It's so easy in our culture today to get caught up in trying to find our self-worth in material things, money, our jobs, or the way we look. The idea of being skinny can be something that we begin to obsess over because we somehow think our identity is wrapped up in our appearance. This isn't what God wants for us and, consequently, also makes us very unhappy.  On today's episode of the Taste for Truth Podcast, we'll debunk 10 lies that perpetuate this skinny idol.

I also wanted to mention that I will be leading an online Bible study through my new Philippians Bible study in the month of May. If you're interested in finding out more and signing up, get the info here. I do think it is so helpful to go through regular Bible studies - even when you're trying to lose weight or be healthier - because we are getting more of the truth of God's word in our system (which helps us combat all the lies we believe that fuel our eating problems).  This particular book deals with many different topics in the book of Philippians, one of them being finding our identity in God. I hope you'll find it helpful!

What We Discussed on the Podcast

• How our "Good Christian" list can adversely affect our self-worth
• Different things we turn to to find our identity in rather than God
• "I need to be skinny to be accepted."
• "When I'm skinny, I'll be happier."
• "People think I'm a loser because I'm overweight."
• A passage in Philippians that reminds us what we cannot have confidence in
• Some tips for truth journaling

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

• Philippians - Closer to God Bible Study
• Taste for Truth
• Freedom from Emotional Eating
• Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating

Listen to the Podcast

• YouTube: Click here to subscribe or listen on YouTube. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
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• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.” 

If you feel like you will never get over your food struggles, today's episode of the Taste for Truth podcast will be a great encouragement (links below). I'm doing something different on this episode: I'm interviewing three people at one time! It's a mom and her two adult daughters, and we talk through many of the struggles they have had with food over the years, and how they are all finding their way to freedom in this area of their lives.

What We Discussed on the Podcast

• Free-for-all holiday eating
• Perfectionism eating
• Strategies for avoiding a binge and a 3-month hiatus from boundaries
• These lies and their corresponding truths:
  • "It's a holiday, I can eat as much as I want."
  • "If there are sweets in the house, you should eat them."
  • "I'm bored, food would be a great way to deal with it."
• The key part that submission to God plays in breaking free from an eating stronghold
• Different renewing of the mind strategies
• Food as a coping mechanism

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

• Taste for Truth
• Freedom from Emotional Eating
• Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating
• Life Unbinged Program with Kristy McCammon
• I Deserve a Donut - Weight Loss App

Pre-Order my newest Bible study on Philippians! Listen to the Podcast

• YouTube: Click here to subscribe or listen on YouTube. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
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• Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify. 
• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.” 

A few weeks ago, I had an interesting conversation with a reader. She talked about how hard it was to get her kids to eat healthy things. Many parents these days can relate to the challenges of picky eaters, meal-time meltdowns, and general food struggles. On today's episode of the Taste for Truth Podcast (links below), I answer some reader questions revolving around helping our kids to avoid negative eating habits.

What We Discussed on the Podcast

• How my husband and I raised our four children to eat
• My take on whether or not kids should eat the same meal as the parents
• How I inadvertently taught my kids some emotional eating tendencies
• Practical ways to help our kids to not be entitled regarding food or otherwise
• The two unhealthy routes we can take with regard to obsessive eating
• My thoughts on how to train our children regarding food that has the best chance for a healthy result

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

• I Deserve a Donut - Weight Loss App
• The Renewing of the Mind Project
• The Homeschool Sanity Show Podcast

Listen to the Podcast

• YouTube: Click here to subscribe or listen on YouTube. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
• Android: Click here to subscribe or listen on Android. 
• Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify. 
• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.”

Many of us turn to food when we are bored, or when we want to avoid a project we know we should be doing! Unfortunately, this can easily become an unhealthy pattern that leads to weight-gain and out-of-control eating. If you're all too familiar with this struggle and want to stop the cycle of boredom eating, my episode today on the Taste for Truth Podcast should be helpful (links below)!

Share an Update!

