Note: Below is my original review of Women Food and God. Since then, I have since taken a closer look at the book and recorded a video with my additional thoughts. You can listen to it at the end of this post.
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You may have heard of a new book called "Women Food and God" by Geneen Roth about compulsive overeating. I heard it was featured on Oprah, but I discovered it by accident while browsing popular books on Amazon. The title intrigued me, so I bought it.
But I stopped reading on page 16. More about that later, but first I want to share a conversation I read on an earlier page.
The author has a retreat for women who compulsively overeat and this is what one attendee told her over dinner. It is startling:
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Laurie, a thirty-five year old CEO of a Boston mortgage company, raises her hand. "I am not hungry, but I want to be. I want to eat anyway."
"Why is that?" I ask.
"Because it looks good and it's here, right now. It's the best comfort in town. What's wrong with wanting comfort from food?"
"Not a thing," I say. "Food is good and comfort is good. Except that when you are not hungry and you want comfort, food is only a temporary pallative; why not address the discomfort directly?"
"It's too hard to address things directly, too painful, and there isn't any end to it. And if it's going to be endlessly painful, then at least I have food," she answers.
"So you figure that the best you can get out of life is cold vegetable soup?"
When she talks again, her voice is quivering. "It's the only true comfort I have and I am not going to deprive myself of it."
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That hurt my heart because I was once in the same place as Laurie.
Even though I was "saved," I did not trust God for comfort.
At that time, I didn't view him as one who loved me and could heal my pain. Instead, I viewed him as ready to judge and condemn me.
Reading that conversation alone was worth the cost of Women Food and God for me, but I stopped reading on page 16 because of this author statement: "It doesn't matter whether we believe in one God, many gods, or no god."
Oh, but it does matter!
I believe there is no such thing as a weight management issue; it is all ultimately a life management issue.
Your belief about God determines how you view life, approach it, and what you expect from it.
If you believe there is no God, then all you have is yourself as the compass to discern what is good and right.
And we know all know how self-deceptive humans can be.
If you believe in many gods, then how do you know which to follow in a given situation?
God is not the author of confusion.
I believe in the God who says in Isaiah 44:6:
Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God."
It makes a big difference when you view yourself as a daughter (or son) of the King.
I believe in the God who heals as said in Psalm 147:3:
He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds."
And I believe in the God who comforts, protects, and leads me in the right way as said in Psalm 23:4:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."
I have a personal relationship with the one true God, which I obtained through the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6): Jesus.
So I say to Laurie and to anyone else suffering from compulsive eating:
"God is the true source of comfort and he wants you to expect more from life than cold vegetable soup! He wants you to experience eternal life, which is that you may know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent."
Open up your heart and let God comfort you. Trust him and you will be healed.
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Video Follow-up Review: Author's Views on God
Be blessed with health, healing, and wholeness,
Kimberly Taylor
Author of the Take Back Your Temple program
P.S. When it comes to weight loss, do you often know what you should do but have a hard time doing it?
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