S3. E19. 7 R's Method
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Am I going to get fat? Is this going to hurt me? Is this really what God said?" It's what we call mental restriction. this constant going back and forth and this war in our minds. So I wanna talk about my method and my framework for how I help clients work through this.
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, improve body image, and ultimately help you grow closer to God. Now, I can't personally heal you, but I'm gonna be directing you to the one that can, and that is Jesus. Also disclaimer, I'm not a pastor, but a sister in Christ that's offering you some food for thought that you can take into your quiet time with the Lord as your daily bread. Let's dig in.
Hello, hello. Welcome back to your Daily Bread podcast. This week we're gonna be talking about the war against your mind. So often on this podcast we talk about the war against our [00:01:00] bodies and our relationship with food, but we don't always acknowledge the war against our minds.
And I was reading in Joel, which, never has the Lord ever sent me to the book of Joel, but He did, and in chapter three verse nine it says that we need to prepare for holy war. And in 2 Corinthians 10 verses four and five say, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demonish strongholds."
Praise God, we have the Holy Spirit that helps us fight against strongholds, helps us fight against the war of our minds. Because so often I see that people when they start letting themselves eat and actually nourish themselves and respond to hunger, they do let themselves eat, but then they feel bad about what they're eating.
They beat themselves up. They still have a lot of guilt and shame around what they're eating, and so they don't struggle with the physical restriction of foods anymore, but they struggle with what we call mental restriction. And there really is this [00:02:00] war in their minds like, "Ah, I know I need to nourish myself.
I know I need food freedom. I know that these foods are okay to eat, but I still feel bad about it. Am I going to get fat? Is this going to hurt me? Is this really what God said?" And it's this constant going back and forth and this war in our minds. So I wanna talk about my method and my framework for how I help clients work through this.
I'll just give people an overview, 'cause obviously in sessions with clients I'm able to really dive deeper and help people with their specific situations. But I wanna cover my seven Rs method, my seven Rs method for reframing our negative food thoughts and that food noise by taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ.
So Father God, thank you so much for giving us this divine power. Lord, thank you for sending your Son Jesus to die for us and be resurrected, and thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to dwell within us so that we have within ourselves this divine power to demolish strongholds. And thank [00:03:00] you, Jesus, for overcoming the world.
We are on the winning side, remind us, Lord, that we are operating from a place of victory and not for it, and we can rest in your victory, we can rest in your power, and that you are helping us to fight everything seen and unseen. Lord, so I pray that in this episode people are able to really resonate with this framework and see themselves in it we know that we need to take every thought captive, but sometimes we don't know how or how to do that consistently or how to do that when we are experiencing so many food thoughts in this war against our minds, Lord.
So I pray that this blesses every single listener. I pray that they have ears to hear and hearts to receive, and I pray, Holy Spirit, that you give every single listener a spirit of remembrance, that when they experience these negative thoughts, that they are able to remember the steps in this episode to help them in their time of need to take every thought captive and to win the war against their mind.
I pray that everything that's [00:04:00] said in this episode is what you want to say through me, not what I want to say. Less of me and more of you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So I already read from Joel 3 and also 2 Corinthians 10:5, which is where we wanna take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.
But , how do we do that, and why is there this war against our mind? And it's important to note that eating biblically, eating God's way, does not make us immune to attack. It makes us visible to the enemy, so we need these tools in place to ensure that we are equipped to come against any attack that comes towards us
Because God's Word says that no weapon formed against us will prosper. The weapons may form, but they will not prosper because we are on the winning side, because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, and because He has equipped us with the ability to renew our mind and to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.
So even if you are experiencing a lot of food thoughts and food noise and negative, self-deprecating, [00:05:00] berating thoughts about yourself, it doesn't have to stay like that. And through this Seven R's method, this is our framework for how we renew our mind the Lord's way, and how we renew our thoughts and really fight against the enemy with the war against our mind, because these thoughts can just be so all-consuming.
And of course, the enemy wants you to be consumed with all of these thoughts, because if he can get you thinking about your body and macros and what you should or shouldn't be eating and thoughts of guilt and shame and replaying scenarios over and over again in your mind, then you're not able to be meditating on God's Word and really running the race that He has for you.
