According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 60% of Americans are obese.

Medical and disability reasons aside, a common cause of obesity is perpetual overeating. I personally know what it's like to have no self-control, to binge and binge, day after day. The self-loathing, the despair; hating the obsession, but loving the taste of the food all the while.

If you often "drown your sorrows" in a tub of ice cream, read on. :)

The Heart of the Matter 

Studies show that a high percentage of men and women who lose weight through dieting will eventually gain all the weight back, plus some. Why is this? If losing weight makes us feel so good about our bodies, why do we allow ourselves to gain the weight back?

There is a psychological phenomenon making a growing appearance amongst gastric by-pass patients, a condition known as "addiction transfer," and it offers us an important clue. People who have lost huge amounts of weight through this "stomach-stapling" surgery are later becoming addicted to alcohol or other substances, compulsive shopping, gambling, promiscuity, etc. Here's why: Dopamine, a brain chemical classified as a neurotransmitter, is responsible for pleasure feelings in the brain. Drinking alcohol or eating "comfort" foods boosts the levels of dopamine in your brain making you feel good for a temporary amount of time. When the levels drop back down again, you feel a craving (a sense that something is lacking), and you seek to fufill that craving. Essentially, you need a boost to feel better emotionally. So you eat a chocolate bar or drink some whiskey. With gastric bypass patients, their ability to overeat is suddenly gone (their stomach is too small), but their need for a "boost" is still there. They must find something else to fill the void; hence the phenomenom of addiction transfers.

This indicates that unfulfilled emotional needs are the root cause of addiction. So, while excess weight is sometimes a medical or disability condition, for many of us, a food addiction is manifest. In which case, dieting and losing weight will never be permanent until the underlying causes of the addiction are first addressed! We can not remove our source of comfort - food - without first filling the void with something else. Otherwise, after depriving ourselves for a few months (dieting), we'll eventually give in to the overwhelming cravings for comfort foods in the same way that an alcoholic longs for another drink. No one likes to feel dreary and depressed for long periods of time. (If you've ever tried to quit smoking, for example, you know how miserable you can get without nicotine.) This is why despite your elation in losing weight, chances are high that you will gain it all back unless you find a way to manage your addiction.

I'm sure you all see the obvious paradox here: Being overweight makes you unhappy, so you overeat to "feel better." When the high wears off and you regret that supersized fries, you overeat again for more comfort. I used to blame my depression on my weight. But now I realize it was depression itself that caused me to become overweight! I was turning to food for comfort whenever I felt sad, anxious, scared, unhappy, insecure, lonely, etc. We aren't born overweight, it takes years and even decades to reach a state of obesity. For me, eating food for comfort, above and beyond legitimate physiological hunger needs, eventually lead to my being overweight.

We have to pinpoint why we are overeating. What emotional needs are we seeking to fill through food? The thing is, no matter how much we love food, it will never love us back. We must seek other methods of emotional fulfillment; life-giving ones. As born-again Christians, our comfort and security must come from our relationship with a loving, heavenly Father. The next time you are hurting, I urge you to spend time in prayer and BIble study, laying all your burdens at the foot of the cross. Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29)

Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Quiet time with God won't release extra bursts of dopamine in your brain, but over time, your body will learn to adjust to the new levels. The food cravings will decrease in frequency and intensity. I know this to be true because I've lived it. Any recovered cigarette smoker, alcoholic, or drug addict can attest to this. There is a light at the end of the tunnel! As a follower of Christ, you too can learn to successfully manage a food addiction.

Food Addiction and Alcoholism

Even if a recovered alcoholic never takes another drink for the rest of his life, he is still an alcoholic. The same goes for those of us who have lost a lot of weight and wish to maintain that weightloss: We must recognize how vulnerable to comfort foods we will always be. And we must find ways to protect ourselves from future falls.

Gluttony is a socially acceptable addiction, and like alcoholism, it has a tendency to "run in the family." It is common to see overweight adults with overweight children. We also all know overweight individuals who have tried every diet under the sun but couldn't stick to them in the long-run (ourselves included). Now, I'm not trying to be harsh here, but a wake-up call is needed. Until you can fully grasp where you are right now, you won't be able to overcome anything. Honesty is the first step to recovery: We have to admit that we are, in fact, addicts.

You can't "turn off" an addiction simply by dieting; counting calories, eating low-fat foods and depriving yourself of sweets. Eventually you will throw in the towel when squelched cravings grow out of control. Colossians 2:20-23 says, "Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 'Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!'? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."

