The way to end the entire nightmare cycle of eating disorders is to get to the root problem—you have a desire to go against the will of God and it must stop. The way to end this is to transfer your passion for food—or in anorexia, for too thin of a body—to passion for God. What the diet industry has done in this country has resulted in years and years of deprivation and harsh treatment of the body from man-made rules. The deprivation that I am referring to comes in two basic forms. It is either a caloric deprivation—for example, counting calories every day—or food category deprivation, for example, no sugars or fats. Caloric deprivation causes you to starve off the fat until you just can- not take it anymore. You then eat everything in sight. Americans have been known to consume thousands of calories in binges. In the last post, we addressed the focus and the vicious cycle that results.

The second area of deprivation is caused by the prolonged abstinence from certain food groups. Typically, the average weight-reduction diet eliminates breads or sweets or fats, and some eliminate all sugars, flour, and so on. This constant refusal to give the body a nutrient it is calling for will ultimately result in a binge and then guilt-ridden secret rendezvous with this “bad” food—but the rules you break are man’s, not God’s, so the resulting guilt is false guilt. This was a result of following man’s rules, but do not get caught up in feeling guilty. By following that diet that left out these nutrients, you thought what you were doing was righteous, but it was man’s rules— you feel guilty not following the diet and then you also feel guilty, though, from a binge that is basically driven from the wrong kind of self-denial. Self-denial must always be from God. For example, it is wrong to punish yourself with a fast. A fast should be something you feel God leading you to do for spiritual reasons. Over the centuries, various religions would lay burdens on other people, trying to get them to punish their body—but it was man-directed and not God- directed. After years of purging, some people seem to automatically throw up after a meal. This is reverse peristalsis. Your body is confused, but it will return to normal forward-moving peristalsis as you reverse the focus.
Some of you have spent years in therapy and rehab units; these rehabs only make you more self-focused. It is time to turn to God through Jesus Christ who can help you through this. We will address more of this topic tomorrow.

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