So excited!! 🦃 It’s almost Thanksgiving! ANNNDDD, we have a new grandson on the way in just a few days! I can hardly contain myself. We had our first grand baby in May, his name is Luke and I’m obsessed lol. 2 new grands in 7 months time!! Y’all! This Lolly’s heart is full💙💙
Gosh, and Christmas will be here before you know it, right? I’ll be honest I’m definitely a Christmas girl! I love ALL THINGS CHRISTMAS! 🎄🌟🎅 The sights, the sounds, the smells, family and friends coming together for the holidays AND the food😋 Yes, the food is so yummy 😋 However… Duh…duh…duhhhh….the food for a lot of us can become such an issue of shame, guilt, and pain. Turkey, ham, gravy, pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, mac n’ cheese, cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole….Oh, so yummy and honestly I can’t wait! But I remember a time when I didn’t feel that way. These 2 holidays would cause me a lot of anxiety over food. Most of us have already pre-attached shame and guilt before we even get to the holiday meal. That’s sad to me and I remember it all too well. Having an eating disorder or disordered eating wrecks havoc during times like this. Will I binge or restrict? How much will I gain or lose? What does so and so think of me? How can I best protect my image?
Diet culture tells us to eat a certain way, don’t eat this or that. If you do eat it, now you’re bad, now you take on all the shame and guilt and tell yourself I’ll do better next time. Always next time! Am I right???? During these 2 holidays you will hear ‘Happy Thanksgiving, don’t eat to much!’ Or if you Google Thanksgiving you’ll find 10 Tips to not gain weight during the holiday. Or Avoiding Holiday Weight gain. Or How to Make Your Holiday Healthy. Whyyyy? Why does everything go to weight or our image? Why is it always protecting body size? This says so much about our culture today.
Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
Let me speak a little Truth 💣 💣💣💣 over you sweet friend! You are made in the image of God. That’s means you are not an image that needs to be managed and manipulated and contoured into something the world says it’s approved of.
YOU ARE ALREADY APPROVED OF beautiful one!
One meal, including leftover won’t completely derail you or destroy all your progress you’ve made but all the worry, stress, and anxiety surrounding it sure will. To much cortisol in your system is worse than the meal you’re about to eat. For some, food equals anxiety and then we slap labels on food like “good food” and “bad food,” that causes more anxiety than the one meal you could enjoy with family and friends.
When you are in a chronic state of anxiety over food and body image and yes soooo many people are, it will absolutely affect your body. You may feel bad and have some symptoms from elevated cortisol levels. Some symptoms might include
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Headaches
• Intestinal problems, such as constipation, bloating or diarrhea
• Anxiety or depression
• Weight gain
• Increased blood pressure
• Difficulty recovering from exercise
• Poor sleep
• Muscle pain or tension in the head, neck, jaw, or back
In all likelihood, once this happens you’re like “See, I told you I just can’t eat that particular food. When it could very well just be the stress of cortisol on your body and not necessarily the food you ate. We stress so much over food and image and don’t realize the impact it takes on our body and mind.
I read this the other day and thought how true that is. “Rest assured, the fear-mongering around calories and holiday meals says more about our culture than it does about our bodies. In reality, our bodies are smart; they are meant to be resilient. So go ahead: savor every last bite of that turkey or pumpkin pie, totally guilt-free.” The Every Girl blog.
Feasting is all over the Bible. So why do we not want to feast? We will fast all day long. But feasting is scary for most of us.
Feasting Verses:
And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we a feast unto the LORD. Exodus 10:9
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Exodus 12:14
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month the feast of tabernacles seven days unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:3
And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. Genesis 26:30
I could go on and on but I won’t. You can take a dive for yourself. Feasting is part of God’s best for you, we just don’t think that includes all the yummy foods He gave us.
Imma say it again for the people in the back!🤣👊🗣️
Feasting was Gods idea. He invites us to feast and it’s part of Gods best for us. Just let that sink in for a bit. Ponder it my friend. This is just one of the ways He shows us his goodness and abundance.
He’s the God of Abundance!
God lavished his love on us and pours out his blessings over us. His blessings include food sweet friend. So I say this year, turn your heart toward gratitude and this year while you’re feasting at the table with family and friends, eat with a heart of gratitude.it will change everything!
I’d like to challenge you to a new way of thinking….Feasting is ok and food was meant to be ENJOYED AND SATISFYING. Tell the food police “Byyyeee!” Don’t say to yourself or the person beside you ‘ You’ve ate enough’ or ‘You’re getting MORE FOOD???’ Or ‘Don’t eat too much’ This causes more shame and guilt to people around you.
Let go of guilt and shame of eating a beautiful meal with family and friends.
Enjoy the moment.
Come to the table with grateful heart. Take in His goodness and love.
I hope y’all have the best Thanksgiving holiday ever….walking in the freedom Christ died to give you!
Big hugs,
Nicole💗
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