I also wanted to mention that I'm excited to try something a little different for a few episodes of the Taste for Truth Podcast. I would love to have updates and "victory moments" from people that I've interviewed over the years! If you would be willing, go to this website and record a brief message letting us know how you're doing! This is not an interview at all, it would just be you recording whatever you'd like to say in a short message - I think the limit is 4 minutes. Anyway, I think it'd be so fun and encouraging to hear how everyone is doing! Give it a try!

What We Discussed on the Podcast

• How often our childhood shapes our interactions with food
• Non-diet boundaries
• Why sometimes we should first begin renewing our minds NOT about food or eating
• The emotional toll of procrastination
• How to renew your minds about specific situations
• What it means to hold losing weight with an "open hand"

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

• To record an update or victory moment from your weight loss journey, go to speakpipe.com/BarbRaveling.
• Freedom from Procrastination
• Rally: A Personal Growth Bible Study
• Taste for Truth
• Freedom from Emotional Eating
• I Deserve a Donut - Weight Loss App
• Overcoming Nighttime Eating with Kimberly Taylor
• How to Stop Boredom Eating (10 Strategies)
• Renewing of the Mind Tools - This page on my website has many tips for renewing, but also a section dedicated just to how to truth journal.

Listen to the Podcast

• Google: Click here to subscribe or listen on Google Podcasts. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
• Android: Click here to subscribe or listen on Android. 
• Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify. 
• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.” 

I would love to know how many pounds I've gained and lost in my life. In the old days it was all about "Go on a diet, lose weight, live it up, then gain the weight back." Over and over and over again. Every once in awhile I could muster up the self control to lose the weight, but I always gained it back. I had little self control, I loved food, and I was an emotional eater. And because of that I gained the weight back every single time.

I actually knew how to lose the weight, but I didn't know how to keep it off. So today I'd like to look at why we gain our weight back and how to stop the old merry-go-round. Let's begin by looking at why we gain it back.

7 Reasons We Gain Our Weight Back

1. We let go of boundaries once we lose our weight. Think of it. Have you ever lost weight without setting some sort of boundaries? Maybe you did intuitive eating and ate only when you were hungry and stopped when you were full. Or you joined Weight Watchers or you did intermittent fasting. But in some way you set limits for yourself. Unfortunately, once we lose the weight, all limits go out the window and that's the biggest thing that makes us gain the weight back. There are two ways we do this: 1) We do it consciously. We think, "Yay!! I get to live it up again!!" Then immediately go to living it up and gain our weight back. 2) We do it without realizing we're doing it. So for example, I may have lost my weight by counting carbs faithfully with a set limit each day of how much I could have. When I lose the weight, I still try to watch how many carbs I eat, but I don't have a set limit. Or I lose weight with Weight Watchers. I still focus on free foods and eat as many as I want--but I no longer count points. So what we have are some practices, but we don't have actual boundaries.
2. We switch to different boundaries and don't go through the necessary work to learn how to follow our boundaries. In the first reason, we let go of boundaries altogether, but with this reason, we actually do have boundaries--we just haven't learned how to follow them. Here's an example. Let's say you lost your weight with a diet, but then you decide to switch to 3 meals and one snack a day for your boundaries. Since those boundaries are looser than what you're used to, there is a learning curve to figuring out how to maintain your weight within those boundaries. If we don't make the effort to learn how to make those boundaries work, we'll gain our weight back.
3. We have a new trial in our lives that makes us feel like eating. Often we'll be going along smoothly and then something happens that makes us want to eat. Some trial that triggers all our emotional eating tendencies. Maybe there's a pandemic. Or the world is looking a little scary. Or someone you love is having a crisis. Or you're having a crisis. When those new trials crop up, it makes us want to eat. And we may gain our weight back at that time.
4. We stick to our boundaries most of the year but go off during holidays and vacations. This is a good one to think about now because we're smack dab in the middle of the holidays--halfway between Thanksgiving in the United States and Christmas. When we go on vacation or it's a holiday, it's easy to justify a few extra treats. We think, Oh I'll just eat this now and get back on track when I get back to normal life. When we do that, we usually only gain a few pounds a year, but after ten years, those few pounds a year have become 30-40 pounds and we're back in a situation where we need to do the whole thing over again.
5. We reintroduce sugar and/or flour when that was part of the reason we lost the weight to begin with. I've talked to many people who lost their weight without renewing their minds. They were able to do it because they took away their biggest source of temptation: flour and sugar. Unfortunately, I've also talked to a lot of people who then reintroduced sugar and flour at some point and either gained all their weight back or at least a good share of it.
6. We lose it with self control and/or obsession rather than renewing. I've talked to many women who are either all in or all out. When they work on losing weight, they have a hard time doing it without obsessing about it. The temptation is to think about being healthy, exercising, and eating right all the time. This becomes so exhausting that eventually they can't handle the stress anymore and go back to eating. Then there are people like me who don't obsess and have no temptations in the exercise-too-much department, but I still used to gain my weight back because I never took the time to change the way I thought about food.
7. We start believing new lies and don't take the time to renew. With this reason for weight gain, we do renew while losing it. In fact we renew our minds so much that we change the way we think about food and we no longer even want to overindulge or binge. But then if we're not careful, we start fudging our boundaries.

