Gluttony

[Thewhitedove]

Help. I really do need it. In struggling with a food addiction and I feel completely powerless against it.

I always loved food as a child and as a teen I was a little overweight. This crept up until my 20s when I finally went on a low calorie diet and lost 40lbs. I think I had a borderline eating disorder as I existed on coffee and cigarettes. 8 don't smoke anymore. 

I kept the weight off for 10 years and had 2 kids. I lost the baby weight each time by the baby's 1st birthday.

 

Last February I had baby number 3. I didn't gain a lot, about 26lbs. I have about 14 left to go but I am a complete slave to food, especially sugar. 

I'm breastfeeding and my baby sleeps terribly at night. I am so sleep deprived that I gorge on sweets and can't stop. 

I feel so disgusted with myself and feel like this is spiritual! I just feel so weak about this. I don't know how to give this to God. I can't do it in my own power. Please help me to do this in God. I can't help myself. I feel out of control.

I'm not big, but it's my mental state and the compulsiveness that I struggle with. 

[Neighbor]

2 hours ago, Thewhitedove said:

I'm breastfeeding and my baby sleeps terribly at night. I am so sleep deprived that I gorge on sweets and can't stop. 

I feel so disgusted with myself and feel like this is spiritual!

Hi, I am a male so .... what do I know of the extreme demand that may be placed upon your physical body especially when feeding.

But, please don't put yourself down as failing  spiritually. Don't sell yourself short.  

May there be sisters in the Lord close to you and here as well that may be of help as well as comfort. God bless!

[farouk]

8 hours ago, Thewhitedove said:

Help. I really do need it. In struggling with a food addiction and I feel completely powerless against it.

I always loved food as a child and as a teen I was a little overweight. This crept up until my 20s when I finally went on a low calorie diet and lost 40lbs. I think I had a borderline eating disorder as I existed on coffee and cigarettes. 8 don't smoke anymore. 

I kept the weight off for 10 years and had 2 kids. I lost the baby weight each time by the baby's 1st birthday.

 

Last February I had baby number 3. I didn't gain a lot, about 26lbs. I have about 14 left to go but I am a complete slave to food, especially sugar. 

I'm breastfeeding and my baby sleeps terribly at night. I am so sleep deprived that I gorge on sweets and can't stop. 

I feel so disgusted with myself and feel like this is spiritual! I just feel so weak about this. I don't know how to give this to God. I can't do it in my own power. Please help me to do this in God. I can't help myself. I feel out of control.

I'm not big, but it's my mental state and the compulsiveness that I struggle with. 

Hi @Thewhitedove God bless your family!

The bigger picture is of course feeding prayerfully day by day on God's Word; and John 6 speaks of feeding on the bread of life.

[com7fy8]

On 1/1/2023 at 10:04 PM, Thewhitedove said:

 

I'm breastfeeding and my baby sleeps terribly at night. I am so sleep deprived that I gorge on sweets and can't stop. 

 

Hi, White Dove 

What gets my attention is that you have quit smoking. This could be very important, if this means your breast milk will not be passing nicotine to your baby. Make sure about this, with an expert medical person.

Also make sure about this > I am not a professional and not a confirmed expert about this; so make sure with God and whoever are your trusted medical experts > 

One thing > if your baby does not sleep well, possibly you need however God makes you more peaceful and emotionally wise so this can minister to your child. And how well you sleep can pass on effects to your child . . . spiritually and personally, since how you are and sleep can somehow effect your baby and how you relate with each other.

Plus . . . if you are eating sugar like you seem to say, may be your child is getting an imbalanced diet in your milk, from your body which is making breast milk while you are gorging too much sugar. I wonder if experts would believe your excess sugar can effect your baby and therefore how well baby sleeps > I ask this because I have heard reports that children eating too much sugar can be hyper; so can your excess sugar over-feed your baby with too much sugar??

Like I emphasize . . . make sure with proven experts about what needs to go into your body so your baby gets the right things in baby's milk.

And > also to verify about this > it is important that you do not just criticize yourself and guilt-trip about however you might not be doing things right. But it is possible with God; every one of us is an impossible case  He wants you to be humble and encouraged to trust Him to do better.

Feed on trusting God through Jesus Christ His Son. He has hope for you. Love "hopes all things" (in 1 Corinthians 13:7).

Make sure, then, what you should be eating. My opinion is you can make blended drink mixes which have vegetables and fiber food like oatmeal and the right amount of milk maybe, and whatever. And this should help to satisfy your body and your conscience so it is easier to ease up on the sugar > this is my opinion; so make sure with a trusted person who has been proven with your medical care people or a with proven pastor you know personally.

And > make sure about this > eat what has fiber, so your body has to work and spend calories to get the energy from what you eat. If you do eat something sweet, at least make it something like raisins with nuts and seeds and along with things like celery, so you get minerals and vitamins with what you eat. And it takes a while to get energy from fiber foods so you don't get sudden sugar energy shocks. Double-check this.

And maybe you should read some medical and scientific material about sleep. It is unbelievable . . . how God has created sleep, how important it is, and so complicated that we need to trust God to care for our sleep; only He is able to really understand it and care for us in our sleep. So, approach sleep prayerfully, and consider how prayerfully we need to prepare your baby for sleep.