Like the alcoholic who longs for just one harmless drink, the food addict is going to continue to long for just one chocolate bar, just one bag of chips. But chances are, if you aren't hungry and you start to nibble, it's only a hop, skip and a jump till you've downed the entire pan of brownies. It's as if you go into a trance; self-control goes out the window. This is crucial: A food addict, who is trying to lose weight or to maintain weightloss, must not keep their pantry and fridge stocked with trigger foods! The only way to avoid binging is to keep your food vices out of the house. I'm not talking about normal, healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, meat, milk and cheese; I'm talking about the indulgent foods: pop, potato chips, cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, donuts, chocolate, etc. There's nothing wrong with these foods in themselves (other than additives and preservatives, trans fat, and obvious lack of nutrition) and it's certainly not a sin to enjoy sweets or snack foods once in a while! They are delicious and enjoyable in the healthy context of moderation. In the same way that we can't realistically cut these foods entirely from our diets, we can't keep our pantries stocked with them either.

Do you love chocolate? Buy one chocolate bar at a time. Chips? Buy one snack-sized bag of chips at a time (or buy a normal bag if they're to be shared with friends). ONE. I personally can not handle the temptation of a box of chocolate bars or a package of donuts/pastries. So I never buy them. I buy one donut or one chocolate bar at a time. That's all I can handle. And if we have company for dinner and there's half a pie leftover or half a cake, etc., I wrap up the leftover and put it in the freezer; I can't handle the temptation otherwise. If it's frozen, I can't binge on it! This is handy too, because usually there's enough dessert leftover to serve again the next time I have company. It saves money and I don't end up eating half a pie (which I would if it wasn't frozen solid). And this is hardly depriving myself - I happily ate a piece of pie and ice cream right alongside my guests. You see, it's not the foods in themselves that pack on the pounds, it's the gorging on "the leftovers" that does. You don't get drunk on one glass of wine. But drink an entire bottle . . . Again, it all comes down to greed and addiction; over-indulgence. Eating cake because you're bored and unhappy. Drinking alcohol to numb the pain.

Proverbs 23:19-21 says, "Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path. Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

Don't Give Up, Even After Countless Falls

Giving into a binge every few days shouldn't be a reason give up. Yes, you'll feel awful and miserable everytime you give in and binge. But if you keep getting back up after a fall, you'll eventually get there. Endurance wins the race. You see, the way to remain overweight is to continue overeating 24/7. An occasional bad day won't make you gain the weight back; though, yes, a binge every couple of days will slow your weightloss progess to some degree. However, it's certainly no reason to quit. It's just a bump in the long, winding road. Climbing a mountain is hard work! Think of it this way: Going two days before giving into a binge is not a failure, not if you normally binge every day. This is an accomplishment!

The time will come when you'll go three days without a binge and then a week. Another accomplishment! Some months you might go weeks before a stumble, perhaps even a month. But you will stumble from time to time, especially during times of greater weakness (various trials and tribulations we must face). It's inevitable. And it may actually take a few years to get to the top of the mountain. It took me more than half a decade to get to a place where I could manage my food addiction on an on-going basis; for many years I went up and down 10-15 lbs over and over again. Imagine if I'd given up even one year too soon, or six months, for that matter. I never would've made it to the top. Several years can sound like an unbearably long time, but it's behind me now. You can get there too! The very fact that you keep trying again and again proves you can make it.

Food Addiction and Pornography

I think it is a great hypocrisy in the church today when overweight or obese Christians look down on others who smoke cigarettes, drink too much, or can't stop viewing pornography. I just want to say to them, What about your addiction to food? Gluttony is greed. I know so because I've been there. I used to be a glutton: I didn't want just one donut, I wanted the whole box of donuts! "But," you might say, "it's just food. How can you compare that to pornography?" Well, God does. Scripture lists greed right alongside sexual immorality. Ephesians 5:3 says, "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Yes, it's "just food," but it can be detrimental too. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America.

Try looking at it this way: A man is addicted to pornography. No matter how guilty he feels about it, no matter how many times he repents to God and tries to do better, he inevitably gives in to his addiction time and time again. He just doesn't seem to have any self control, even though he desperately wants to stop. And maybe he even managed to go a whole week or month before giving in and spending a whole night viewing porn. Let's compare that to giving into a food binge. Here's the first question: Did he go to the store and rent a video or did he have a video in his closet? Did he go to the store and buy a magazine, or did he have one under his mattress? Did he fire up the Internet on his computer or is his Internet disconnected? How about with food? Is there a big bag of chips in your cupboard right now or would you need to drive to the store to get some?