So what do we do? With so many reasons driving us to gain our weight back, is there still hope that we can avoid all of that? Yes, there is hope! The Bible tells us we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. It also tells us that He who began a good work in us will complete it. God can help us stay free from the control of food. Let's look at seven strategies we can use to stay free from the control of food.

7 Ways to Keep Our Weight Off

1. Keep relying on God for help with life. So many times I've had women tell me, "I'm so thankful I learned how to truth journal. It has helped me go to God for help with so many things." They started out renewing for food, but then started renewing for life and that drew them closer to God. With me it was the opposite. I started renewing first for the hard things in life, and only later started renewing for food. Here's the truth: God wants us to go to Him for help with life. And the more we go to Him, the more we'll fall in love with Him and the more we'll grow in our character and be like Him. And as a little side benefit, if we keep going to God for help with life, we'll be far less likely to gain our weight back because we won't be going to the refrigerator.
2. Renew often about each new trial that comes up. Things will often be trucking along just fine, and then some new difficulty comes up in life that causes us stress, worry, or fear, and we find ourselves reaching for food again. When we learn the valuable skill of truth journaling, we can start going to God right away when a new trial comes into our lives. We can truth journal and ask Him to show us the lies we are believing about our current situation. By going to God about the trial first, we will be far less likely to continue to run to our old idol (food) to bring us comfort.
3. Catch any weight gain early. It's far easier to lose a couple pounds than 20 pounds. And it's far easier to lose 20 pounds than 100 pounds. Some women will put away the scale for good, but when they find their clothes getting tight it's a wakeup call to be more diligent about following their boundaries--and renewing if necessary. For me, I weigh about once a week. If I find my weight is up for several weeks in a row, I try to be careful about eating less at meals.
4. Continue to have firm lifelong boundaries. I can't emphasize how important it is to have some sort of boundaries with food if you're a person who loves food, is not opposed to large quantities, and has a tendency to eat emotionally. Boundaries keep our passions reigned in.
5. Be VERY careful about reintroducing sugar if you lost the weight without it. And by careful I mean either don't do it, or do it carefully.
6. Be careful during vacations and holidays. Fudged boundaries (which might involve actual fudge!), lead to weight gain.
7. Check to see if you still believe any lies that make you overeat and also look out for any new lies that crop up (see below).

