by Lucy | May 22, 2012 | emotions, whole health wellness
Food cravings sound bad but sometimes they are good. Do you know the difference? Do you know when you ought to fulfill a craving? Find out.
You’re at your computer when a food craving strikes. It comes quick. It comes strong. Like a panther on the hunt.
With swimsuit weather looming you may have tried a diet to slim down or made a promise to cut out a favorite snack. You want to feel better, look better, and live longer. . .but this food craving: Should you give in?
Your pantry or fridge is calling your name. What should you do?
A. Try your very, very best to ignore your food craving.
B. Run to kitchen, grab your snack, and feed your craving.
The Shocking Truth
If you selected B, you chose wisely. Fulfilling a biological food craving, which differ from emotional food craving, is smart because you’re listening to your body. The result: you’ll think and feel better. (By the way, my newly revised e-book Energy Eating (first published in 1999) is coming out this summer and covers whole health wellness.)
Did you know that carbohydrate-cravers tend to have lower serotonin levels than people who prefer protein-rich snacks? Their lower serotonin levels prompts them to eat carbs to help counter the blues, nervousness and irritability. When they get their serotonin “fix,” their mood improves.
This is one quick way to know whether your food craving is biological or emotional: When you have a biological food craving and fulfill it, you feel nourished. It doesn’t take much food to meet your biological needs either. One bagel, a wedge or two of low-fat cheese, or a couple of chocolates–that’s it.
Emotions Run Wild
In contrast, emotional eating looks for comfort in food. It goes along with “I’m a loser” self-talk. Also, one small treat is never enough. Never.
Emotional eaters confuse love and self-acceptance with food. It is their drug of choice. Their god.
Lonely? Spooning in a pint of ice cream seems a safe “friend.” Anxious? Crunching a king-size bag of chips can give nervous hands something to do. Angry? Eating any food in excess can be a distraction and a way to “stuff” feelings–until self-hate slithers around your ankles and chains you.
Been there? Yeah, me too. I think we all have.
So Now What?
If have a food craving and it is biologically driven, fulfill it. Pronto.
If you are an emotional eater, please turn to the Lord for strength. He will help you. Ask him to show you why you turn to food for comfort.
Give Him your emotions: your anger, your sadness, your happiness, your anxiety, your resentment, all of it. Every time you’re tempted to act out your emotions and eat, pray. Ask Him whether this is what he wants you to do. If you need help in handling emotional eating, turn to a friend or a counselor.
Question: What food do you usually crave? Me? Chocolate! Please share. Your sharing encourages others. Thanks.
With Joy Overflowing!
by Lucy | May 10, 2012 | emotions
You can speak words of blessing to a child today and make a world of difference. Who will you bless today?
This precious poem was e-mailed to all the parents whose kids play baseball in our town’s little league. You and I can heal with words. We can maim.
The Apostle James exhorts: “No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be” (James 3:8-10).”
Bless a child today, my sweet friends. Here’s the poem. I do not know the name of the author.
HE IS JUST A LITTLE BOY
He stands at the plate,
with his heart pounding fast.
The bases are loaded,
the die has been cast.
Mom and Dad cannot help him,
he stands all alone.
A hit at this moment,
would send the team home.
The ball meets the plate,
he swings and he misses.
There’s a groan from the crowd,
with some boos and some hisses.
A thoughtless voice cries,
“Strike out the bum.”
Tears fill his eyes,
the game’s no longer fun.
So open your heart,
and give him a break.
For it’s moments like this,
a man you can make.
Please keep this in mind,
when you hear someone forget.
He is just a little boy,
and not a man yet.
Question: What’s your favorite phrase to bless a child? Please share and encourage others. Thank YOU!
With Joy Overflowing!
by Lucy | Apr 17, 2012 | biblical counseling, emotions |
God protects and is in control when you are in a world of pain. He loves you more than you imagine.
God protects. He is good. He is in control. Even in a world where tornadoes crush families, where misguided pilots zoom planes into skyscrapers, where twisted people hurt little girls, God protects.
Do you believe this?
I hope so. If you don’t, I understand.
In the weeks and months after my mom’s fatal heart attack, I railed against this God I love, the one who took away my best friend. And in my grief, I said to him, “If you cannot handle my anger, then you are not God because my God is mighty and strong and spoke the universe into existence.”
I knew God could handle my pain. Because, well, he’s God. . .
all-powerful
all-knowing
all-wise
all-loving.
This triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) held me together in black nights and blacker days.
And he loved me to light.
Finding Comfort
These Spirit-breathed words, these verses, crept into my heart then and now, and warmed me, a blanket of solace, of truth.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go to the heavens, you are there;
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
If I settle on the far side of the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me,
Your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light will become night around me,”
Even the darkness will not be dark to you;
The night will shine like the day,
For darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12, NIV)
Yes, God allows bad things to happen. Yes, he is present. Yes, he sees and he cares. I choose to believe him. How about you? What challenge do you face? Do you still believe?