A man addicted to pornography will never overcome his addiction as long as he has magazines, videos and unrestricted Internet access in his home! He will never overcome. The same goes for you and I - We can never overcome our food addiction as long as the cupboard is stocked with junkfood, chips, pop, chocolate, pastries, etc. We are sinners; fallible, imperfect beings. Jesus Christ is the only man who ever was (and is) perfect. We can never be perfect because of our sin nature; it's impossible. Therefore, it's inevitable that some of the time, we will make the wrong choices and do the wrong things. God doesn't condemn hypocrisy so much as the heart that is unwilling to admit its hypocrisy. Like the Pharisees. God knows you have a repentant heart. He knows your sorrow and shame. And he knows you aren't perfect. Failure will happen from time to time. That's life! You can't get around that. You have to accept it; otherwise after one too many failures, you'll give up permanently.

The Apostle Paul said, "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." (Romans 7:21-25)

True failure is never trying again. If you always get back up, no matter how many times you fall down, you will make it in the end: "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

Have you asked God countless times to take away your longing to overeat? Do you give into a binge because after praying for help, you still have the craving? Well, here's the thing: God doesn't take away "the urge" - he provides "a way out"! 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." See, God is not going to take away the temptation (the craving, the urge), but he will provide an escape route. Nor is he going to allow you to be tempted "beyond what you can bear." If you have to dump the contents of a bag of chips into the garbage can, do it! Yes, it is a waste of money and a waste of "food;" but to eat chips when you aren't physically hungry is even more of a waste - its a burden on your pumping heart and hard-working liver. If the chips have to be wasted, it's far better to waste them in the garbage can than on your hips!

For a long time, maybe even many years, the man who is addicted to porn is still going to long to view porn even when he's sitting there on the couch not viewing porn. He doesn't like how he feels inside (he longs for the porn, even though he hatesthe addiction), but the escape route God has given him is no porn available in his house. In an act of very deliberate sin, he would have to put on his shoes and drive to the store to "give in" to his temptation. That's stepping outside of the boundaries of God's protection! It's the same with food. Giving into temptation because it's right at your fingertips (a gift, a social gathering) is not nearly as calculated as going to the store, consciously pulling out your wallet and laying down cash to pay for it. At the same time, keeping lots of tempting food in your house on purpose, knowing your weakness, is just as deliberate as walking to the store!

Giving into temptation from time to time happens, especially when the food is offered to you by friends/family, and everyone else around you is eating it too. Holidays are especially difficult, as delectable eats are often a traditional theme of family gatherings. God knows your heart. You didn't defiantly "set out" to sin at such times. And remember, there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying these foods in the right context (moderation)! But for people like you and I, we can't keep such foods in our homes on a regular basis - just as a recovered alcoholic doesn't dare keep liquor in his/her closet. For an alcoholic or pornographer, they must abstain completely because even one glass or one magazine can knock them off the wagon. Food is somewhat different in that we need to eat food to survive; alcohol and porn are not needed for survival. This means that it's all right to enjoy food when you're hungry. It's when you step outside of those boundaries (greed) that you risk your long-term health and your emotional/spiritual wellbeing.

In Conclusion 

If you've done your part - kept the temptation out of your home - then you've done the right thing and you needn't beat yourself up so much every time you slip and overeat. It's not "okay" to overeat once in a while, for we know that all gluttony is greed (Ephesians 5:3), just as all pornography is lust, which Jesus said is the equivalent of adultery (Matthew 5:28); nevertheless, as fallen mankind, we will continue to sin, despite our best efforts. 1 John 1:9 says, "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Examine your heart and continue to pray for endurance. God will bless your faithfulness! Keep climbing the mountain. And when your foot slips, don't just let go and fall all the way down to the bottom. Find another foot hole and get back at it! In time, you will reach the top.

Remember Hebrews 12:1, which says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

A little tip: Take the time to read through and study a basic course on nutrition. Two books which I recommend in particular are, "The Maker's Diet" by Jordan S. Rubin (www.makersdiet.com), and "The WeighDown Diet" by Gwen Shamblin (www.wdworkshop.com). Knowing which foods are nourishing and life-giving will motivate you to make healthier food choices because understanding what happens to food as it works its way through your body makes the fatty, sugary foods much less appealing. Learning about nutrition and the direct relation to degenerative diseases was a pivotal point in my own struggle with food addiction. As an old saying goes, "Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels."

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