Lies We Often Believe after We Lose the Weight

1. It's okay to break my boundaries because I'm free from the control of food now. I may be free from the control of food, but that doesn't mean I can't gain my weight back and I will gain it back if I consistently eat too much!
2. This little bit of sugar won't hurt. While it's possible this little bit of sugar won't hurt, it's also possible that this little bit of sugar will set in motion weeks or months or years of overeating. I should think carefully if I really want to do this and then make a plan for it if I decide to do it and go back to renewing if necessary. The truth is that I am a person who tends to overeat with sugar--I just love it too much--so I'll probably have to be careful all of my life.
3. I still have boundaries. I don't actually have boundaries. I have intentions--more fruit and vegetables for example--but I don't have primary boundaries that tell me how often or how much I can eat. If I really want to keep this weight off, I need to have boundaries and follow them. Boundaries keep me safe.

Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating  I talk more about boundaries in my recent book, Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating, and hope to do a video or podcast about them sometime as well. Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating also contains 100 exercise you can use to renew your mind to break free and stay free from the control of food.

Taste for Truth: A 30 Day Weight Loss Bible Study is a 30-day Bible study focused on the lies that make you eat, body image, and the weight loss process. I wrote this Bible study to go along with the questions and Bible verses in I Deserve a Donut, and it’s best if you have both books when you do this study. I Deserve a Donut is also available as a free app for your phone. The Android app isn't working on new phones at the moment (November 2023), but I hope to have it up and running again soon!

Listen to the Podcast

• Google: Click here to subscribe or listen on Google Podcasts. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
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• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.” 

Do you feel discouraged by your weight-loss journey? Are you starting to believe that you will never overcome your struggles with food? If so, you will be greatly encouraged by my enthusiastic guest, Shelly, on today's episode of the Taste for Truth Podcast (links below). Shelly shares with us many practical tips - and lots of joy - on how she finally broke free from the control of food.

What We Discussed on the Podcast

• How turning to food during a very difficult trial in Shelly's life caused her to gain a significant amount of weight
• How the turning point in her struggle came when she realized what was at the root of the issue
• Tips on finding pockets of time to make mind-renewal a priority
• Why the enemy is opposed to us breaking free from our food struggles
• The difference between knowing truth intellectually-only vs. at the "gut level"
• Lots of encouragement and practical tips to persevere!

Resources Discussed on the Podcast

• Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating
• Freedom from Emotional Eating
• Taste for Truth
• I Deserve a Donut App
• Made to Crave by Lisa Terkeurst
• Winning the War in Your Mind by Craig Groeschel
• Sweet Journey to Transformation by Teresa Shields-Parker

Listen to the Podcast

• Google: Click here to subscribe or listen on Google Podcasts. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
• Android: Click here to subscribe or listen on Android. 
• Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify. 
• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.” 

What does it really mean to renew your mind? Though I have spoken about this for years, I find that many people are still a little fuzzy when it comes to understanding the purpose or the how-to of renewing for weight loss. In today's episode of the Taste for Truth Podcast (links below), I will answer some of the most common questions about renewing and go through some practical examples.

What We Discussed on the Podcast

• The two different types of renewing
• How often you should renew
• What does renewing really look like?
• An example of truth journaling from Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating (p. 133)
• If/when you should repeat renewing exercises
• What it means to hold food and eating with "open hands"
• An example of a scripture mediation from Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating (p. 99)

Resources Discussed on the Podcast

• Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating
• Freedom from Emotional Eating
• Taste for Truth
• I Deserve a Donut App (The updated Android version is nearly complete!)
• Breaking Free from Anxiety Eating (YouTube)
• How to Renew Your Mind - A Practical Guide (Christian Habits Podcast)

If you'd like to sign up for a victory or coaching interview, please click here. Listen to the Podcast

• Google: Click here to subscribe or listen on Google Podcasts. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
• Android: Click here to subscribe or listen on Android. 
• Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify. 
• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.” 

Shouldn't food be simple? In our minds, we believe it should be, and yet - in daily life - so many of us find food and sugar addiction to be very complicated to overcome. Today on the Taste for Truth Podcast (links below), Tammy and I discuss different factors that contribute to our struggles with problem foods and overeating, and how renewing our minds helps us to break free once and for all.

