S2. E11. God cares about your eating
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Abbie: [00:00:00] Y'all, I have such a treat for you today. Our guest is Madison Andrews. She's a registered dietician and faith-based health coach, and so many of you know her on Instagram. I have so many clients that also follow her and love her content, and I'm really excited to bring her to the show.
Today we have. Such a great conversation around Romans 12 1 2 and renewing our mind, and we talk about healthy, godly weight loss and what that looks like, and she will provide us with eight questions that you should ask yourself as you're discerning whether or not weight loss should be a goal for you.
We talk about the difference between restriction and healthy boundaries and how to navigate that and how to live as a living sacrifice to allow the Lord to come in and renew your mind so you are no longer conforming to the ways of the world, but you are living for God. I'm so excited. She is such a light in this.
Christian dietician space [00:01:00] and her and I are, colleagues and becoming great, great friends this interview. Was so fun to record and I'm really excited for y'all to hear this episode and be transformed by it. So I will pray us in.
Father God, thank you so much for this day, Lord. Thank you for Madison. Lord, thank you for this divine appointment and divine connection. I pray that everything that is said in this episode is Holy Spirit breathed. Lord, we want less of us and more of you. And Lord, I pray that every single listener is transformed by this episode that something just hits their spirit in a way.
And Lord, I just pray that you make it clear that whatever you have for them that. They know that it is from you. Lord, I pray that this episode changes people from the inside out. I pray that you give them ears to hear and soft hearts to receive the truths in this episode so that people can really begin that process or continue that process of renewing their mind and no longer on their [00:02:00] own understanding or the world's understanding of health.
Thank you, Jesus. For every single listener, please send a blessing to them and remind them that they are blessed and not cursed. That they are the head and not the tail. And because we are your sons and daughters, that makes us royalty. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Welcome to Your Daily Bread podcast. I'm your host, Abbie Stasior, a registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor. My prayer is that these bite-sized episodes will help you heal your relationship with food and improve body image, as well as help you grow closer to God. Now, I can't personally heal you, but each week I'll be directing you to the one that can, and that is Jesus. As a disclaimer, I'm not a pastor, but a sister in Christ providing you with some food for thought for you to bring to the Lord and into your quiet time as your daily bread. Let's dig in.
Abbie: Hey Madison.
Hey, Abby. I am so excited for today's episode. Thank you for joining your [00:03:00] Daily Bread podcast. Thanks for having me on. I have been so pumped for this episode. When we connected on Instagram, I was like, I gotta have this girl on the show at some point.
Madison: Yes. I'm so excited, honestly. Um, earlier this year when I was just like starting my Instagram stuff back up again, I came across your profile and I showed it to my husband and I was like, this, this is what I wanna do.
Like, she's doing it so well. And so the fact that it's like full circle and we ended up connecting and now I'm here is is such a god thing.
Abbie: I love it. And that's actually wild because when I saw your profile I was like, this is what I want to be doing. That's awesome. I love it. I love it. Yeah. And I just feel like, um, it's been so nice to not have like competition in the space.
We're all helping people in the kingdom and we need more dieticians that are in the faith-based faith and actually promoting how God designed us. To eat and steward our bodies.
Madison: Absolutely. And I noticed too, like the way [00:04:00] that we do things, like we are different parts of the same body. We have pretty much the same message going on, but we do it differently and we do it to our strengths and that honors God.
Abbie: Amen. Amen. So yeah, tell us a little bit about you. How you got to be in this space and doing what you're doing now. Yeah.
Madison: Oh, wow. Okay. I started off. In 2020 on TikTok promoting weight loss.
I was not a believer at the time. Just saw a friend hop on TikTok, go viral, and I was like, I can do that too. So I jumped in there, , started doing one-on-one coaching as a dietician, specifically just for weight loss. Then two years later, around 2021, grief kind of took over my life and my.
Like I, I just couldn't keep up with my business. I couldn't keep up with posting on TikTok, and I kind of just let it all go. It just seemed like none of that even mattered anymore. Um, but it was within that season that I met Jesus. And then, so that was 2021. Flash forward all the way to early 2025. [00:05:00] I thought I would never do like my own private practice or nutrition business, especially not social media again.
And out of nowhere, my husband was like, oh, you know, like, let's, let's start posting recipe videos together on Instagram. Like just something fun to do together. So I started posting just a couple of recipe videos here and there, and then I had an idea to just throw some B-roll on the screen, , saying Your body is.
A temple, not an idol. And that was like the first ever like faith-based fitness or nutrition thing I posted and it took off like out of nowhere. I had pr, practically no followers on Instagram. , And then this got over 2 million views and. Followers kept coming in and I kept posting the recipe videos, but then I would post some faith-based things, and the , faith-based things were the ones that did really well.
So from there I'm like, okay, God's saying something. I'm enjoying doing this. Like, and honestly, that was the point where I started to learn. More of what it looked like to bring faith into my practice as a [00:06:00] dietician and into my fitness journey, because I am marathon runner, like rock climber, CrossFitter, high rocker, like love doing all the fitness things.
But God was really teaching me what it meant to bring faith into that. And so I think this year I have honestly been learning as I've been also teaching and showing people what I've been learning through carousels and reels and all of that too. So. That's a little bit of my story in a nutshell..
