The ten top reasons you know you are a stress eater?

10.  Your new pants you just purchased a week ago are tight on you.

9.  You unload your groceries and discover that you only bought snack foods.

8.  Your mad because someone ate the left over pizza.

7. You ate your lunch for breakfast.

6. You know every fast food place on your way to your house.

5. You ate at a fast food place but now you need to hide the evidence.

4. Your husband finds evidence of the meal you had on the way home.

3. You have to lay down to zip up your jeans.

2. You have food amnesia and cannot remember what you ate, you are sure you lied on your food journal.

1. You ate the Christmas candy at Halloween.

Beloved, I never had a problem knowing I was a stress eater. The real reason is that I did not need a reason to eat. Hi, my name is Diana and I was not only a stress eater but a compulsive eater. I tried every diet including being anonymous at meetings for overeating.  For me, I disregarded the fact I was the temple of the Holy Spirit. Oh, I memorized the verse in Philippians that says “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength.” I would suffer when I ate too much and would resolve to start fresh the next day. After all, “God’s mercies were new every morning, great is His faithfulness.”

Then I met Dr. Nick who wrote, “My Big Fat Greek Diet.”  He said, “You need to change the way you see before you can change the way you look.” Oh I needed to change the way I was seeing because I blamed everyone for the stress I was under. The reality is I had an idol problem. I loved food more than I loved God.

Here is the simple truth, I ate more food than I needed. I realized that food had a hold on me but could not break the pattern. In order to have the gastric surgery I went to class for six months before my surgery. Keeping an honest food journal, I discovered the cost of food in calories. Exercising to make a deficit of 500 calories per day was a sure-fire way of losing one pound a week. During that six months, I lost twenty pounds. The first twenty pounds I lost eating food and not being on a liquid diet.

Instead of eating to cope with stress, I learned to journal, to walk, to sing, to pray, to read and yes to exercise. I counted calories and started making good choices. I know that this surgery gave me a new less on life but so did coming to grips with the fact that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Whether you cope with stress by eating or running your fingers through your hair, God wants us to bring our problems to Him. I made a rock solid decision to never overeat again and to not use food as a solution to my stress. I repented of the sin of gluttony.

Beloved, what do you need to do to stop eating in response to stress? What activity can you add to your day to help you feel less stress? Will you be honest in your food journal?