What We Discussed on the Podcast

• How past trauma and currents stressors push us to cope with the pain through addictions
• How our identity and body image contribute to the binge cycle
• How we can reframe our thinking in regards to foods that we've given up, either for a time or for good
• Why any one way of eating alone is not the real answer to our food struggles
• How to apply the skills we've learned in overcoming other trials in our lives to our problem with food
• How to dismantle lifelong food strongholds

 

Resources Discussed on the Podcast

• tammydove.com - Connect with Tammy and learn more about her life-coaching.
• When Hope Rises by Tammy Dove
• Who I Am in Christ by Neil Anderson
• Freedom from Emotional Eating
• Taste for Truth
• Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating
• I Deserve a Donut App

Listen to the Podcast

• Google: Click here to subscribe or listen on Google Podcasts. 
• Stitcher: Click here to subscribe or listen on Stitcher. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
• Android: Click here to subscribe or listen on Android. 
• Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify. 
• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.” 

Most of us would agree that in order to have a change in our eating habits, we must first have a change in our minds! Yet, even knowing this, many of us still struggle to make the commitment to renewing our minds on a regular basis. On today's episode of the Taste for Truth Podcast (links below), I coach Tonya through identifying many of the lies that keep us from renewing. 

What We Discussed on the Podcast

• • Identifying possible stressors in our lives that would cause us to emotionally eat
  • How sometimes it's better to renew about emotions (or problems) we face in the day quickly to keep them from becoming really big emotions
  • How to be proactive in truth journaling
  • Why truth journaling is such a powerful tool for realignment
  • The idea that making a goal that makes your life easier (like truth journaling) is a strategic way to approach change
  • Some tips for having a really effective truth-journaling session (also found in Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating)

7 Lies That Keep Us from Renewing

1. It's not going to work.
2. I don't feel like doing it, so I shouldn't do it.
3. Truth journaling isn't a fun way to relax, so I shouldn't do it.
4. It takes too long.
5. If I do it, it will make me not want to eat. (And I want to eat.)
6. I'm too bad to go before God.
7. I've messed up so God doesn't love me.

Resources Discussed on the Podcast

• • • Freedom from Emotional Eating
    • Taste for Truth
    • Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating
    • Rally Bible Study
    • I Deserve a Donut App
    • My YouTube Channel
    • Letting Go of Emotional Eating with Karen Seager (the interview with one of Coach Sarah's clients that I mentioned)
    • Contact Information for Nutritional Coach, Sarah Truitt (Tonya's health coach):

      Website: http://Arayahopehealth.com

      Instagram: instagram.com/arayahopehealth

         Facebook: http://Facebook.com/arayahopehealth

         YouTube: http://YouTube.com/c/arayahopehealth

         Contact: [email protected]

Note:

I will be taking the summer off from the Taste for Truth Podcast. I invite you to subscribe to my YouTube channel as I plan to put up some videos about emotional eating in the next few months. I also want to challenge you to make a renewing commitment for the summer... If you take a moment 2-3 times throughout your day to renew your mind whether by using one of the resources listed above, or simply by truth journaling, I have a very strong feeling that you will find it easier and easier to follow your food boundaries this summer!

Listen to the Podcast

• • Google: Click here to subscribe or listen on Google Podcasts. 
  • Stitcher: Click here to subscribe or listen on Stitcher. 
  • Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
  • Android: Click here to subscribe or listen on Android. 
  • Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify. 
  • Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.” 

Do you ever find yourself reaching for some exciting food because you're bored? Eating is quick-fix way to conquer boredom, but often leads to regret. In this post I want to talk about ten strategies to help you stop boredom eating. Let's begin by asking the question, "Why am I eating when bored?"

Why am I eating when bored?

For those of us who crave excitement, we want anything that will take us out of our mundane life and into a little bit of fun and excitement. And of course the most easily available option is the refrigerator. So of course we'll eat when we're bored if we enjoy food! It gives us that quick fix of fun and excitement to ease just a tad bit of our boredom. A better question to ask may be, "Why am I bored to begin with?" Let's take a look at that because if we can stop being bored, we can stop boredom eating.

