Have you ever been moving steadily down the path of balanced, healthy living and BAM, out of nowhere, one food can cause things to spiral out of control before you even know what hit you? Me too, you’re not alone.

I felt the Lord prompting me to share with all of you some of the ways He’s helped me to keep trigger foods in check. I pray these help free your mind and spirit today!

Out of sheer frustration one-day, I really took my struggle with certain foods to the Lord in hopes of understanding how to handle them appropriately. Truthfully, I was tired of feeling helpless to enjoy certain foods without the risk of binging. I was confused and frustrated. I’d overcome most of my disordered eating why did certain foods so often leave me feeling out-of-control and frantic? I began to press into the Lord for help. Now before I begin, I’d like to say that there are volumes of information and opinions on the addictive qualities of certain foods. I’m not going to address those; rather, my purpose for this devotional is to simply share what I believe the Father heart of God chose to share with me for the purpose of granting me more freedom and abundant life.

Is it the food or is your soul starving?

Above all else I’ve come to understand that if my spirit is starving, my flesh is very vulnerable to over eating. When I’m slipping into a pattern of overusing food, the first place I need to look is at the condition of my spirit. Have I been consistently feeding on the Word of God? Do I need to spend time with Him in prayer and praise? Almost without fail, if my flesh is crying out to be satisfied, the answer is no. In times like this, I need to be very purposeful about seeking the Lord to fill my spirit so that I use my body to glorify Him.

Proverbs 4:20-23 Amplified Bible “My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.”

John 15:4, Jesus said, “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.”

Understand the trigger!

I used to use food as a source of punishment. I would overeat as a “weapon” against myself. After I was restored and healed from that I was confused about why I would still over-do-it with certain foods. I took it to the Lord in prayer and He revealed something quite unexpected. He showed me that I was no longer using food to abuse myself; I was using it as a source of misdirected “self-care”. I began to understand that my need to feel good was actually a healthy instinct that just needed some redirection.

When I realized that my body was pleading for self-care I had a whole new outlook on how I viewed trigger foods. Up to that point, I believed that as long as my spirit was full I wasn’t vulnerable to over eating. While that is a KEY factor to successfully overcoming binging, the missing link for me was realizing that I also needed self-care. I began to make a connection. I realized that when I was purposeful about caring for myself in healthier ways, I could eat the same foods I might otherwise abuse without struggle. Now if I’m feeling that way, I quickly make room and time to do other things that restore me: I sit in the sun by myself doing NOTHING, enjoy a nap, I make time to get away for a little while, read something just for pleasure, or treat my body to a bath or at-home spa time. I’ve discovered that it actually takes very little to restore myself and when I enjoy a little self-care to “fill my tank” the trigger foods don’t have power over me.

Mark 12:31 "Love your neighbor as yourself." This implies that to love others well, we must also love ourselves well.

Enjoy trigger foods in the company of others

I don’t know about you, but I rarely struggle with trigger foods when I’m in the company of others. It’s only those times I’m alone at home that I feel vulnerable. I believe the Enemy uses that time of isolation to make us weak and with no accountability we are far more vulnerable to stumbling. For that reason, I also recommend enjoying foods that may trigger you when you have the support of others around you. For instance, if peanut butter is something that you may easily overuse, trying making it something you enjoy outside of the home. Make a peanut butter sandwich to take with you for lunch or a snack. Maybe it’s dessert. Make dessert something that you enjoy when you are out to eat with family or friends. It allows you to enjoy it with praise and thanksgiving without the risk of overeating which often leads to shame and condemnation.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 (MSG) “By yourself you’re unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.”

If God says it’s not beneficial, listen!

I am a huge proponent of embracing balance in both food and exercise. After years of life learning, I have a firm understanding that any extreme is very hard to sustain long-term. Considering too many foods “off-limits” or “bad” makes it easy to stay bound to a diet mentality. That said, scripture does make it clear however, that though all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial. Even after having walked the journey to diet recovery, I still struggle with keeping chocolate within healthy boundaries. Sometimes I can eat a very reasonable portion, enjoy it, and move on - most of the time I can’t. After praying about this, I’ve heard over and over from the Lord, “chocolate is the food you need to resist.” Of all the glorious, tasty, abundant choices the Lord generously offers me to enjoy, He has lovingly directed me to stay away from only one. He knows me better than I know myself and He knows that this one food can easily lead me to a place where my flesh struggles to maintain self-control. I will tell you that when I listen to His leading on this, I am free. It’s a relief for me and increases my peace. God has told me this for years. I’m a work in progress. Most of the time I listen and obey, sometimes I don’t. But, I’m always blessed by freedom in my mind and peace of my body when I do. If you have something that repeatedly causes you stumble, I would encourage you to seek the Lord in prayer to ask if that’s something you need to abstain from as an offering of sacrifice for His blessing. In return He will give you amazing peace and freedom.

1 Corinthians 10:23 (AMP) ” All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].”