How to Stop Emotional Eating: 9 Questions That Will Help

Do you ever get so frustrated with life you just want to eat everything in sight? The next time that happens, try not to eat right away.  Instead, do an experiment.

Ask yourself the following questions (write out the answers if you can) and pray through the following Bible verses. 

9 times out of 10, when I do this, I no longer feel like eating. Why? Because God uses the truth to set me free from unholy desires (Ephesians 4:22-24). The truth actually changes my desires, setting me free from the tyranny of the lies that control me.

Note: These questions and Bible verses are from I Deserve a Donut (And Other Lies That Make You Eat). For a short online Bible study on emotional eating click here. For a full-length Bible study on emotional eating click here.  Also available: Taste for Truth: A 30 Day Weight Loss Bible Study.

Emotional Eating Questions and Bible Verses

1.     What’s going on in your life right now that’s making you want to eat?

2.     What emotion are you experiencing?

3.     Will eating make you feel better? If so, for how long?

4.     Will eating solve your problems?

5.     Will eating create any new problems? Explain.

6.     What do your boundaries protect you from?

7.     Do you need protection today?

8.     What do you think God wants to teach you through this trial?

9.     Is there anything you need to accept?

Note: If these questions and Bible verses don't change your desires, spend some time truth journaling through the situation that's creating your negative emotion. Often the best way to overcome emotional eating is to deal with the situation itself rather than just the eating behavior.

Bible Verses

Psalm 3:3 But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head.

Psalm 61:1-2 Hear my cry, O God; give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?

Romans 5:3-4 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.

Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Note: If you don't have an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad (newer version), check my other blog as I'll be posting more questions over there. Here are the ones I currently have posted: click here.