SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hi friends and welcome back to Revelation Within on the Go! I'm Heidi Wiles McEpherson, one of your hosts, and the other and the lead coach chief bottle washer. Oh I tell you, Christina!

SPEAKER_01: 0:22

That's exactly who you are. And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a Revelation Within and Honey's partner, and all things included model watching. Revelation Within. And we're so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of Revelation Within. All Mupp.

SPEAKER_00: 0:48

Sounded like Fozzie Bear. It was a cross between Fozzie and Animal. Animal.

SPEAKER_01: 0:54

Yeah. Oh, I love it. Love the Muppets. Love, love the Muppets. All right. We're so glad to be here with you for another episode where we press into truth, grace, and the kind leadership of God, especially when it comes to food, eating, and body image.

SPEAKER_00: 1:15

So today, you know, one thing we have learned in the many years of doing this and interacting with people who need help doing this. Yeah. What is this? You know, help with food eating, body image, is that there's something really important. It's often misunderstood. It's that topic of quote, intuitive eating.

unknown: 1:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:42

Intuitive eating. What in the world is that?

SPEAKER_00: 1:45

Yeah, at first glance, intuitive eating sounds so well, intuitive. Right. But you know what? That's kind of easy. It sounds so easy. Yeah, you just eat when you're hungry. Hmm. You stop when you're no longer hungry, when you're satisfied. And you honor your body and you trust your instincts and la la la.

SPEAKER_01: 2:12

Yeah, it sounds so so easy, but not really. I mean, let's be honest. If you've ever tried to follow quote unquote intuitive eating and found yourself confused, frustrated, what about binging even more? Yeah. I mean, you're just you're not alone. And we want you to know you're not alone. And here's why. Intuitive eating assumes that you can hear and trust your body. Trust? Trust your body. Yeah. But but wait a minute, what if you spent years or even decades ignoring your body's cues? I mean, I'm raising my hand. That was me. Decades, years, or worse, disconnecting from your body because of trauma, shame, chronic stress, any number of reasons. I mean, that's where this gets tricky.

SPEAKER_00: 3:11

And it's where it gets real because there's probably not a person listening that can't identify in some way with trauma, shame, or chronic stress, or some thereof. Yes. You know, many of us have experienced trauma. Even, I mean, let's be real here again. We all lived through the COVID thing, right? Yeah. That was a worldwide trauma. Yes, it was. When you go to the grocery store and the food isn't on the shelves, I mean, yeah, it's not just capital T trauma like abuse or well, I guess that was a catastrophic event. That counts. I also mean like when I say trauma, it can be emotional neglect. Maybe it's being ashamed about your body at some point in your life, maybe as a child, but maybe uh by somebody you were even married to or are married to, or growing up in a household where food was used as like a reward or a punishment. Oh boys, I know that one.

SPEAKER_01: 4:17

Yeah, I think this is so important to talk about because we have so many women come mostly women, a few men, but we have they come to us and it seems like such an easy concept at first. Listen to your body and you'll be fine. And then it's like, why is this so hard? And then we feel like, oh, there's something wrong with me. And then, you know, then the shame comes up all over again because we're struggling. So I think this is so important to talk about. When trauma hits of any kind, our nervous systems adapt to survive. That's how our bodies were designed. We may freeze, yeah, by God. We may freeze, disassociate, or learn to cope with the chaos through food. Eating becomes, and so many of you I know can identify with this. Eating becomes more than just fueling our bodies, it becomes a way to feel safe, a way to regulate an overwhelmed system.

SPEAKER_00: 5:26

This really is important, you know, when we reach for food in these moments. We're not being rebellious or undisciplined necessarily. Oftentimes, our bodies are crying out, I don't feel safe. And food is really, when you think about it, one of the most accessible, self-soothing tools we know of and have access to it. And that really makes intuitive eating complicated. So, like if you've ever tried straight up intuitive eating, or if you've tried one of the alternatives that's kind of like an intuitive eating, whether it was thin within or even our five intentions of spirit-led eating, these are variations of intuitive eating. You know, recognize that it's more complicated. If it's hard for you, you're okay. Our cues have been rewired by our survival strategies. Survival doesn't mean yeah, it doesn't mean you're out in the wilderness and you can't find anything to eat except mushrooms or something. It's not about that. But emotionally, our bodies were wired for peace. And when peace is missing, we reach for something, some way, some inner strength or inner false strength, if you will, to cope, to survive, to literally survive. And if you have been in any difficult relationships, whether it's home life as a child or growing up in other ways as you're older or in marriage. I mean, marriage is tough for anybody, but you know what we're talking about that if you feel threatened in some way, unsafe in some way, then you have turned to food. And maybe that was even 10 years ago. But now intuitive eating is still just as hard. Yes. Well, let's take this straight to scripture.

