The Skinny Glutton

“It says here that you agree that overeating is a concern for you…but I mean...I’m looking at you I’m guessing that’s not true.” I sat across the table from the counselor, baffled. One of the pre-session survey questions for our marriage counseling session was, “Do you agree that overeating is an area of concern for you?” I confidently marked Yes. As the counselor read over the results, he sized me up, laughed, and basically told me...yeah, there’s no way. How could a 5’7”, 125 pound girl possibly have an overeating problem? 

As I wrote in my last post, uncontrolled eating, or gluttony, is not a matter of getting fat but rather it is an attitude of idolatry toward food. I mentioned how gluttony stems from three heart issues, one of which being lack of self-control. It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside, all of us can, and probably do, struggle with this issue. I definitely did. So I would like to share with you my experience with this aspect of gluttony and how the Lord is bringing me out of it.

First of all, in this post I say I did, past tense, struggle with lack of self-control toward food not because I feel like I will never stumble in this area again, but because Christ has given me the power to walk in holiness today (1 Peter 1:16, 2 Peter 1:10). It doesn’t matter if I lost self-control yesterday, His mercies are new every day (Lamentations 3:22-23). If I can be free from this sin in the future, why can’t I be free of it today? Because of this, you will not see me referring to gluttony as an active sin in my life but rather an active temptation. I know I haven’t been perfected in this area, but I’m not claiming that this sin has any power over me. 

Okay, that was a little bunny trail but I felt like it had to be said. Back to the point. It can be super hard to be self-controlled and stop eating when our bodies tell us we’ve had enough because food is really good. God created food to be really good, a gift to mankind (read God’s Original Design for Food). Yet just like all other good things, food was used by the devil to distract us from God and get us to worship the created rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25). It doesn’t help that our modern food processing techniques make food very addicting and much less filling, making it so that we can eat more without feeling as full. Unfortunately for me, feeling full wasn’t a sure-fire way to get me to stop eating anyway. I used to eat until I couldn’t walk. I was the poster-child for “there’s always room for dessert.” You couldn’t put a bowl of Cheetos in front of me and not expect me to eat to the last crumb. Yet I stayed skinny as ever. This was due largely to my small stomach and high metabolism (“good genes” as some would call it). Shamefully I say it was also due to my guilt-driven “junk food fasts” that I would take after indulging to make up for the extra calories. I would basically eat only vegetables for a week, “splurge” (more like binge) at the next special occasion, and then punish myself again the next week, and so on. This binging cycle is a clear example of gluttony, even though I didn’t fit the picture of a fat person with frosting on their face 24/7. 

I wish I could stop there but lack of self-control looks like so much more than just over-eating. We also need to show self-control by eating patiently, calmly, and at designated times. I’m thinking about times where I would eat before everyone had their food, when I would literally stuff my face with leftovers when no one was looking, or when I would sneak snacks when I really didn’t need to eat. These might all sound like trivial issues but this type of behavior is directly condemned in Scripture. Paul writes his condemnation to the church in Corinth when he observed that the Lord’s supper was taken in complete chaos: 

“When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?” 1 Corinthians 11:20-22a

I never used to think that sneaking a few bites before we all sat down for a meal was a sin but with the wrong mindset it can be. Love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4), therefore if we say we have the love of Christ in us, we can wait until the proper time to eat. “So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home…” (1 Corinthians 11:33-34a)

Lack of self-control can also look like eating too wildly. Like I said, I’ve “stuffed my face” and eaten in weird, unnatural ways, like scooping food into my mouth with my hands because I’m too hungry (or too lazy) to get myself a spoon. Again, this might sound more unhygienic than sinful but this is again condemned in the Bible, in 1 Samuel 14. Over 3000 years ago, King Saul was leading Israel in a battle against the Philistines and made a rash vow that anyone who ate before the Philistines were defeated would be cursed (1 Samuel 14:24). When they finally won the victory after a day or more of not eating, it says, “The people pounced on the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground. And the people ate them with the blood.” (1 Samuel 14:32) I’ve been really hungry but I don’t think I’ve ever been hungry enough to eat raw sheep...

Although the Isaerite’s fatigue was undoubtedly legitimate, it was not an excuse to transgress the law that God had given of not eating raw meat. In the same way, no matter how hungry we are, we never have an excuse to contradict God’s command to be self-controlled. Jesus showed us that it is possible to be self-controlled even when we are hungry when he fasted for 40 days yet never gave in to temptation. This means, as much as I hate to say it, that, yes...being “hangry” is a sin. Is hunger an excuse to lash out against people? I don’t think so. We are not to live under the control of our flesh but rather under the control of the Spirit, who enables us to put to death the deeds of the flesh.

Okay, so we know that gluttony is a self-control issue but how do we overcome this? First and foremost we can’t overcome a flesh issue with more flesh. I’ve tried to will-power my way through saying no to second helpings but it fails every time. I finally learned that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that I find my strength to keep my flesh under control. Romans 8:12-13 says, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Allowing the Spirit to put to death the whims of the body starts with prayer. Saying grace is no longer a generic ritual for me but rather it is a time where I can ask, “Lord, will you help me to stop eating when I’m full?” I also make it a point to smile before I eat and thank God for the blessing and joy of eating good food. It’s all a matter of surrendering yourself to the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit (joy, patience, and self-control) will come naturally. This might sound overly simplified but it really all starts with prayer. If you can become in tune with the voice of God, the Holy Spirit will guide you in how to walk out the next step.

The second thing you can do to be more self-control around food is being aware of the types of food you are eating. I’ve mentioned many times that chips are my weakness and this is because of one main reason: salt. Anything that is salty and convenient to eat is going to send off happy sirens in your brain that will completely drown out any reasoning saying, “STOP EATING THAT STUFF!” Other preservatives/additives that have a similarly addicting nature include sugar, MSG, natural flavors, artificial sweeteners, caffeine, and many others. While I 100% believe the Holy Spirit can empower you to say no to even these highly addictive foods, there is no reason to believe God will help you stop eating them when you know you shouldn’t have started eating them in the first place. I am not at all saying that eating processed food is a sin, I’m just saying these foods make it easier to fall into gluttony. If you want to have chips or M&Ms, which is totally okay, try portioning them out or following them up with some filling foods like carrots or meat, that way your body will feel satisfied and not try to keep going back for more and more and more. The cool part is, the less you have these processed foods, the easier it is to listen to your body telling you when you’ve had enough. 

I hope that this post encouraged you if you struggle in this area and helped you feel like you’re not alone. More importantly, I hope that you got some new ideas for how you can surrender this issue to the Lord. I know these aren’t the most fun topics but we have to talk about the importance of these issues if we are ever going to be motivated to address them! I’m not completely through it, but God has healed me so much and He has healing in store for you too! Until next time, pray, be thankful, and enjoy eating all for His glory!