Oh my gosh. I love it. And I
Abbie: love that your husband is in on this too.
Madison: He is, he does not make any of the content or he, he's there for an advisor role. He says, I love it. I love it. Which is awesome. I'm like, you know it, it helps. So thanks. Aw, that is so sweet. And y'all do all of that rock climbing
Abbie: and the fitness
Madison: things
Abbie: together too.
Madison: We go through phases. So right now he just finished an Iron Man, um, and he's the reason I ran a marathon. Okay. Oh wow. Sled King. Oh my God. No, I don't think I, I don't wanna say never, but I don't know, I don't think I'd ever run a [00:07:00] marathon again. Um, it is hard on the body, man. But the carb loading was fun, I will say.
Um, but no, right now we're just doing the normal like gym thing and fitness classes and high rock stuff.
Abbie: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I love that you said that about, you know, carb loading because I feel like people, like it's good that you have a healed relationship with food going into such intense training like that, because if people don't, I mean, they're just, their body's not gonna be able to recover or keep up.
Yeah. You have to eat. You have to eat for that.
Madison: Such a side note, I mean, a lot of what I talk about on Instagram is that even as a dietician, I did have a broken relationship with food and marathon training. Honestly, start healed some of that because I was so, like not afraid of carbs. I knew the science behind it.
I knew we needed carbs, but like, I just also knew that when I didn't eat carbs, I tended to like feel skinnier and more toned. Um, so I kind of had this like. I, I don't wanna say fear, but maybe fear around carbs and marathon training. I learned like sports [00:08:00] nutrition specifically, and I saw my times like just drop and I could be so much faster the more carbs I was eating.
So that really took me like. These carbs are okay, and especially now like even though I'm not doing long distance running, I'm not afraid of them anymore. I just like balance 'em in and understand that just like any other calorie, they are a calorie too and we need energy. So that was honestly kind of healing for me
Abbie: Wow. That's amazing. I love that. And I find that with the work that I do with clients, making peace with carbs out of all the macronutrients is the hardest for people to do. Yeah. Because I think it is so deeply spiritual. I mean, in Exodus, we see bread being referred to in the temple as the bread of the presence.
Then Jesus comes and says, I am the bread of life. At the last Supper. Do this in remembrance of me. Every time we eat carbs, have bread that is. Indicative of the gospel. It's such a sacred experience. Wow. So of course the enemy would wanna come in and attack that.
Madison: Yeah. No, I love your hats. The even Jesus a Carbs or whatever it was.
Yes. [00:09:00]
Abbie: I should have worn it today. You should. Yes. Yes. We'll, we'll link those up in the show notes. Everyone can buy their Jesus a carbs hat. Thank you.
Madison: Yes. I want, I want one of those hats.
Abbie: That's awesome. Yeah. Oh my goodness. . Anyone that follows Madison knows that her carousel post.
Are iconic, so aesthetic and, , I love your reframes,, the quick succinct. Reframes of this is what diet culture says, but here's what God's word says. Yeah. Here's how you should think about things. And even just how succinctly you put in that first post that your body is a temple, not in idol. Mm-hmm.
That gets people thinking. You don't, you don't always have to go into such a long explanation,
Madison: and that's biblical, you know, like. I mean that, that really ties us into, um, the big point of what I know we were discussing and wanted to bring up today.
You want me to get into the verse of the day? Yes. Oh, absolutely. Awesome. Okay, so we are in Romans 12, one and two. Um, and so we'll do this, I guess in two different sections, but wanted to read 'em together 'cause they're [00:10:00] so much better together. It 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. That was just first one, and then it goes on to say, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.
That just like totally reflects Abby, what you were saying of, um, the simplicity in those posts. It's saying like this, not this, or like, check mark to this, x to this. And it's just simply that being transformed by the renewing of your mind to test and approve what God's will is through his word. To dive in a little bit more there too, I think for the listener.
I, I wanted to go and do a little background on this concept of sacrifice.
Abbie: Yes, please do. 'cause people get it so wrong. Okay. Keep [00:11:00] going.
Madison: I did wanna do an overview just so like, people who are just picking up the Bible are maybe like new to faith.
Or maybe even not new to faith, but just don't fully understand this concept. So let's just go way back in the Garden of Eden. Before sin, we had a perfect relationship with God. We were in communion with God. Everything was beautiful and perfect, but then sin entered the world. And sin caused this chasm between man and God because man chose sin, but because God is perfectly just meaning that no debt can go unpaid, something had to pay for that sin.
So God made a temporary way for us to pay for that sin, which was through sacrifice of things like unblemished, animals and other things. In the Old Testament, this is where you see, um, like animal slaughter, offerings of wine, grain, et cetera. So. There were two broad types of sacrifices here. Voluntary, which was for worship, Thanksgiving, gratitude, and then [00:12:00] mandatory, which was for intentional or unintentional sin.
So people are still people. People kept on sinning because it's humanly impossible not to sin. So God took that temporary way and all along he had this plan, but he made a perfect way for all of our sin, past, present, and future to be forgiven through the ultimate sacrifice. His son, Jesus, Jesus, quite literally left heaven a perfect space, took on flesh, and was born of a virgin.