Why am I bored?

Have you ever heard a friend say, "I'm never bored" or "Boredom is a choice"? I have. And each time I hear it, I think to myself (or more likely out loud), "I'm often bored!" In fact some days I feel like I'm going out of my mind with boredom!! So why are we bored, when our friend is never bored? I can think of ten reasons.

1. We like being busy and get bored when we're not. I listed this reason first because even people who are almost never bored sometimes struggle with boredom during evenings and weekends. If your life is filled with work during the day—and you're a person who enjoys being busy—then you may be bored at night or on weekends.
2. We're fun-loving people who crave excitement. When I think of my friends who aren't bored, they usually fall into three camps: they love accomplishment, they love stability, or they love hobbies. When you think about it, all three of those types of people can be satisfied in everyday life. The ones who love accomplishment can make a list no matter what's happening in their lives and work on accomplishment. The ones who love stability don't care if they have excitement because excitement by its very nature is a bit unstable. And the ones who love hobbies can usually find a hobby or two to fill up their free time. It's only people who crave excitement that have a hard time meeting those needs because regular life by its very nature isn't all that exciting because it's .... regular life!
3. We're procrastinators and the thought of all that horrible work we should be doing is making us feel bored. I don't know how many times I feel bored just because I have too much on my plate and all of it sounds very boring to do. That makes me want to avoid work and go get something fun to eat.
4. Our regular life doesn't fit our personalities. My dream job is to be a counselor at a Christian backpacking camp. Unfortunately, that's not a possibility for me right now, not to mention the fact that most Christian youth camps aren't looking for a 63-year-old married woman to be their camp counselor! We live in a culture that tells us to follow our passions and go for that dream job, but let's face it, the dream job isn't always practical, nor is it always what God wants us to be doing. That said, living a life that's different than our dream life can still lead to boredom. This leads to the fourth reason for boredom.
5. We have unrealistic expectations for life. When we believe the hype that we need to be living our best life and our passion, we start having unrealistic expectations for life. We might think all of life should be just as fun and exciting as the summer we spent as a backpacking camp counselor, when there is no way the rest of our lives will be that fun on a consistent basis. Our unrealistic expectations for life make us feel bored because we're focusing on what we don't have rather than on what we do have.
6. We expect ourselves to work too much without reward. When I was working full-time before I had kids, I rarely got bored. This was because my days were filled with work. And since I worked at a bank, my days were also filled with people. I enjoyed my work and also enjoyed all the visiting. Work in and of itself was a reward. But when I started working at home, first as a stay-at-home mom, then a homeschool mom, and finally as a writer, I often got bored (and still often get bored). I'm beginning to realize that one of the reasons I get bored is because I'm doing a job that doesn't energize me without taking enough "reward" breaks. This is a recipe for continued boredom, not to mention procrastination. Which leads us to the next reason for boredom ...
7. We don't manage our work well. For those of us who spend the majority of our days at home, one of our biggest problems is that we have too much time on our hands. That doesn't mean we don't have a lot to do. It just means we have to manage our time ourselves and that can lead to long blocks of time with nothing to do (because either we don't have that much to do or we're procrastinating). And those long blocks of time can lead to boredom.
8. We don't have enough on our plate. Another possible reason for being bored is that we don't have enough to fill our time. Many people reported boredom during the pandemic because they were out of work and weren't used to being out of work. Or you may be in a season of life such as retirement where you haven't figured out how to fill up your time and that leaves you with a lot of boredom on your hands.
9. We've trained ourselves to need constant excitement. Educators say that it's hard to teach kids today because kids have been trained to expect constant excitement through playing video games, watching TV, and doing other forms of electronic entertainment. Kids aren't the only ones with this struggle. We also struggle because we have the same temptation to constantly jump on our phones whenever we're bored.
10. We're making life about "having fun and excitement" and not about God. Whenever we try to fill ourselves up with something other than God, we never get enough to satisfy us. So if I'm trying to fill myself up with fun and excitement—and feel like I need that fun and excitement to live a great life—I'll never get enough to satisfy me and I'll live in boredom.

