Episode 12 Transcript
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Welcome to your daily bread with co hosts, Abbie Stasior and Hannah Calhoun. We're here to be your weekly source of spiritual nourishment, guiding you to find food freedom in a deeper connection with Christ. As we explore the intersection of faith and nutrition, these bite sized episodes will help you heal your relationship with food and your body through practical advice, biblical wisdom, and heartfelt encouragement.
And as a disclaimer, we are not pastors, but passionate registered dietitians and sisters in Christ, offering our insights to support you on this faith filled journey to a healthier, more fulfilling life. Join us by taking a seat at our table as we break bread and allow God in to break the chains of diet culture.
Abbie: Hey y'all, today we are going to be diving into, honestly, one of my favorite Versus in the Bible, we are going to be diving into Romans 12, one, two, so impactful. Um, and Hannah and I are really excited to kind of kick off the Lent season with this. And so we want to go in with that mindset. If you are. You know, someone that typically, like, quote, unquote, like, gives something up for Lent and, you know, just leading up to, the crucifixion and resurrection and, you know, this season is just so impactful.
Um, so we want to make sure that we are keeping our eyes on the Lord and that we are stewarding our bodies well and that we are offering our bodies as a living sacrifice. We really want to talk about what that means and how we do that in a way that's, that's not disordered. Romans 12, 1, 2 says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
This, Is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
So , there's so much in there. I feel like you can like really relate. , just this versus so many different things in our lives. But what I want to point out first is that when we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, when we do things to ensure that our body stays holy and it's pleasing to God, and we are stewarding our bodies in a way that are holy and pleasing to God, not disordered, not.
You know, having any food anxiety or fear, you know, shame, condemnation. We're not treating our bodies harshly. We're instead nourishing our bodies and doing things that are pleasing to God. That is our true and proper worship because we know that our bodies are a gift from God. They are a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Our bodies are on loan. Our bodies are not our own. So by stewarding our bodies well and honoring them, that is worship to God.
And I love that it says that we should not be conforming to the pattern of this world because so much of diet culture is man made and made of the world. And So we want to make sure that we have a heavenly mindset and we're keeping our eyes focused on Jesus and like trying to eat in a way how Jesus models, how we should be eating and nourishing ourselves, how the Bible wants us to approach things.
So this is going to seem counter cultural, what, what we normally do, and that's on purpose. We are supposed to be. In the world, not of the world. So it's important to remember that, that how we steward our bodies is going to look different. And I just feel like there's also so many Christians too that feel like they are doing this, but they really are in the thick of diet culture.
So I think it's important that we need to continuously be challenging our own beliefs, challenging our own thoughts and questioning. Are my food beliefs disordered? Are these serving me and my body? Is this the best way to do it? Is this what God really intends for me? And allow God to come in and transform our thoughts and our beliefs because when we do that, then that will impact our behavior to ensure that that is holy and pleasing to God.
Hannah: And I think about too how some people, you know, Might say like oh, it's the new year like you're oh, you're not on a diet. What do you mean? like, you know, it's the new year and , that's what the world is doing. The world is saying like yeah, we're starting over starting fresh You know starting on a diet doing this during that And we're not called to fit in with the world so we might feel left out.
Uh, people might question us , if normally in the past, like, we have conformed with the world in this area, and jumped on that bandwagon. But,, our minds are being renewed, God is revealing things to us on how we can honor our bodies well and honor the temple of the Holy Spirit well and understand that it is not our own and, and understand how to steward it well in a way that is different than what the world says is right for our body.
Like no pain, no gain type of thing, like that's what the world is doing. We're doing things differently because God is renewing our mind day by day and revealing things to us. And yeah, we're probably not going to fit in with, with some of our friends.
Abbie: Right. And we really are called to be this living sacrifice, laying things on the altar, dying to our fleshly desires. And I think that's obviously very countercultural because culturally, if you want something, go get it. If you have that craving, you know, go, go after it, but no, we really need to be dying to our flesh.