Lived a perfect sinless life. Died for our sins defeated death. Hell in the grave, and rose again three days later in victory. So going back to the sacrifices I just mentioned, since Jesus died and paid the price for all our sin, it means he was the sacrifice and we no longer need to sacrifice for our sins.
This was that like mandatory sacrifice for sinning, but there's still that other kind of sacrifice that was voluntary.
Abbie: Can I [00:13:00] just say that you explain the gospel in such a succinct, beautiful way? I was getting emotional over here. Thank you. We have to remind ourselves of the gospel every day because we forget the gospel every day. Yeah, and, the gospel is enough, it's sufficient.
Madison: Yes. Our pastor always says like, we should never be moving past the gospel. Like, there's nothing, there's nothing to move past that from there. So going back to that voluntary sacrifice, we're met here in Romans 12, one that says, therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy to offer your offer, your bodies as a living sacrifice.
This is your true and proper worship. That is that voluntary sacrifice that was mentioned, , for worship for Thanksgiving. And it's a response to God's mercy and all he's done for you. So that's like a little background on that first. First, and I know we'll dive into like actually.
What that [00:14:00] means to offer your body as a living sacrifice. But Abby, I wanna throw you on the spot and get your take. Oh my gosh.
Abbie: I'm having so many. I've read this for a million times. We've done podcast episodes on this first many times. Um, not in season two, though. Only in season one. So this is great. I am having so many fresh revelations with this, so I appreciate your perspective.
What's hitting me in this reading? Is that it's a living sacrifice because every animal, every little goat in the Old Testament that was a slaughtered animal. That was a dead sacrifice.? But we are a living sacrifice. We are not to be,, killing ourselves doing all of these things that are, , just such harsh treatment towards the body.
Like you said, that voluntary sacrifice is celebratory. It's in view of God's mercy. That response to God's mercy. It's coming from that place of wow. God is so good. I'm so grateful for the body he's given me. I'm grateful for the [00:15:00] gospel and Jesus's sacrifice. I'm grateful for everything that he has done for me, how much he loves me, all my gifts and talents, and the provision.
Everything, and I want to honor God with my body. And it's that living sacrifice where it is just being renewed day after day after day. Yeah. It's not a, it's not a one and done. I guess that's what I was trying to get at with the living sacrifice. Yes. It, it keeps living. It's not a one-time
Madison: sacrifice. And it's not something we just die to self once or sacrifice once it's daily.
Abbie: Right. Like you don't just die to yourself once, um, 'cause we all know that whatever we lay at Jesus' feet, we pick up very often. Oh,
Madison: yes. Yes. Amen. Learning that one right now,
Abbie: girl. Same. Same. Mm-hmm. Wow. Like this is just. So good. And this is holy and pleasing to God.
Yes. When we do this voluntary celebratory coming from a place,, of love, gratitude, and appreciation for all that [00:16:00] the Lord has done , what would be some examples of that living sacrifice that people would do daily?
Madison: Yeah, I think, it's not just our quiet time.
It's not just the five minutes we take to pray or like the two seconds we do something else in it is continuous, which means that's. How you're eating, how you're stewarding your body, how you're treating others, how you're talking to yourself, like how you're showing up at work in a job that you might be really frustrated in or really have lost gratitude for.
Um, so I think it really just shows up in all aspects of our lives, which is something that Yeah, like I know you and I are definitely like fired up about because we get to bring it into dietetics and nutrition. Mm-hmm.
Abbie: Yeah, absolutely. And Paul. Tells us to pray without ceasing. And I think that this is a way of doing that when like I, it could be as simple as turning down the music in your car and driving in silence so that you could talk to the Lord.
Like that is a sacrifice. Yeah. Or turning off [00:17:00] whatever other music you were listening and putting on worship music, you know, could could be that too. Yeah. Or praying for people as you're doing the dishes or actually making your bed every morning and having the discipline to do that and seeing that as worship as unto the Lord.
And take it or serving
Madison: others and like, yes,
Abbie: exactly.
Madison: Or biting your tongue when you wanna speak, but it's not for the benefit of those around you. Or, I mean, even just like the thoughts you're thinking, like sitting in traffic instead of grumbling about whatever's happening around you or being upset by the person that's tailgating you, or the one that's going too slow in front of you.
Like it's the same thing. Your thoughts honor God and your thoughts can still be that kind of sacrifice too.
Abbie: Yeah, absolutely. I almost see that as that continuous dying to your flesh in every situation. Yeah. And that is wholly and pleasing to God. This is so
Madison: good. Yeah, and I think that brings us to like when we're talking about what surrendering something means to do it God's way, I think that brings right into verse two when it says, do [00:18:00] not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is his good pleasing perfect will. And I think like right off the bat, this verse is just saying. Don't blindly follow the world. Know God's voice by knowing his word. So you can renew the broken, dusty parts of your mind. And when you know his word, you'll be able to hold it up against something, against everything else in this world.
Um, to test whether or not it's right or wrong. Kind of like when a doctor's holding up an x-ray to one of those light boards, like we can like hold anything up to the word of God. And the word of God is like that lightboard that shines through and will highlight our fractures. And then God's good in it, and he knows that Jesus is the ultimate physician and will bring healing to those fractures too.
Amen.