We'll take a look at ten strategies for how to stop boredom eating by learning not to be bored in a minute, but before we do that, let's look at three practical tips to stop boredom eating.

3 Practical Tips to Stop Boredom Eating

1. Hide or remove exciting food from your house. Let's face it, more often than not, if it's there to eat, we'll eat it! To solve that problem, try not to have exciting foods in the house--or if you can't do that, ask someone in your house to hide them from you!
2. Make it harder to buy exciting foods when you're out on the town. If you have a tendency to stop and get exciting food when you're out driving, find a way to make it harder to get that food. You could change your driving route, put your wallet in the far corner of the back seat so you can't reach it when you go through the drive through, or renew your mind before you make that drive so you don't want the exciting treats. If you're within walking distance of exciting treats, consider leaving your billfold at home so you won't be tempted to get them.
3. Eliminate exciting foods from your diet. Sometimes it's easier to have none than one. At different phases of my life I've given up sugar. Was my life boring in the food department? Yes!! But did it help me give up boredom eating? Again, yes!! This is a drastic move, but it can actually make life better if you're constantly craving sweets or chips or something like that and then giving into your cravings whenever you're bored.

Okay, now that we have the practical tips out of the way, let's look at the bigger picture. And in some ways this bigger picture is about how to stop boredom itself--because if we learn how to stop being bored, we'll learn how to stop boredom eating.

How to Stop Boredom Eating (By Learning How to Stop Being Bored!) - 10 Strategies

1. Let go of unrealistic expectations for this phase of your life. While we might expect life to be constantly exciting if we're backpacking counselors at a Christian camp, we can't expect life to be constantly exciting with most stages of life! Take a minute and think about your current life phase. On a scale of 1 to 10 how exciting should you expect your days to be? Based on your answer, give up your unrealistic expectations and then move onto the next step.
2. Embrace regular life. Think of this way. What if you lived in a war-torn country and all of a sudden the war stopped. Life wasn't fun and exciting but at least there wouldn't be a war going on. Would you be thankful for regular life or would you be craving excitement! I think we'd all be thankful for regular life. The more we can embrace life as-is and tell ourselves that this regular life is great, the less bored we'll be.
3. Make life about God. I still remember years ago complaining to a friend about how boring my life was. My friend, said, Barb, what is excitement from a biblical perspective? I thought about that for a minute and replied that excitement from a biblical perspective would be growing closer to God and serving Him and even doing things like helping others break free from strongholds. From a biblical perspective my life (and work) was exciting. But I wasn't seeing that because I was wanting some traditional cultural excitement.
4. Learn how to manage your work or day-to-day life. If you spend your days at home, learn to manage your work and time well. I talk a bit about this in my book, Freedom from Procrastination, and I am learning more about this as I go along. This is something that will be different for each of us, and it's a project in and of itself.
5.  Work on overcoming procrastination. The less we procrastinate, the less time we'll spend being bored. Not only will we have less down time (because we'll actually be getting those things done), but we'll also be less bored because we won't have that dreaded job hanging over our heads. That said, it's incredibly difficult to overcome procrastination. If you need help with it, check out my Bible study and workbook, Freedom from Procrastination.
6. Plan rewards for work or find ways to make work fun. If you're a person who is more fun-focused rather than accomplishment focused, you'll be far happier if you find a way to make work fun or at the very least plan some rewards for work.
7. Get more on your plate. If you don't have enough to fill your days, think of new ways to fill it. God never meant for us to spend our days watching Netflix all day! Find ways to serve others and love others well. The more we focus on others, the less we focus on ourselves and how bored we are.
8. Find non-addictive ways to fit excitement into your day. There is nothing wrong with trying to make life more exciting, as long as God would approve of the type of excitement we're adding to our lives! If you're in a season of life where you don't naturally have a lot of fun and excitement in your life, try to plan for it. For example, when I'm planning coaching calls, podcast interviews, or appointments, I try to space them out through the week so I have at least one of those a day since I'm energized by being with people. I also usually talk to one friend or family member by phone each day. These are non-addictive ways I can add fun and excitement to my life. You may be different than me, so you'll have to ask, "What energizes me?" and try to add some of that to your life each day if possible.
9. Put limits on your phone, Netflix, or other entertainment sources. We spoke earlier about how we train ourselves to need constant excitement. We do the same things with food. When we eat exciting food too often, we train ourselves to need exciting food all the time. It seems counterintuitive, but the more we reign in our desires for constant excitement and learn to have it as treats rather than regular life, the less bored we'll find ourselves.
10. Make a plan for downtime. If you regularly experience boredom in the evenings, late afternoons, or weekends, make an actual schedule for how you'll spend your time during those periods. It can be a schedule with time slots (7:00-8:00 board game with kids, 8:00-8:30 read, etc.) or it could just be an order of events: certain things you'll do in a certain order each day during that downtime but without a time tied to them (do dishes, fold clothes, go on a walk, renew my mind, read, etc.).