And there are Christians that do understand that, but then take that and run with it in a disordered direction. So it's like, okay, if I'm craving chocolate cake, especially thinking about the Lent season, then I need to give up the chocolate cake. And so I want to talk about that for a bit because, a lot of people will give up the sugar or the sweet treats if that's what they've been craving and I think that is Keeping you in that hamster wheel of this restrict binge guilt cycle and keeping you really in bondage by diet culture because what we restrict, we binge on eventually.
It's like a bow and arrow when you pull back, back, back, restrict, restrict, restrict, eventually you're going to fling forward in the other direction. You are going to feel out of control with food. Whatever you tell yourself not to think about and not to have, you want more of it. You think about it more so giving up the cake isn't going to solve your relationship with food It isn't going to make things better.
You will end up binging on that and probably, Just not nourishing yourself later on So Hannah and I were kind of brainstorming and thinking about like, okay if it's not about the cake What else could you think about in the lent season because we know that giving up the cake wouldn't be The answer to this and probably isn't the best thing if you're trying to heal your relationship with food to lay down the altar so I think first you need to be thinking about okay, what is Leading you to binge on the chocolate cake.
What is causing the craving and There's so many reasons why we have cravings. But one of the main ones is that we're not nourishing ourselves Earlier on, we just simply haven't eaten enough, so we're hungry, and our body craves carbs because that's our body's preferred energy source, and our bodies are smart because they're made by God.
Our bodies know that it's going to get the most energy the most quickly from having sugar and having carbs. It's going to bring our energy levels up quick, so that's why we crave carbs. It doesn't necessarily mean that we have to eat them, but that's what our bodies start to crave. So, I think you first need to look at, am I Not nourishing myself properly, am I skipping meals, am I eating very chaotically, because then I think during the Lent season you could be intentional about eating regularly, nourishing yourself well, and that is a really good discipline, , your flesh might say, oh, I really just want coffee this morning, I don't feel like breakfast, I'm not hungry at this time, but we know that our bodies need to eat, and if you skip breakfast, you're more likely to binge later on, so that would actually be dying to your fleshly desires, and really getting to, to the root of the, the issue of why you were having those cravings and binging.
And that would be a really healthy way to approach the Lent season that has nothing to do with like a giving up a more calorie dense food. Right.
Hannah: I also think too , about people who eat very, very low carb because they're so afraid or misinformed or, you know, whatever the reason might be. Um, and maybe they're not even doing it intentionally.
They just generally eat very low carb throughout the day. And then that's why at night, you know, they're like, Oh my gosh, I gotta have ice cream. I gotta have ice cream. And it's like. Okay, is the ice cream the problem? Is it like, oh, I just cannot have ice cream in my house. Just can't. I go crazy with it. I have ice cream in my house all the time.
I like forget it's there because I am eating, my carbs, fat, protein, fiber with every meal throughout the day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and then, you know, snacks in between depending on the day, how I'm feeling, things like that. So is it the cake? That's the problem. Is it the ice cream?
That's the problem. Or, again, should you reflect on what does your eating look like, um, to where it's leading you to feel out of control or super duper craving, like, all of these sweets?
Abbie: Yeah, absolutely. And I really do think most of the time it's because people aren't eating enough. So is it for this Lent season you need to actually give up scrolling on your phone and unplugging in the morning so that you actually have time to sit and be present for breakfast and actually eat breakfast?
Do you need to lay down on the altar this like people pleasing tendency, this workaholic tendency and this energy? Where you're skipping lunch to, to work or you're shoveling something in while you're simultaneously working. Do you need to lay down that? Do you need to have a difficult conversation with the boss to set a boundary or just set boundaries with yourself so you can have a proper lunch and fuel yourself?
Do you need to give up overbooking your weekend? Do you need to think about what's Actually, like stressing you out, like a lot of people will crave that chocolate cake, the ice cream, the cookies, the chips, because they're stressed out because their, their schedules are so packed. So do you need to lay down on the altar?
Some of the things that you're over committing to. And I think our fleshly desire is to people, please, and go, go, go and hustle, hustle, hustle. That's definitely part of the culture. But if we're not conforming to the pattern of this world, we're not conforming to culture. Then we're not subscribing to hustle culture.