Abbie: Amen. He's the one that brings us into wholeness and um, I've been meditating a lot on this verse this week, and the word test really stuck out to me and [00:19:00] so often I see with clients. That they wait to take an action until they have everything perfect and they've heard from the Lord. They've gotten that confirmation like, yes, this is what he wants me to do.
This is his will. So now I'm going to act on that. Sometimes we need to, if you are not conforming to the pattern of this world, you're living as, as a living sacrifice. You're surrender to the Lord. He's coming in and renewing your mind, then you'll will be able to test and approve what his will is so you don't always have to.
Wait until you feel 100% certain to take an action because you are testing what his will is like. Okay. If you truly are in a surrendered place, you're earnestly trying not to do things the way that the world is doing things.
You're earnestly trying to seek the Lord. And you take a step, like I think that this is how he wants me to eat. Yeah. I think this is how he wants me to exercise today. Maybe he wants me to sign up for that race. Like I think I'm hearing that right. Okay. Let me, let me test it. Let me take the, go ahead and then check in with him.
Okay. What am I sensing in my spirit? Is the word redirecting me? [00:20:00] Because his mercy is so good. If you end up taking a wrong step, he will lovingly detour you and. It makes me think of Jeremiah 29 11 and how, you know they were in exile and they weren't supposed to be there for 70 years. Yeah, it was a shorter amount of years.
I don't remember off the top of my head exactly how many, but anyway, they were being disobedient and then they were sent in exile . But the Lord says, I know the plans that I have for you, and after 70 years we'll be able to bring you back. So even if you get off at the wrong exit, the Lord will just reroute you back you don't have to be so afraid to take a step of faith.
Madison: Abby's bringing a whole word today that, that ministered to me. Honestly, that did. Wow. I have not, like, I, I read these verses in preparation to talk about them and the word test. I, I never really put it next to the fact that certainty doesn't take faith.
And so because you have to test something, which is what Paul's literally [00:21:00] saying right here, based on what we do know of God and what we have experienced of God and, and all of these things. I think taking that step to test is such a proclamation to the faith that we have in God when we are uncertain.
Yes.
Abbie: Yes. That's so good. Exactly, and actually waiting for certainty could demonstrate a lack of faith. Yeah. And, I love the word then too, that always stands out to me because you are not going to be able to discern what his good, pleasing, imperfect will is for your life.
How he wants you to eat, how he wants you to exercise and steward your body, uh, what your goal should be. You're not gonna be able to accurately discern that if you are not allowing him to come in. And renew your mind. Yeah. You're not gonna let him in if you are not surrendered and living as that living sacrifice.
Madison: Yeah. And if you're not in the word, then like Amen. That is how we renew our mind. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength, mind, soul, all the things. And when we talk about mind here [00:22:00] specifically, what are you doing to feed your mind? And if you're not in the word, I don't know if you can complain that you're not hearing from God or that you don't know what's right or wrong because it's right in front of us in the word.
Abbie: Amen. Amen. I completely agree.
Madison: So I think specifically too, talking about, not conforming to the patterns of this world when it comes to diet, culture, nutrition and fitness, marketing, social media. I'm sure Abby and I could go on a rant forever talking about these things, but I think some things that just. Immediately shoot up. Red flags are motives behind it and looking at , all of what the world says and social media says, and marketing says about , promoting vanity and comparison.
And one that I think goes honestly under the radar but is huge in gym culture, is lust that we are dressing in a way for others. It feeds the ego, it feeds [00:23:00] pride, it feeds all these other things. But I think there's a component of lust to it. And I'll just give a personal example too, like when I was in college.
PC days doing Orange Theory Fitness. I used to be an Orange Theory coach too. Shout out Orange Theory. I remember I loved going to the classes where like there were the cutest guys there. The guy was a, the coach was a guy, things like that. Obviously then, I wasn't a believer, didn't know what this concept of lust is, but I think I now am able to see that so much more in the gyms that I do go to now, that this is something that people are after, like impressing the other
Abbie: sex.
Madison: And
Abbie: having some kind of, and it's in the culture.
Madison: Yeah, it's in the
Abbie: gym culture.
Madison: Exactly. There's like some kind of like underlying intrinsic, instinctive like motive there, but that's your flesh, that's lust. Mm-hmm. And so I just wanted to call that out too. 'cause I know we call out vanity comparison. Um, ego pride a lot, but lust is in there too.
So anything that's fueled by the wrong [00:24:00] reasons and I think. These things which we know are sin. If they are the underlying motives for our goals or for what we're doing, then guess what? The, the ways that we get to those goals. Are potentially harmful and can become disordered practices. And that's where we get disordered eating.
And that's when the world twists something that's good, like a balanced diet or a healthy body weight or daily exercise and puts it to the extreme and just makes a good thing bad. Like balanced diet can get twisted into an obsession with calories eating as little as possible. A healthy body weight can get twisted into becoming as.
Thin and as low weight as possible. Um, comparing yourself to someone else. And same thing with exercise like that can get twisted into feeling like this burden that drains you instead of something that feeds your body and your mind.
Abbie: Right. Exactly. Exactly. Something that you have to earn. You have to do this versus it just being worship is unto the Lord and honoring your [00:25:00] body.
That's so good because if those are your underlying motives, whether that be pride or lust, it opens the door for the enemy to come in. It's just a crack in the door, but he can, he can get in there and have a foothold.
