empty places inside?

Also, tell me God loves you. Tell me where you are. That God loves you right where you are. He loves me right here in Richmond, VA. He loves you in your city and state. Type it out and let me know this truth is being ingrained in your heart.

Please let me know in the comment below.

I look forward to hearing from you!