How to Avoid the Pain of Guilt and Overeating

The book of James talks about our own desires:

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:13-15

We have been deceived into believing that we adore food, we worship the taste, we love the feeling of control. We long for a secret rendezvous with food. We plan to put our children to bed and have no one present to tell us what to do or to judge us. We long to fulfill the desire-eating binge at 10 p.m. when no one is looking… eating foods we have been secretly dreaming of all day long.

Why do we do this? Head hunger—this desire for indulgence and the sensation of eating salt and sweet—can override the physical pain of overeating, such as the overstretched stomach pouch, the pain of the dumping syndrome of diarrhea, the pain of gastric reflux in the esophagus, and the exhaustion. Again, we have ignored the chronic pain of the overweight condition—clothes too tight, joints that hurt, and fatigue. We have not associated this pain with eating—we have not associated the guilt that leads to depression.

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