Question: When troubled by circumstances, which scripture comforts you? Please share a comment and encourage others. Thank you.
With Joy Overflowing!
by Lucy | Apr 10, 2012 | emotions |
You are on a special mission planned by God. It’s a good one, even if life is not going as you had planned.
Ever feel t lonely or left out? In your family or among co-workers? At church?
The sad truth is, life is hard and church is full of imperfect people. So are families, neighborhoods, and workplaces. Should we expect otherwise on earth?
Listen to Jesus’ comforting words: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). And he had the chutzpah to say this to uppity Pharisees who criticized his choice of imperfect dinner companions. I love his truth and comfort as well as the hope he brings.
Know this, my sweet sister: You are not alone in your emotional and spiritual struggles. You are not alone in the pain that tags along with your physical problems. God is with you. He is Immanuel, which means “God with us.” Soak in the God’s truth that you are valued, significant and loved. Our God is tender toward you. He knows your name and has written it on the palm of his hand.
Back in the early 1990s, I didn’t understand these biblical truths. . .though a follower of Christ. Depression had darkened my mood. Anxiety had rattled my mind too. On top of this tough stuff, difficult memories jabbed me. Yes, there was my parents’ divorce but something even worse.
How could I tell anyone my pain? Especially women in the church who seemed to have it all together?
Fast forward to 2000, the year of God’s specific call on my life.
A summer day. Sunny, a soft breeze. Me alone, in prayer. God whispered to my heart:
“Lucy, comfort my sheep who are hurting with the comfort you’ve received from me.”
“Who me?” I asked
“Trust me, Lucy.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Trust me.”
Like the fuzz of a dandelion, my arguments floated away and I said, “Okay, Lord.”
Do you know God’s call to you? You have a special mission God planned for you. Listen: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10.
Yes, he planned these good works — actions, words, and thoughts — to further His kingdom here, now. Even when life has hit a rough spot, God loves you and has plans for you. Good plans. Good works. Just for you. You are important to our mighty God.
Question: Share a good work you know God has planned for you? Thanks. Your words encourage others.
With Joy Overflowing,
by Lucy | Apr 3, 2012 | biblical counseling, emotions |
You can climb out of the comparison trap and fear no more. Discover the 3 steps to godly freedom.
When my husband and I bought our first home, we were just 24 and head-over-heels happy. . .even though the place needed a major overhaul.
Carpenter ants had feasted on the back porch. The roof leaked. The fascia was holey, which explains why a mama raccoon and her babies had made their home in our home.
She had to go.
I just wasn’t going to share my home with another female. Once we kicked out the raccoons all was good. For a little while. Then on my walks to and from the train station I began noticing other homes: brick homes, big homes, homes with impeccable landscaping.
It bugged me that my precious little Cape Cod didn’t measure up. It wasn’t Better Homes and Gardens beautiful. Not even close, and into the comparison trap I fell and broke my neck.
My Core Fear
At the core of my comparison trap: fear.
You remember the story of Eve and the forbidden fruit. Satan in the form of a serpent – a very chatty serpent – put doubt in Eve’s mind and she believed that God was withholding something good from her and the Hubs. So she chomped.
Bad decision.
The good news is you can replace your fear with faith, your comparisons with confidence. How? Continually believe God. Warning: This is not easy. Expect Satan to tempt you to entertain fearful thoughts and to compare.
How to Defeat This Fear
To defeat this fear — that God is holding out on you — or any fear, you need a biblical plan. In a phrase: put off and put on. Here are the 3 steps:
1. Put off the fearful thought. Did you know that fear begins with a thought? Philippians 4:8 tells us that you what you are to think about: whatever is true, right, noble, pure, lovely, and admirable. Chances are, your fearful thought sounds more like: If only I had a nicer home (or better job or more money or better-behaved kids) then I’d be happy and wouldn’t worry. Take a moment now and identify one of your fearful thoughts. Ready for the next step?
2. Now put on a godly thought. For me and my house envy with a fear that God was holding back, my godly thought might be: “Yes, my cape cod needs a lot of improvement (true). I thank God that he helped us find such a good deal (also true), and if my husband and I make wise choices, we can save money to improve our home if this is God wants us to spend our (actually his) money. (Another true and lovely thought.) God is good and compassionate and treats His children lovingly. He would never intentionally hold back any good thing from my husband and me, for God is love.
3. When tempted to revert to a fearful thought, repeat steps 1 and 2 until they become a habit. Scientists you study the brain and the development of patterns are proving what the Bible has said all along. Habits matter. In fact, you become what you think. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
My friend, the excellent news is you can — in God’s strength — overcome fear or any ungodly emotion or behavior. You need to be patient and persistent, and as necessary, find someone to help you.
What is your comparison trap? Please leave a comment.
With Joy Overflowing!
