Counseling People With Eating Disorders -- Notes
Eating disorders are spiritual disorders with physical consequences. We can become a slave to just about anything.
Anorexia can be life threatening.
2 Cor 5:14-17
God has always expected self-control from us.
The same spirit that leads to drunkenness is in gluttony
Gluttony begins by training children not to eat according to their needs
When we attempt to meet needs of the soul and spirit through the physical.
When the soul is satisfied you won't be looking around to satisfaction from the physical
The number one predictor of diet failure is stress
Addictions tend to perpetuate themselves
The solution is not a diet. The real issue is a spiritual one not a physical.
The Diet Alternative
If you wait for the circumstances to be right before you make a spiritual decision it will never be right.
Failure is typical in the life of someone on the road to recovery.
10% in learning phase 20% in the doing phase 70% in the correction phase
The Holy Spirit convicts and draws us to Christ. He is always seeking to restore fellowship with the Father. Another spirit seeks to condemn and drive us away. That is how you can tell what kind of a spirit it is.
The solution is sowing to the spirit.
Put no confidence in the flesh and make no provision for it.
Don't give the addiction a chance.
Identify your greatest weakness and stay away from it.
Identify your troublesome food.
If you are hungry and not craving a specific food than that is ok
If you repeatedly crave a specific food you probably have an addictive allergy to that food. Identify it and stay away from it for at least six weeks.
Move from eating to non-eating activities
You can't just take overeating away without replacing it with something better.
Target blessing
Eat only when you are truly hungry and stop when your hunger is gone.
Overcome through the grace of God rather than a bunch of dos and don'ts
If we are in the Spirit keep in step with the Spirit
If you walk in fellowship with the Spirit it is impossible for you to fulfill the lust of the flesh. As we are abiding in Him, He is the one doing the walking.
Someone following this will likely loose weight.
3500 cal = 1 lb.
If there is any area where we lack fellowship and obedience it will affect us in other areas of our life.
Fast secretly
Laying down the law as the basis for our behavior makes it harder for us to do right.