He has you so distracted and consumed and not thinking about the things of God. So this is part of the enemy's plan, and we wanna come against that now in the name of Jesus. And if you are experiencing a lot of spiritual warfare and you haven't listened to our recent Armor of God episode that we did a couple episodes ago, I would encourage you to listen to that so you are fully equipped for the battle that is against our bodies and our minds.
So [00:06:00] my seven-step method for reframing negative thoughts or what we call ungodly beliefs, things that are untrue that we've come into agreement with, is really adapted from Dr. Shannon Irvine's Four Rs method. I heard that on a podcast maybe... Honestly, it's probably been like 10 years ago at this point.
And she had these four steps, and it was so long ago, I don't even remember what her four steps were. But then I remember when I was coaching with clients, it made more sense to have six Rs when we're reframing negative thoughts. So for a while, if you've been following me for a while and you were with me in my business before it became faith-based and I changed my business name- It was the six Rs method.
But since I have made my business faith-based, come to Christ, and have done more deliverance trainings, the steps have been reframed and reworked and, now it is the seven Rs method, which makes sense because seven is the number of completion in the Bible. So it really started from and was inspired by Dr.
Shannon Irvine, but through my experience with clients [00:07:00] in clinical practice and also learning more about deliverance in ministry, it's adapted to be the seven Rs method now. So step one is to recognize, then record, then refute, then rebuke, then reframe, then repent, and then repeat. So those are our seven steps.
Recognize, record, refute, rebuke, reframe, repent, and repeat. So number one, you want to recognize your thoughts. What are the thoughts that you're repeating to yourself? What do you have on loop? 'Cause a lot of the thoughts that we have are subconscious, and we don't even recognize that we're thinking them or how often we have that same thought loop playing and replaying, being rehearsed in our minds.
And every time that you think about something, it's being reinforced. That brain pathway is being strengthened and reinforced. But praise God, the way that He designed our brains, through neuroplasticity, your brain pathways can be changed, and old connections that you used to have can weaken, and those associations can go [00:08:00] away,
so you can form new connections in your brain and have new associations and connections. So you can let go of the old ones and forge new ones through this process of neuroplasticity. But we can't do that, we can't start this process, if you're not even aware of the thoughts that you're having. So awareness is key.
You can't change anything that you're not aware of. So the first thing that you wanna do is become aware. Ask the Holy Spirit, "Lord, bring to my remembrance, bring to the front of my mind the thoughts that I am having. Help me to recognize them," because then we can do something about it. Then the second step is you want to record.
You wanna write down, in your verbiage, the exact wording of that thought, because that will help you to eventually reframe it. And you wanna make sure the reframes are in your verbiage and something that you resonate with. But you wanna get at, "Okay, what is it that I'm actually repeating to myself?"
'Cause that will help you get to the heart of what is the lie, what is it stemming from? You really want to record it down? And sometimes these thoughts come up when you're, like, out to dinner with friends or you're busy or whatever, and you don't have time to go [00:09:00] through all of these seven steps to reframe it and refute it and do all of the things that we're gonna be talking about in the moment.
So I would say record it down in a note on your phone, or I tell my clients, "Hey, just send me a message with what that thought is, and we can debrief it after when you have time or on our next coaching call." But at least keep it in a note on your phone so that when you have time with the Lord to go through these steps fully, you have it written down, you remember what that thought is.
So you wanna recognize it, and then you wanna record it. I also think that it's important to, when you're recording, to record not just what that thought, is, but to record what was the environment, what was going on that day. If you have a thought about what you're eating or your body image, were you clothes shopping?
Were you in luteal phase? Did you just get into a fight with your mom? Did you just finish hanging out with a friend that really isn't life-giving or someone that you're typically comparing yourself to? Like, what was going on in the environment in that scenario? What may have triggered you? You might not know exactly what triggered you, but if you write down enough [00:10:00] things about when that thought came up, that can be helpful to not having that thought come up again and at least knowing your triggers that you could be writing down what was going on at that time, and that could give you or me, as your dietician, some good data as to what could be a potential trigger for that thought.