Madison: Yeah,
Abbie: a foothold to a stronghold. Yes, exactly. So it starts off like that, but then it, it progresses.
And so that's why we, we need to be praying Psalm 1 39 and not be afraid to pray. Psalm 1 39, Lord search me. Yes, all my ways and really just changing from that heart level. And we know from one Samuel 16, seven, the Lord doesn't look at our outward appearance. He looks at our heart that is most important to him.
The motivations behind why you do things. And I always say to clients too, your actions may end up being the same. Like if you're thinking about what to meal prep this week, it might still be the kale salad, but it's, it's the motivation that may be different. Are you choosing to order a salad at a restaurant or meal prep, a certain meal that week because you're like, oh, this will make me skinny and I want to [00:26:00] lose weight, or is your motive, I want to honor God with my body. I want to eat more foods that are not as processed. I want to meal prep for myself. I want a variety of colors and fiber and protein, and this is going to make me feel physically well and give me energy and vibrancy this week. That's why I'm, I'm doing this. It's a, it could be the same action potentially, but different motivation and one is honoring to the Lord and one is not.
That just totally reminded
Madison: me of like. Hearing those like the same action, but with a different heart behind it. It just made me think of it like God is restoring the joy, restoring the peace, restoring the love, restoring the self-control, restoring the, and you can go down all the fruits of the spirit in Galatians five, like God is restoring all of that when we renew our mind, even if the action on the other side is the same.
So I love that you said that.
What we're trying to talk about here shows how important it is to get in the word.
[00:27:00] It's not just an instruction manual on our lives, but it's like a love letter. It's a book about God, and we know that to love someone is to know someone. And when you truly know God and understand who he is by learning more about what he's written in his word about himself and and on the stories that display who he is, your love for God overflows into every area of your life.
And then you also grow a distaste for the things that don't align with his word. His good, perfect pleasing will, as Paul points out there.
Abbie: Absolutely. Oh my gosh, yes. You will have a distaste for it. Dissatisfaction. Yeah. And I've even prayed before too, Proverbs four 20 to 23. That says, my son, or we could save my daughter. Pay attention to what I say. Turn your ear to my words. Don't let them out of your sight. Keep them within your heart for they are life to those who find them.
And health to one's whole body above all else. Guard your heart for everything you [00:28:00] do, flows from it. And so we have to not just know God's work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard that verse before. Yeah. I know. Jeremiah 29. You need to receive that into your heart. Don't let God's word out of your sight, because if God's word is not just something you know, but it's received into your heart because everything you do flows from your heart.
God's word needs to be the motivation behind your actions and that will lead you to total body health. It says that brings health to your whole body. Mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, relational, all the things. That's great God's word is not gonna lead us astray, like he gives us no an exact blueprint for, for what to do.
So what would you say, Madison?
Madison: Mm-hmm. Because
Abbie: you, you started off coaching coming from a weight loss perspective and then you came to Christ and I'm sure you still get a lot of clients that want to lose weight. What would you say to someone who wants to lose weight in a godly, healthy way?
Madison: Yes. The very first thing [00:29:00] isn't how, it's why like whether or not we should even go there. . Very, to be very transparent, I do believe that there is a time and place for weight loss,, always in a healthy weight loss form.
But I know that, there are a variety of perspectives out there and obviously that depends on the types of clients that professionals work with. I know Abby works with a lot of people who have histories of actual eating disorders, in which case like. Maybe that's just totally off limits, whereas I'd say I work with people that more so have a history of just dieting and maybe disordered eating patterns, but not straight up an eating disorder.
So wanted to put that in there too. , As I do share this opinion. So yes, I get asked all the time if losing weight is right or wrong for a Christian. , And I think the answer is simple. It goes back to the answer for a lot of, when we look at what's right or wrong, and it's. What are your motives? So I have a few questions here that, as you're listening to this, you can go ahead and [00:30:00] answer these for yourself or take some time and come back to these questions.
Maybe write 'em down and really pray about 'em. So the first one is, did I invite God into this goal? Have I prayed about it or have I just planned it? Like that is square one. Um so chew on that a little bit. The second one is, am I pursuing this goal out of freedom or fear? And you can feel the underlying tone, like, is this goal something that feels like heavy on me?
Like I have to get out of it, or I have to, like, I have to achieve this thing so that my life will be better. Or are you already in a place of freedom from that heaviness and you're pursuing that out of that freedom? So the third one is, does it draw me closer to God? Or make me more focused on myself.
That's a good one to maybe highlight some Vanity Ego pride. The next one is, is this goal helping me serve others better? And you might [00:31:00] think, how could weight loss possibly help me serve others better? But. I have seen in a lot of cases, and maybe if you've lost weight before in a healthy way, you know, you get more energy, you have a higher quality of life.
Like a lot of things from taking care of yourself can pour out, um, into other spaces. And by the way, that is not just for weight loss, as I know, like Abby always preaches, like just eating better, taking care of your body, getting more sleep, um, exercising all of that can pour out and help you serve others better.
The next one is, are you measuring success by your obedience or your outcomes? So when you go straight to, uh, let's say you do, you say yes to all these other things, um, and you're good to go, you're gonna start doing weight loss. Things measure your success, not buy the pounds on the scale, which I know can sound like, okay, but I thought we were talking about weight loss here.