We actually do need to set boundaries. We need to prioritize rest and that will decrease our stress and make us less likely to be binging on foods. And, um, if you are someone that copes with emotions. through food. So I think a really tangible step could be to start to name, okay, if I'm nourishing myself well, so I know that I'm not eating because of that, because I'm just like hungry and craving food.
And it's more that you're using food to cope with an emotion. You need to first name that emotion. Like I mentioned stress, but for you, it might be loneliness. It might be anxiety. It might be sadness, frustration, boredom. So think about what that emotion is that you're feeling that then you turn to food and figure out in a way that has nothing to do with food.
How could I handle that emotion? Something for in the moment, but then also how can I set boundaries around my lifestyle so that I'm not feeling that emotion as often? Hmm.
Hannah: I'm also thinking because we talked in a previous episode about how food is not just fuel. It's also pleasure and Maybe you're not experiencing pleasure anywhere else in your life.
Such a good point. So maybe you know I, you know, we're talking about not overbooking and stuff, but maybe pick up some type of hobby, even if it's like, I really love knitting or crocheting. Um, you know, even if it's something you can do from home, uh, or whether it's playing a board game with your, your spouse, or your kids, or your friend, your roommate, whoever.
Um, you know, doing something that brings you joy and brings you pleasure, um, so that you're not just Miserable in the mundane throughout the life, throughout your week, and then you're turning to food in the absence of hunger just to experience some form of
Abbie: pleasure. Yes, yes. And I think it's just so easy and kind of a cop out to be like, Oh, okay, like my flesh wants the cake, so I'm just gonna give up the cake.
I think that's just putting a band aid. On the problem that's not really, like, transforming you in a profound way. That's just you, like, maybe exercising, like, a little self control and discipline for 40 days.
Hannah: like, a sneaky way to be like, Ooh, I want a diet, but, you know, I just gave it up for Lent.
It's not a diet, I just gave it up for Lent.
Abbie: Right, yes, that is a diet.
Hannah: If you're trying to lose weight for Lent, like, it's like, what are we doing here? What are we doing here? You know, like, what is this season of Lent? Like, you know, what is the reason that we're giving something up? Like, don't use it as a sneaky way to like drop a jean size.
Come
Abbie: on, people. Right. No, you're so right. And I just think it's better to look at and really think about what is the root cause and how could I. Get to the root cause and make a sacrifice there. , that's going to make a much more profound impact in your life. And actually get to the root of what's causing any minges or any food cravings.
Yeah.
Hannah: And, and I think just briefly touching on another point that Abby had made about like giving up scrolling on your phone. Maybe you want to give up, you know, whatever outlet you look at on your phone, YouTube, Instagram, I don't know. Um, Or, or maybe you can, maybe you don't necessarily delete the app, but you put a, a time limit or you carve out time to check your notifications, post something if, if, you know, part of your job is, is online, um, but maybe we can give up mindlessly scrolling or mindlessly using our time.
And, and that way we can be more intentional with our time and, and even with our food so that we can pay attention to the things that we have discussed so far in this episode.
Abbie: Yes. Oh, that's so good. So good. And especially if you're listening to this show and you have a disordered relationship with food, you're recovering from an eating disorder, you're in the thick of an eating disorder, we would very strongly discourage you from fasting any sort of food.
I don't think it should be food related. I think it really should be something else related. And the last thing I'll say about this. a profound revelation with this verse, is, okay, so it says do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
That word, then, is so essential. Because if you are not letting God come in and transform, renew your mind, if you're not offering your body as a living sacrifice, allowing your body to be holy and pleasing to God, you are not going to be able to discern what God's will is in your life. So that's why this stuff is so, so important.
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Thank you for joining us on this episode of your daily bread. We hope you found inspiration and practical guidance to nourish your body and soul. Remember the journey to a healthier relationship with food and a deeper connection with Christ is ongoing and we're here to support you every step of the way.
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As we conclude today's episode, we encourage you to take what resonated with you into your quiet time with God, allow God to reveal to you any changes that you can make for his glory, trusting that you are fearfully and wonderfully made in his image. Stay tuned for our next episode where we'll continue to explore how God's word helps us heal our relationship with food in our bodies Until then may you find both physical and spiritual nourishment and may you be filled with his peace and joy.
God bless