What is at the root of that? What keeps triggering that thought? So don't just record what it is, but try and record what was going on in the environment, what was going on at the time when that thought came up. The third step is to refute that claim, to refute That lie, that ungodly belief, , that thought that you were having, and you want to really be your own lawyer.
So when you actually do have time to sit down and debrief all this and reframe your thoughts, you want to be your own lawyer, refute that claim. Open up scripture and remember that you have the mind of Christ, and that you can see things the way God sees things as well,
but you want to look at that lie and that thought and give yourself all the reasons why that is not true. And [00:11:00] really be your own lawyer and come against that. Like, "Why is that not true? This is definitely a lie from the enemy," or, "Oh, I just had that thought because I was in luteal phase," or, "Didn't get enough sleep that day, and that's why I was feeling more tired and just dragging and not great in my body," or, "Hey, I just got back from a vacation, I'm not feeling that great."
So really refuting that claim, and then you wanna rebuke it. You wanna get it out. We rebuke that in the name of Jesus. We want to come out of agreement with that lie, and we don't wanna keep that on repeat. And when you are rebuking things, the name of Jesus is so powerful. You don't have to be loud.
You don't have to be weird. You don't have to do things in a certain formulaic way. I know we're talking about a framework, but this is gonna look different for every thought, for every person. But just the name of Jesus holds so much power, so just saying, "I rebuke this thought now in the name of Jesus.
Be gone." And when we look at the prayers that Jesus prayed in the Bible, it was like, " Be clean. You are healed. Pick up your mat." When he was rebuking " Demons, get out." They weren't these long, [00:12:00] drawn-out prayers. They were very short, and because He holds authority. It's just when you say things in the name of Jesus, it doesn't have to necessarily be a long prayer.
It doesn't have to be loud, but it's standing on Jesus' authority, and really trusting in that, and having faith that His name is going to make everything else bow and things go away, and that your command was heard because it's in His name. Next, you wanna reframe it. This is where you want to fill yourself with truth, because the Word says that when you rebuke some sort of spirit and you don't fill it, then it has the opportunity to come back, now seven or tenfold.
So you wanna make sure that it's one thing to rebuke a thought, but if you don't fill it with truth, then that thought has the opportunity to kinda weasel its way back in there. So you wanna make sure that you are opening the Word, and you're refilling yourself. Now you're reframing that thought that you had with God's truth.
If it's, you know, " I'm never good enough," or, "I'm ugly," or, I need to lose weight [00:13:00] to be able to find a husband," you wanna make sure that you're going to scripture, and you are finding pieces of scripture that really resonate with you, that speak to that thought to reframe it. That you're fearfully and wonderfully made, that you're precious and honored in God's sight, that you are His masterpiece.
You are His craftsmanship, His handiwork, and He delights over you, and you are the apple of His eye. So looking at those scriptures, and finding scriptures is so important that would directly speak to what your thought is, and then you want to reframe that thought using scripture in a way that really resonates with you, that's, that's in your verbiage.
Yes, you're using scripture, but you're reframing it in a way that is in your voice. 'Cause I could give you some suggestions for reframes, and I do that with clients on our calls, but ultimately, I say you have to find something that's in your words that would actually speak to you and your situation, that when that thought comes up again, when you reframe it and say the reframe to yourself, it actually is effective in changing your mood, softening the situation, regulating your [00:14:00] nervous system.
And it's actually effective. So my words and how I would reframe it might not be effective for you, but you wanna, use scripture and find a reframe that would be most helpful for you. And , the next step is that you want to repent, which may sound weird when we're reframing these thoughts, but
It might not be our fault as to why we have come into agreement with ungodly beliefs or things that are not true, things that are of Satan or of the world and not of God and not aligned with His Word, so it may not be our fault. But sometimes when we've come into agreement with certain lies or ungodly beliefs, that drives us to do very disordered things or harsh things towards the body.
