Have you ever prayed for more self control around food only to end the day feeling guilty because you ate the cookies? Anyways, if you've ever wondered why food feels so complicated and whether God really intended eating to feel this stressful, this episode is for you. Hello, welcome back to to Body and Belonging, where we break free from food guilt, calm down the food noise, and rediscover joy at the table. I'm Jamie, a registered dietitian, and each week we explore the deeper reasons we struggle with food and why we have such a hard time feeling like we belong in our bodies. I blend gentle nutrition with nervous system awareness and teach you biblically rooted health principles to move you away from dieting and restriction and into care and nourishment. So grab a seat at the table and let's dive in. Today we are diving into God, food and freedom, learning to eat without fear or rules anymore. And the timing of this is right around the fourth of July. Everyone's talking about freedom and we're grateful for our freedom. And and holidays and special occasions often come with delicious, delightful food. Things that maybe you don't have on a regular basis the rest of the year or just more of it. Greater quantities, more treats, more going out for ice cream, more fun family experiences. And so it seemed like a timely topic. So often many Christian women feel caught between two extremes. Diet. Culture says, control yourself, follow this plan, it's all going to be okay. And culture says, do whatever feels good. And Jesus offers a third way. And that third way is self control is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Meaning it's what happens when your needs are met and you are abiding, you are existing, you are deeply rooted in the Lord. Let me remind you that a fruit tree doesn't bear fruit immediately upon being planted. No, it rests, it roots, it digs deep, it grows, it abides, it receives nourishment from the ground and from the sunshine and from the rain. And then fruit is a natural outcome of that. So when we think of self control being a fruit of the Holy Spirit, I want you to see it through that lens. So today we're going to talk about what scripture actually says about food and freedom and learning to eat with less fear. We learn to fear food through diet culture, through conversations we maybe heard our mothers or our aunties have through social media, through click bait articles, through headlines. Fear of carbs, fear of sugar, fear of eating too much, fear of gaining weight, fear of eating wrong, or fear of losing control. It's no secret that we are surrounded by fear related to food. So growing up surrounded by diet culture, we learned that there are good foods, there are bad foods, there are cheat meals, there are cheat days. We may need to earn our food or burn our calories with what we do at the gym the next day. Maybe we've been surrounded with eating clean or eating with less ingredients, less preservatives, making more food from scratch. Even healthy endeavors, even helpful things, can be distractions. That narrows our world, narrows our variety, narrows our experience. And that is the key point here. That fear always narrows our field. Now, I believe that God never designed food to be a test that you keep failing. In First Corinthians 10:23, we read all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. What that tells me is that we can release the morality complex we have around food and a better filter is not right versus wrong. But is this helpful to my body? And that expands the playing field quite a bit, because a sugary treat might actually be helpful to somebody who has a low blood sugar episode. Or having a cupcake at a birthday party may be helpful to the recovery of somebody who has struggled with the eating disorder. So it expands the field to what is helpful. And what is helpful to you may be different from what is helpful to her, but that is something for us to keep in mind. Another verse I want to bring your attention to is Matthew 6:25. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or drink, nor about your body. Is not life more than food? I repeat, is not life more than food? Permission is granted here to release the food anxiety. Another verse, Galatians 5:1 it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm them, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. This means that you're going to be tempted to pick the burdens back up. And why is that? I can tell you why that is. From a brain science standpoint, your brain will choose something that is familiar over something new simply because it feels more safe. In fact, I love the Greek here because this word for burdened, and I'm not sure how to pronounce it in ho in a ho. Anyways, this word here means to have within or to hold in, or kind of like holding a grudge. So when Paul says it's for freedom that Christ has set us free, stand firm then. Do not let yourselves be burdened again. He's not talking about an external burden, although sometimes people do try to place burdens on us externally. But at some point you made a choice to take an external burden where somebody else maybe had a food rule or, or a food guideline or a food preference. And at some point you agreed with that, you took that internally and you started holding it close to your heart as true. So this burden is as much something internally that we will be tempted to pick back up as it is an external burden that somebody else may be placing upon us. Another verse is Hebrews 13, 9. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them. Now, of course, this is referring to the people in the early church who were finding their spiritual confidence in strict adherence to the Old Testament dietary laws. However, we see ripples of this in today's society where people may believe that eating a certain way or strict adherence to a set of rules is maybe making them more Christlike or more holy. And I disagree. Spiritual strength comes from God's goodness and God's grace, not from following rigid rules or getting fixated on a certain diet being the right one or following it in the right way. Food is provision. Food is nourishment. Food is an opportunity for celebration. Food meets us in community. Food is hospitality, not a spiritual report card. See, Jesus spent a lot of times eating with people. Food wasn't something to fear. It was often the setting in which grace and companionship was experienced. In fact, Jesus engagement with society, sharing meals with outcasts actually was a point of criticism from the religious leaders of the time. They accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard because he was a friend of tax collectors and he sat at tables with sinners. See, food wasn't the focus. Hospitality and personal connection and dialogue and eating together and fellowship and creating a context in which conversations were had and grace was freely given was the point. See, if we serve a Creator who would come sit at the table and share a meal with you and not criticize you for it, don't you think you can lift