That will be so frustrating to you because what I've seen when I actually chart out, um, weight for weight [00:32:00] loss clients, it's not a direct. Straight lying down. It looks more like the opposite of the stock market over time, if you're familiar, it's like, it's like a little bit of down, a little bit up, a little bit of down, a little bit up and then, but obviously the stock market increases in this case.
Eventually yours will decrease. But if you are focused more on the outcomes than obedience, then you are gonna be tossed and turned by the waves. Every single day. , Changing up your diet, changing up your plan, changing up how you talk to yourself, changing up how you see yourself. Nothing will be built on solid ground.
Mm-hmm. But when we're following Jesus and we're obedient with the things that we set out to do, like healthy weight loss, like simple objectives that we've decided with the Lord are the right approach, , like specific. Parameters for healthier eating, , frequency of exercise, et cetera. When you stick to that obedience, then it doesn't matter that the scale went up by half a pound or down by half a pound.
You're [00:33:00] just focused on the long term and instead assessing. How do I feel? Do I feel better today, , than I did yesterday? Do I feel better this month than I did last month? And from there, if the answer's no, then reevaluate the plan and tweak it. This is not a race to get down to that healthy weight. , If you are someone who is striving for weight loss because you wanna be at a healthy weight, it's not a race.
It's, yeah, it's just as much about the process as it is about the outcome. Because if you hate that process. Chances are you're going to gain that weight back because it's not something that you've instilled into your lifestyle as something that's sustainable and enjoyable. So the next one is, Ooh. I love this one. And this is not just for weight loss, this is for anything you do in life and this will absolutely test your ego and your pride.
Would I still pursue this goal if no one noticed?
Abbie: Wow. That's a good one. Mic drop for
Madison: shirt. You can ask yourself this. In business, I ask myself this for what I post all the time. This is a personal [00:34:00] question. If you would not pursue a certain goal, if no one noticed, it doesn't even matter what that goal was.
You were doing it for the wrong reasons. , 'Cause God knows this, God sees everything. And if you're doing anything to just please people and not please the Lord, then it's out of the question. Like we just, right. We need to, we have an audience of
Abbie: one. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. Colossians 3 23. Yeah.
Madison: So the next one is,, have I confused my desire for discipline with my desire for control? And this is when you can red flag some potential disordered eating habits or disordered exercising habits. This also emphasizes the importance of the Sabbath. I don't know if Abby, if you've like, had a whole episode on the Sabbath.
I'm sure you have. Oh, uh, many, many episodes. Many, many episodes. But even when it comes to weight loss, like. Everybody's approach is different. , And even depending on the client, it's different too. But for an example, let me just give you an example of someone who is tracking their calories or Mackers in a healthy way.
I always [00:35:00] suggest taking one day a week where you do not. And the point of this day a week is not to go crazy and to have everything and anything and overeat, and indulge the flesh. It's not, it's to tune in with your body to give up that. Control that specific control around food,, and start learning more and more how to tune into your body and how to really figure out what your body needs to eat.
And over time, instead of just one day a week, that becomes two. Then it becomes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. And then it's never like you were dieting and now you're not. It was just this thing of, I had training wheels on and I was learning how to eat healthy, and now I can ride a bike without the training wheels. The last question, I know we've had a lot of questions here. So the last one is, do my motives align to anything that the word calls out as sin? And this is like the catchall I. Vanity, pride, ego comparison, whatever it is. And if so, another goal is needed instead. [00:36:00] So if you're losing weight for your health, for your quality of life, energy, sleep quality, whatever it may be, go for it.
But if your motive is simply to look better, to get compliments to do something you think you can't do in this current body. Then you need to evaluate your motives and check your heart and bring it back to God and come back with a goal that actually does honor, , the good things that we just mentioned.
Abbie: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Wow. These questions are so great. So I hope every single listener wrote those down so you can use that as a checklist. And I think that this is a good checklist, like you said, for other things in our life, not just weight loss, but you know, yeah. Am I gonna take this job? Or, or not?
Is this person totally, is this somebody that I, I should date or go on a date with? Like, Hey, did I pray about this or did I just plan it? Right. Even the first question, right? Right. We need to pray about every single thing. I, I really like this and, I don't disagree, with anything that you said.
Our [00:37:00] job is to be obedient to how the Lord is calling us to steward our bodies. Yeah. And that's going to look different for everyone and for us individually in different seasons. His job is the results. So if we are obedient to how the Lord is calling us to steward our body, he will bring us to health.
He will redeem our health and. That may include weight loss, and that could happen as a byproduct. And I believe that can happen for, for many people. Yeah. And I see it happen with the clients that I work with. Just because I'm not, a dietician promoting weight loss, that doesn't mean that my clients aren't losing weight because they, they certainly do.
It just isn't something, it's not the focus. It's not the focus exactly. It's not the driver behind what we, what we do. . But there are certain situations with clients where we do have to be. Intentional AB about it. I mean, there's so many different scenarios , like I have one client that really needs, , endometriosis surgery and she's in so much pain.
The doctors won't perform the surgery until she's a certain weight. And, um, [00:38:00] it's. Yeah. So it's just, it's a, it's a situation. But in her mind she's like, , I just wanna drop the weight as fast as possible. I'm like, okay, we're gonna take one, one step at a time. Um, let's have this be a lifestyle so that if you lose any weight, then you're able to sustain it.