SPEAKER_01: 7:21

This is this is where we always we're always ready to go to scripture. Isaiah 55.2, because this is this is our source, this is our solid foundation, this does not change. It is always the same. Isaiah 55 2 says, Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest affair. That's in the Bible, by the way. That's in the Bible. Okay, this passage it speaks right to the heart of our hunger, doesn't it? Not just physical hunger, but also emotional and spiritual hunger. We keep going to food and it keeps not satisfying. Why? Because we're asking it to do what only God can do.

SPEAKER_00: 8:19

Exactly. Jesus also tells us in John 6 35, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Michael and I are binge watching, if you will, the chosen. We started at the very beginning, and oh my god, it is delighting my so much better than Stranger Things. Oh yikes. Michael will look at me and say, Well, are we gonna do the evil show or the good show? I can't not watch the good show anymore. I just love the chosen and the woman in the well um at the well where we were, and where Jesus spoke about him being the water of life, and that he will cause us to have water springing up within us and never be thirsty. Then you know that's not just poetic, and it's not just the chosen. He really said that. He really did. It's really a deep truth, a deep truth about what our souls crave. And we may eat emotionally, yeah, that's true, when our nervous systems feel uh dysregulated, chaotic, uh unsettled. But what we truly long for, because we were wired for it, is it's connection, it's comfort, it's safety, and you know, Lord offers all of that. He sure does. So it's the way forward we can invite God into our broken places, of course. We ask him to show us what we've used food to cope with, and and we let him begin to untangle the knots, not just in our minds, but in our bodies too. And now it might mean slowing down to notice some things. Am I hungry, Lord? Or am I lonely? Am I reaching for food or reaching for control? Do I feel unsafe? Do I feel unheard? Do I feel overstimulated? And then instead of numbing out, we want to bring it all to him, all to the Lord, and say, Here are my broken pieces, Lord. I don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_01: 10:44

Yes. Well, and this is where renewing our minds comes in. Romans 12 2 style. We're not just changing habits, we're letting God transform our thoughts, beliefs, and nervous systems from the inside out over time. And this that's important to say, over time, true spirit-led eating becomes more intuitive. It really does. But I know, I know you're in a rush, and I know I was in a rush for a long, long time, but I'm just gonna challenge you not to rush this because now we're listening not only to our stomachs, but to our souls, and our souls are learning to listen to God. That's really, really important, and it's worth it's worth the process, it's worth the wait.

SPEAKER_00: 11:38

Yeah. You know, in the years that I was doing one-on-one coaching for Thin Within, I came across that quite a bit, where people had a deadline. They were kind of giving themselves and giving God where I've got to learn how to do this, I've got to wait for hunger. I'm gonna eat when I'm hungry, I'm gonna stop when I'm not hungry anymore, and I'm going to sit down when I, you know, all these keys to conscious eating, which are great. But they then ended up feeling like failures because they couldn't pull it off. And they were in a hurry, like I have a cruise I'm going on in two and a half months. Well, you know, that's not very long to learn a way of thinking about food eating in my body that I haven't thought of ever before or not very often. And I've been doing something else for decades. Yes, and practicing, practicing something else. Yeah, again and again, at least three times a day, many of us more times than that every day. We've been practicing grabbing for food, and so of course, it's gonna be challenging and it will take time. You know, if we walk with God, if we are spirit-led in our living, it will be a little bit more likely that we will learn more quickly how to be spirit-led in our eating, but still a process because you know, our flesh is our flesh and it sticks to us wherever we go, and it has a will and a way, and it rears its ugly head and says, Give me me. I want that, and I want that. Yeah, sure does. Yeah, if you've struggled with intuitive eating and felt like a failure, like I have in my life, it's not because something's wrong with you. Nope, nope, nope, nope. You're not broken. You've lived in a broken world and you've learned to survive, and that's pretty cool that you've learned to and me too. Jesus came exactly for that.