the self criticism just a little bit in agreement with him? See, the more rules we place on ourself, the more obsession we create. Again, this is brain science here. The more forbidden something becomes, the more your brain pays attention to it and the louder that craving and that desire can become. If I tell you, don't think about chocolate or you can't ever have a donut again, all of a sudden you want it and you want it right now. All of a sudden that part of your brain that has about the maturity of a three year old, it says, I want it now. This scarcity mentality is so prevalent in culture today and especially related to food. In Romans 7:15 we read, I don't understand what I do, for what I want to do, I don't do. But what I do, I don't. This is a truth of the human experience, but it's a truth because this is how restriction works. The more forbidden something becomes, the louder your brain desires it. Restriction so often increases cravings. Not because you're weak, but because you are drawing attention to the exact thing that you are trying to avoid. When we're stressed, when we're overwhelmed, when we are feeling scarcity in any category, cravings increase, increase your fullness and your satisfaction cues decrease, and emotional eating rises. Not because you're weak, because of brain science. Now let's talk about what food freedom actually looks like. Food freedom is not eating junk all day. In fact, permission is usually the precursor to self control. Because I'm putting the autonomy back in your hands, I'm putting the freedom back in your plate so that you can decide what is in alignment with how you want to feel. Not relying on some outside restriction to tell you if you've checked the box, if you've been good today or whatnot. Food freedom is not never caring about nutrition. No. Because if you didn't care, it would mean you don't prioritize freedom in the future. Let me explain. If you don't care about nutrition today, if you don't care about caring for your body, if you don't tend to the needs of your body today, that's going to limit your freedom a decade from now, or two decades from now, when your body starts to become the limiting factor in your ability to do the things you want to do. So no, food freedom doesn't mean not caring about nutrition. It actually means caring deeply, caring about you today, caring about you next week, caring about you a decade from now, and making your decisions in alignment with that care. I don't think you want your body to be the limiting factor for freedom in the future. Food freedom also doesn't mean ignoring your body or ignoring your body's needs, or disregarding your body's limitations. Freedom means listening to and trusting your body's cues, trusting your hunger. Food freedom means enjoying a satisfying meal and being present enough to taste it, smell it, hear it, feel it, digest it. Food freedom means nourishing yourself with intentional consideration of what do you want, what sounds good, what meets your needs. Today, that freedom from obsession actually unlocks your ability to be present with your taste buds and with the people at your table. This is why I take such a nervous system informed and a gentle nutrition approach, because a peaceful relationship with food and peaceful relationship with your body is sustainable and the science backs it up. When you finally leave diet culture behind, you can focus on actually honoring your health, your body, your goals, and your well being today. So I'm gonna leave you today with three questions to ask yourself instead of following strict food rules. And I think this holiday weekend is a great time to put these into practice. Question number one is what is asking for right now? Your body is always talking to you, but whether or not you're listening is a different question. Your body is always communicating with you and what is it asking for right now? Is it asking for food? Is it asking for energy? Is it asking for hunger? Is it asking for comfort? Is it asking for rest? So when you get curious long enough to ask your body what it needs, that leads us to question number two, which is what would meet that need? What would nourish that need? Maybe you need protein. Maybe you need fiber. Maybe you need movement. Maybe you need a deeper breath. Maybe you need water. Maybe you need to get away from some noise and reset. Maybe you need connection with a friend. Maybe you need a whispered prayer. Maybe you need to laugh. Maybe you need to cry. So question number one is, what's my body asking for? Question number two is, what would meet that need? And question number three is where we get to tie this into the Gospel. What does God say about me? Listen, he said, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. And those words in the original language mean reverence and honor. Those are words we refer to the Lord with, Lord, you're worthy of honor and you're worthy of reverence, and you're worthy of praise. And in Psalms 139, 14, Davis says, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. He is agreeing with the Lord in that statement. And that word for praise is yada, which means both gratitude, like, hey, thanks, God, and confession. And this confession here isn't full of shame? No, this confession is just coming right back into the right agreement, the right orientation to what God says about you and deciding to agree with it. So he says, I agree with you. I confess. I align with what you say about me, that I am fearfully made, which means reverence and worthy of honor, and wonderfully made, which means unique, one of a kind. We don't honor God by fearing food. We honor him by receiving his gifts with gratitude. And food and fellowship is one of his best gifts. God didn't have to give us taste buds, but he did, and his goodness and his grace changes us far better than shame and self sufficiency ever could. Listen, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. That's in Romans 8:1. And if God isn't standing beside your dinner plate giving you a grade, you don't have to either. He's inviting you this week into wisdom, honor, freedom, and trust. So those are our three questions and in this week ahead, my challenge for you is to notice each time that you label a food as bad or cheating or off limits or sinful and instead ask, is this thought bringing me closer to freedom or am I resorting back into fear because it's more cozy and it's more comfortable? So today we learned that fear isn't God's design. Food and your food choices does not define your value or worth. Nourishment, nutrition, listening to your body matters and grace matters more. Freedom grows through relationship, through trust, not through tighter rules. So that's our episode for today. If this resonated with you, I want to invite you to not only subscribe to this podcast, but also share it with a friend. I'm sure you know somebody longing for this message. Also, join my email list for weekly encouragement and practical tips sent out every single Tuesday. I am so glad you're here and I will see you in the next episode. Sam.