It changes our actions. We know that Proverbs 4:20 to 23 talks about whatever is in our heart, our actions flow from that. That's why it says we have to guard our heart, 'cause everything we do flows from it. Depending on what our actions were, like if you had a belief that my thinnest self is my best self, right? We know that that's not true, but someone may believe that. I know I believed that for, a certain time. If [00:15:00] you believe that, and , that belief is driving your actions, and now you're not nourishing yourself, you're not honoring your body, you're working out excessively, you're not listening to your body when you need rest, you're not yielding to the Holy Spirit or the Lord, like, you're now being disobedient, being very harsh towards your body, being very critical towards yourself, we are responsible for our, our actions, so we may need to repent for those things.
We wanna come out of agreement with the lie that we believed that was at the root of that, but we also need to repent for our actions that were conducted when we came into agreement with that lie. So you wanna repent and receive the Lord's forgiveness, and praise Jesus that He died for all of our sins, and we receive His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness.
And then you're walking in freedom, and every time that thought comes up again or a new thought comes up, you wanna repeat the process. That's the seventh R. You wanna repeat this process with every single negative thought that you have, every single ungodly belief that you have, and this will help you to walk in freedom and have freedom of your mind so that you can experience what Scripture says, that you do have the mind of Christ.
When you're doing this process, it may feel a bit like Whac-A-Mole, and you're [00:16:00] just reframing so many thoughts, and it can be very overwhelming, but the more that you do this process and go through the seven Rs, the less you'll have to do it, and the more natural it will be, and it won't feel so clunky. Okay, step one, we do this.
Then step two, we do this. You'll just naturally be doing it, and the more intimacy that you have with Jesus, the more biblically literate you are, the more that you get in the Word, the more that you'll be having the mind of Christ. You'll just be thinking in Scripture. So you won't necessarily have to go through all of these steps so formulaically.
It will feel very organic and very natural because you just know Scripture, and it's coming off the tip of your tongue, and you'll really receive it into your heart. The more time that you spend in the Word, you'll receive it into your heart, and you'll really know that you know that you know it, and these thoughts won't come up as often.
The goal is not to never have negative thoughts or thoughts that aren't aligned with Scripture. I mean, we're human. The goal is to not have them as often and to not linger there. We had one of my old clients, Lauren, come on the podcast earlier [00:17:00] this season, and she said that she had heard from someone that you Don't have to control your first thought, and sometimes we can't control our first thought, but you really gotta control your second thought.
So it's okay if a thought comes up, it's okay if you're triggered, but we don't wanna linger there, we don't wanna ruminate on that thought, we don't want that to turn into a shame spiral and a negative feedback loop, a negative rabbit hole that you're going down. So you want to recognize that thought, pause, take a hold of it, take every thought captive, that means take a hold of it, use scripture and examine it.
Run it through the lens of scripture, and refute that claim and replace it with God's truth, and hold onto that, and cling to God's truth when that comes up. Because how we feel about ourselves is gonna fluctuate day to day, but God's word is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is eternal and it is not going to change, and His word is the truth.
And so you can have a thought, but it doesn't mean that it's true. So you wanna make sure that you are really turning to His word, and reframing all of those thoughts, and it does get easier with time. And if this is something that you know that you need help with, and you need [00:18:00] help with this food noise, and mental restriction, and these negative thoughts about yourself, and really receiving these truths into your heart, then I encourage you to head to the show notes and book a free 20-minute call with me.
I would love to meet you and chat with you and give you some initial support, and see how I can best support you on your journey. So head to the link in the show notes, book that free call. I'm back from my honeymoon, so I definitely have time in my calendar, and I would love to meet you and chat with you, and I will see y'all next week
thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Your Daily Bread Podcast. Now, if anything about this episode resonated with you, I wanna encourage you to send it to three sisters in Christ who may also wanna steward their bodies better.
I read every comment, every review of the show, and I love hearing your testimonies and how the Holy Spirit is meeting you through these episodes. And if you haven't left a review yet, I wanna encourage you to do so 'cause it truly does help the show grow and it. Ultimately benefits the kingdom. And if you need any personalized support with your nutrition and your relationship with food or your body image, head to the show notes and you'll [00:19:00] see all the different ways to work with me.
See you next week.