And it's an enjoyable process. It's a healthy process. Because weight is not a behavior
the only thing that you can control are your healthy habits. So let's set goals around there and always be checking our heart too for our motives.
Madison: Preach, Abby, yes, you cannot control your weight, but you can control your food choices. You can control whether or not you sit on the couch for two hours watching Netflix instead of going out for a walk.
You know? So focusing on what you can control versus what you can't is crucial, just like Abby said. Someone in that situation, they need a little bit more guidance when it comes to, I can't remember exactly how you just said it, but you said something along the lines of more intentional, like more, a little bit more intentional to maybe not to lose weight, but more [00:39:00] intentional with foods that they're eating with their exercise habits.
And I, this perfectly segues into the next thing that I'll say is that. Weight loss isn't necessarily natural. I think it goes against our flesh and what our, our flesh wants to do because, um, if you're someone that does maybe need to lose weight because you've had, unhealthy habits in the past, or , you are someone who lacks discipline, whatever it might be.
It takes denying our flesh sometimes. Sometimes I just wanna skip my workouts. The day after rest day is always the hardest for me to get up and go do it. , But in saying that because it's not natural, . I think that we've also distorted people who don't have a faith-based approach have potentially distorted this concept of boundaries, which we know in the Bible boundaries are healthy boundaries.
Our great boundaries are from God, but we've taken this concept of boundaries. That don't feel good. They feel in [00:40:00] opposition to our flesh. And instead we've called it, they've called it restriction and then like started to throw shade on it. Like if anything even smells like restriction, we're tossing it out.
Tossing out the baby with the bath water, whatever they say. Right, right. So I think we can take Romans 12, two, that second verse we looked at and apply it to renewing our minds around this concept of restriction to really test and approve what, what are just good boundaries. So a few points on how we can do that.
So knowing where it comes from. So I think restriction comes from fear, but boundaries come from that freedom. So like restriction says, I can't have that, whereas boundaries say, I actually don't need that right now. So one's fear is control and one is spirit led discernment in that. Um, and it like, like we were talking about before, it might have the same action as the outcome, like having that kale salad or in this case, like not having the ice cream cone, restriction would say, I can't have that [00:41:00] boundaries say.
I actually don't need that right now. So,
Abbie: right. That's point of everything is everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. And sometimes people will hear that with a fear-based mindset, with a restriction mindset, oh, well I just can't have that. 'cause that's, that's never beneficial. That that's way too high.
Calories too high in fat, too high could never be beneficial to me. But there are situations where that can be beneficial because , food can be for both fuel. Yeah. And for pleasure. There's certain situations where it would be okay to have the ice cream cone.
Yeah. And. The permission piece in that verse comes first. Everything is permissible. We have to have peace around all things. But then you partner with the Holy Spirit to discern what's right for you to eat in that moment. And I don't always think it's, it's a hard, fast rule. Now, there may be some situations where, where it is, if you like, it would not be honoring to your body to consistently eat a food that always gives you a stomach ache or always leaves you bloated.
Or always makes you break out with acne and you just know that's always going to happen. I don't think that the Lord would call you to eat that on a consistent [00:42:00] basis. , Because your body is showing you, Hey, this isn't, this isn't agreeing something here does not compute. Um, but for other things, I think case by case, we have to partner with the Holy Spirit.
Madison: Yeah. And I think one of the big things I do teach is how to overcome overeating. Mm-hmm. This is like a very. Personal thing to me because that's something that I've struggled with and have overcome. Praise God. And now I help others do it. But I think that. Sometimes we just look at what it is that we're eating and not how much of it we're eating.
And you can quickly label like, I can't have ice cream. I can't have brownies. I can't have cookies. Whether it's because you overeat it or because you just know that that food. Has sugar in it and you're, you don't like to have sugar or something like that. But I think the more important question to ask is, how much of this food can I have while still honoring my body in the process of it?
And that goes back to the gray area that Abby was talking about. And then that's like the frustrating thing, even as a dietician when it comes to nutrition, is that [00:43:00] nutrition is a gray area. It's not black and white. It's not medically like specifically prescribed, the same way that dosages of prescriptions are prescribed.
We don't have that type of clinical trial in nutrition, so it's a lot of practice. It's a lot of this gray area.
Abbie: That's, that's where
Madison: the testing
Abbie: comes in. That's where the testing and approving comes in. Yes, exactly. And you're working that out with the Lord, not relying on your own understanding.
Yep. Not based on how many grams of protein you should be eating based on what the world is saying, or how many ounces of water, like your body will tell you. Yeah. And so you partner with, , the way that God designed our body, he built us with, built-in mechanisms to tell us different things and to be signals. So much wisdom comes through our body, but also greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. So because we have the Holy Spirit, that is our wisest counsel.
So. That's where the testing and approving Yeah. Comes in. It's the dosage isn't specific. Even the serving size on Yeah. On any [00:44:00] food label.
That doesn't mean that's the right serving size for you.
Madison: Yes, exactly, and I think that allows for so much grace in it too.
When you accept nutrition as a practice and like this testing thing we keep talking about, then when you mess up, it's not like you just failed or it's the end of the world. It's get back to the drawing board, go again, try again, test again, practice again, you know?