 

[Deborah_]

2 hours ago, com7fy8 said:

Plus . . . if you are eating sugar like you seem to say, may be your child is getting an imbalanced diet in your milk, from your body which is making breast milk while you are gorging too much sugar. I wonder if experts would believe your excess sugar can effect your baby and therefore how well baby sleeps > I ask this because I have heard reports that children eating too much sugar can be hyper; so can your excess sugar over-feed your baby with too much sugar??

 

Actually I don't think this should be a problem, because when your body makes breast milk it makes its own sugar (lactose) in the correct amount for the baby... the sugar that you eat doesn't go into your milk. I worked out that baby is now 10 months old, is that right? So presumably he/she is also having solid food by now? How much breast milk is he/she actually having, are you just breast-feeding for comfort? Would it ease the pressure on you to cut down a bit? (I know people have different opinions on how long one should breastfeed for, but the length of time isn't set in stone. My daughter weaned herself off the breast at the age of nine months).

Are you deprived of sleep because your baby isn't sleeping? If so, what's keeping the baby awake?

One piece of good advice that I was given is not to do 'too much' at night, just the bare minimum. If baby needs a feed, just give the feed and put him/her straight back down to sleep again. If the nappy (diaper?) needs changing, just change it - no playing games or extra cuddles - and go back to bed. Don't feel guilty about not being Supermother - none of us are Supermother, and we all need rest. And you have two other children as well!

It helps everyone to sleep if you can have a regular bedtime routine. This may take a while to set up, as each new child changes the family dynamics, but it's a target to work towards.

I would also suggest that you keep the sweets somewhere where you can't easily access them during the night. Putting your blood sugar up won't help you get back to sleep. 

All these problems are very common, so I would be surprised if it's anything spiritual. But sleep deprivation and exhaustion can make us feel both mentally and spiritually low.

[farouk]

Hi @LoveConquersAll Thanks for the 'like'; it's good in simplicity to pursue Acts 2.42 activities.

[WilliamL]

On 1/1/2023 at 8:04 PM, Thewhitedove said:

I'm breastfeeding and my baby sleeps terribly at night. I am so sleep deprived that I gorge on sweets and can't stop. 

Both you and your baby are experiencing blood sugar spikes and crashes, and the crashes lead to intense cravings; and then cycle repeats.

The solution I have found both for weight loss and for cravings is simply unadulterated whole wheat bread. It has balanced carbs, from short-term sugars to mid-range and longer-term carbohydrates, which keeps your blood sugar leveled out for hours. And the bran in the whole wheat soaks up many times its volume in fluids, which both fills up the gut, stimulates the bowels to work/contract, while also absorbing and removing fatty crud buildup in the gut's lining.

So instead of grabbing something sweet to satisfy low blood sugar cravings, stuff your face with bread whenever said cravings come -- not slathered with butter and sugary jams etc. -- and before very long you should find those cravings returning at longer and longer intervals, and you should be dropping weight besides.

[R. Hartono]

On 1/2/2023 at 10:04 AM, Thewhitedove said:

Help. I really do need it. In struggling with a food addiction and I feel completely powerless against it.

I always loved food as a child and as a teen I was a little overweight. This crept up until my 20s when I finally went on a low calorie diet and lost 40lbs. I think I had a borderline eating disorder as I existed on coffee and cigarettes. 8 don't smoke anymore. 

I kept the weight off for 10 years and had 2 kids. I lost the baby weight each time by the baby's 1st birthday.

 

Last February I had baby number 3. I didn't gain a lot, about 26lbs. I have about 14 left to go but I am a complete slave to food, especially sugar. 

I'm breastfeeding and my baby sleeps terribly at night. I am so sleep deprived that I gorge on sweets and can't stop. 

I feel so disgusted with myself and feel like this is spiritual! I just feel so weak about this. I don't know how to give this to God. I can't do it in my own power. Please help me to do this in God. I can't help myself. I feel out of control.

I'm not big, but it's my mental state and the compulsiveness that I struggle with. 

The best thing to overcome excessive eating is by training your body to fast.

Try this vegetarian fasting like prophet Daniel. Daniel fasted 21 days on vegetarian food but you don't need to force yourself for 21 days. Just try ONE day of vegetarian food first. Then repeat it Twice a week.

Its a simple basic training which Will build stronger determination step by step.

 

[FJK]

Since overeating is a behavioral disorder, let's look at it from a behavioral standpoint.

Behavior that is rewarded is repeated.

Behavior that is punished is extinguished.

Behavior that is intermittently rewarded continues to be repeated long after the reward is removed, lasting almost forever sometimes (Casino's in Las Vegas know this and use it in a very observable manner).

So what is the reward you are getting?  You'll need to find something different, and hopefully healthier, to do to replace overeating and still give the same needed reward.  You could also change (retrain) your eating to give you the same reward while eating less.

Diets don't work because they leave overeating subject to that intermittent reward cycle as soon as you quit them and don't give the needed reward you were seeking while overeating while you're on them.

Rather than try to lose everything all at once immediately try something you can do without much effort over a longer period of time.

Can you give up just a hundred calories a day?  A hundred calories isn't much, that's less than a single tablespoon of fats such as vegetable oil or butter or less than a single can of a soft drink while leaving everything else the same, can you do that?