I also wanted to add that I have another helpful post about dealing with boredom, it's called: Use These Verses When You're Bored Instead of Eating! Check it out if you need additional support with overcoming boredom eating in your life.

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating

Freedom from Procrastination

I Deserve a Donut Weight Loss App

Listen to the Podcast

• Google: Click here to subscribe or listen on Google Podcasts. 
• Stitcher: Click here to subscribe or listen on Stitcher. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
• Android: Click here to subscribe or listen on Android. 
• Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify. 
• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.” 

Do you feel hopeless that you will never be able to get over your food addiction? Have you had success with weight loss in the past only to find yourself back at the same (or higher) weight again? If either of these describe you, you will be greatly encouraged by my interview with Debbie on today's Taste for Truth Podcast (links below). Debbie went from a size 28 to a size 12 and has been living in victory for over six years!

In this interview, Debbie and I go through many of the lies that she has had to overcome in her journey. I've listed these below along with their corresponding truths.

Debbie's List of Lies & Truths

1. You'll never be good enough.

• Truth: You don't have to be good enough, Jesus is.

2. You'll never be accepted.

• Truth: Jesus accepts you as you are, and honestly, most other people also accept you as you are!

3. Food has to taste good.

• Truth: Food has to be good for me and nourish my body.

4. It's not fair.

• Truth: It's an opportunity to grow closer to God.
• Truth: Everyone has something that they struggle with.

5. More is better.

• Truth: Less is better for me because I feel better.

6. Truth Journaling won't work unless I do it perfectly.

• Truth: There is no such thing as perfect.
• Truth: Mistakes are part of learning.

7. You're a failure.

• Truth: I'm not a failure! Mistakes are part of learning.

8. I can't do this.

• Truth: God can, and I am depending on His strength to change me.

9. I'm a horrible person and I feel ashamed.

• Truth: God loves me as I am, and I am actually a wonderful person even though this area of my life may be a struggle.

What We Discussed on the Podcast

• How eating was a numbing drug for Debbie
• How an "all-or-nothing" or perfectionist personality plays into weight loss efforts
• Deep insecurity from years of being overweight
• Learning to forgive culture for not accepting people who are overweight
• How Debbie truth-journaled about body image before actually journaling about food
• "I didn't know how important the truth was until it set me free."
• Learning to listen when we bring our lies and our thoughts before God
• Truth journaling to get rid of mental commotion
• Debbie's four big takeaways from her weight-loss journey
• Grace over guilt

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

• Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating
• Freedom from Emotional Eating 
• I Deserve a Donut App

Listen to the Podcast

• Google: Click here to subscribe or listen on Google Podcasts. 
• Stitcher: Click here to subscribe or listen on Stitcher. 
• Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.) 
• Android: Click here to subscribe or listen on Android. 
• Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify. 
• Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.”