SPEAKER_01: 13:36

Yes. So don't give up, you know, and it's remember that it is not only okay, but it's really best to slow down. Invite God in, let him teach you how to hear your body again, let him soothe your nervous system, let him retrain your reflexes with his peace.

SPEAKER_00: 14:01

Yeah, in fact, a lot of times when people are just starting to maybe they want to do the five intentions of spirit-led eating with us at Revelation Within or some other kind of intuitive approach. Um, a lot of times they they will tell us, I don't know what hunger feels like. And we can describe it in the many different ways people have described it for us over the years and that we share with others how it feels for us. But God knows your hunger signal. God knows what hunger is for you. In any given moment, He can tell you when your body needs fueling. And the same is true for that stopping place, that just enoughness. So we don't even need our own intuition, we just need to tap into him who is all wise. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 14:50

So you don't have to muscle your way through this, you're not alone, and healing is possible. Wait, say that again. Healing is possible.

SPEAKER_00: 15:06

It really is, really, really is. Yeah, Jesus said to us with man, this isn't possible, but with God, all things are possible. Yes, so there's some things that we can do to kind of get on that page this week, maybe. I mean, we're not we don't want to focus on our performance, but of course, we want to avail ourselves to the Lord and say, Lord, would you come into this? It's really hard for me to do this. I'm not sure when to eat, not to eat, and all of that. So pray Psalm 139 verses 23 to 24. I'm gonna say that again. Pray Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24. And that passage says, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. And if it were me, uh I would even elaborate on that a little bit. Search me, God, and know my heart. You know when I need to fuel my physical body, you know when my heart needs something that physical food won't be able to meet. And Lord, you know my anxious thoughts. And would you please meet the needs of my heart, of the of my mind, of my body, and lead me in your way. I want to be spirit-led.

SPEAKER_01: 16:28

Okay, so ask God to reveal what's underneath your eating. Yeah, I think He loves when we ask Him to help us, He loves it because He knows that this is an area in our lives that has caused us a lot of angst and a lot of sorrow and frustration. And He wants to help us with this. He is ready. Another idea is to try a body scan prayer. Pause during the day, sit quietly, and ask God to show you where tension, hunger, or emotion lives in your body. Just notice, no judgment at all. Just notice. Ask God to show you, and then just listen.

SPEAKER_00: 17:12

I like that. And then renew your mind. Maybe with truths like these, I don't need to fix this alone. Another truth is God, you see every layer of my hunger. Make aware of those layers, Lord. You are my bread, you are my peace, you are my healer. And tell yourself that truth or those truths or ones like them again and again. And remind yourself that this could take a while, but that God is on it. He is on it with you.

SPEAKER_01: 17:46

Yes. So healing from emotional eating or food trauma, it doesn't happen overnight. We all wish that it did. And maybe you've prayed that prayer a hundred million times like I did for years, but it does happen in the presence of a faithful, gentle savior who loves your whole body, your whole self, who loves your whole self, body, mind, and spirit. And let's just say it again: healing is absolutely possible with God. Absolutely possible. Heidi and I have seen healing in the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people. Healing is possible with God.

SPEAKER_00: 18:32

That's right. You know, he's not asking you to get it all right either. See, now that's really important. He's inviting you to come close to him. And and maybe every time you have the thought of, I'm just gonna paint a picture here, you're in the line at the grocery store, and they they do still have grocery stores, right? I haven't been to one in ages. Yes. I don't order mine and it's delivered anyway. Um, and there's usually this time of year in holiday time and beyond, especially, I mean, early in January, there's all these promises in these tabloids and magazines that tell us what we need to do. And it's tempting to grab one of those. But anyway, he's not asking you to get it all right. He's leaning in when you feel yourself saying those words, oh, I could start this in January, or I could start this next week or on Monday, or whatever it might be. Think of that as God's invitation to you to come close right now. Right now. Yeah, he's inviting you to invite him in.

SPEAKER_01: 19:38

Yeah, don't wait, don't wait. You're just you're gonna love the journey with him, and he will bring the healing that you long for. He will. We are so glad that you've been here today, and we would love, love to invite you to come to our next episode of Revelation Within.