Abbie: Yeah, yeah. 100%.
Madison: So that was the first one. Mm-hmm. Fear versus freedom. The next thing is that restriction will shrink your life, whereas boundaries protect it. So restriction limits things like your joy and your peace and like the things that we were talking about earlier, your experiences, your connection, whereas boundaries. Help preserve that peace and that conviction.
And you feel like you have clarity in that too. And I think it's important to highlight that God's boundaries build us up and that he doesn't keep any good thing from us. Even the things that we look out like winning the lottery, love to win the lottery, but I haven't won the lottery because God doesn't, God [00:45:00] knows that that like probably wouldn't be best for me even when I don't know that.
And the same thing goes for when we have boundaries in place around our food or exercise.
Abbie: Amen. I have been praising God lately for all the things that he has not given me, that I have said that I wanted because it has been protection and his grace and his mercy that he has not given me everything I've asked for.
Madison: Amen. So yeah, boundaries are biblical, boundaries are good. Amen. , We've got four of these. So the third one is restriction might be a result of shame or uncertainty, whereas boundaries are a result of stewardship. So restriction says, I don't trust myself, whereas stewardship says, I trust the Lord to guide me.
Healthy boundaries are how we honor our bodies, not punish them. And the fourth one here is that I think restriction really emphasizes control, whereas boundaries emphasize that obedience. So even if that action is the same at the end, restriction is saying, I must fall this perfectly. I must do this exactly like this.
[00:46:00] Whereas boundaries will say. Does this choice align with who God's called me to be today? What God says in his word, et cetera. One leads to obsession and the other leads to obedience. And that tied off with a, a verse here, Galatians five 16, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Abbie: Amen. Oh my gosh. All of those reframes are so good. If y'all are not already following Madison on Instagram, to get more of these on a daily basis, you need to do that and we will have all of her links linked up in the show notes. Thank you so much for all of this, all of your wisdom. Where can we find you? What are you promoting right now?
Madison: Yes, I am at Dietician dot Madison on Instagram. TikTok just started throwing some, uh, YouTube shorts up there as well, if you're on YouTube at all. And starting a little bit on Pinterest as well. And right now I just recently, in August or September finished. Constructing my program, overcome overeating, and this has compiled every, it's, [00:47:00] I, I, actually, I'll just tell you the story about it.
I was laying in bed one night, couldn't sleep. It was maybe midnight, and I kept, and I, I'm so bad at naming things too, so that's important. All I heard in my head was overcome overeating. Overcome overeating. 'cause I knew, I was like trying to think of the next like program to help you guys. And I got outta bed and I knew like I, I'm not gonna work on this right now 'cause I can get carried away in my own striving, but I am gonna sit down and just write down all my thoughts on paper.
And I was praying through it. And as it was happening, God was just like, write down everything you wish you could Go back and tell yourself five years ago. Yeah. And immediately just. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I had 2000 words, plus I don't even remember exactly what it was, but. I had there, it was the outline for overcome overeating.
And it was like this cheat sheet that I wish I had, that I wish somebody told me about through the context of faith. And all of that took hours then of like actually writing material, [00:48:00] creating the content for it, recording, editing, putting it together in a beautiful, organized format that actually helps you guys.
Now I have,. People who have successfully gone through the program, who love it. And one of my favorite, , things that I've heard was actually from an eating disorder therapist. So not a dietician. She bought the program to help herself, but also to help her clients. Um, and she said even from.
The psychology aspect of it and the therapy aspect of it that she was thrilled with, with the content in there. And so I'm just so excited about it. I could talk about it forever. So if you guys have questions, I also reply to like every single dm,, no DM goes, unre replied to. So please feel free to reach out and, and DM me just letting me know that you heard this episode or if you have any questions about overcoming overeating or healthy weight loss or whatever it may be.
Always happy to chat in the dms.
Abbie: Wow. Wow. I'm so happy that you have this resource for people and um, I know I've told you this already, but so listeners [00:49:00] can hear too, but one of my clients got, uh, your course as well and ha they have found that it has blended so well with the one-on-one coaching that we're doing and going through the course in their own time.
, As part of their homework, they are absolutely loving it and seeing a lot of success in that renewing of their mind, which is the most important thing because we know then you are able to test and approve what's god's will
Madison: is. Amen. Yeah, and just one more thing to round all this out too. I know we talked a lot about healthy weight loss.
I think that healthy weight loss does start with overcoming overeating if that, if you're someone who wants to lose weight, but you also know you have this habit of overeating. Jumping right into the weight loss part of it is not the best idea. If you haven't first overcome overeating and those habits, because then after you do that, the healthy weight loss, I think for a lot of people, naturally comes after that.
Abbie: Yes, I completely agree. And you have to work on healing your relationship with food first. Or else you're still gonna be falling into the worldly way.. Because we know, as you know, with overeating, it's [00:50:00] not about the food.
It's always something deeper. So you have to address what's really going on to have, sustainable, good stewardship of your body and a good rhythm with your eating. Absolutely. Well, Madison, thank you so much for all of your time and your wisdom today. I'm so grateful and I can't wait for everyone to hear
Madison: this.
Yes. Thank you so much for having me on and for all of our fun conversations. I love this. Me too. Me too. Bye girl. Bye.
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