Establishing spiritual and physical disciplines and habits that lead to a life of beauty and balance in the mind, body, home and soul for the glory of God.
Have these scenarios ever described you?
You know eating that second or third piece of chocolate cake isn’t necessary or wise, but you do it anyway. It was a hard day after all, you deserve it.
It’s not really that big of deal, I mean there are a lot worse things I could be doing.
I am tired, stressed, angry, or frustrated. I really deserve this big bowl of ice cream.
It’s ok, I will eat better tomorrow.
I worked out, it’s ok to eat junk.
Just one, it’s not a big deal. Then 5 cookies later… feelings of regret, failure, disgust and defeat come over you.
You wake up the next day determined to do better, only to find yourself following the same pattern.
What if…
this didn’t have to describe you.
trying harder to do better wasn’t the answer.
you understood that the next fad diet will not fix your problem.
the root of your problem was not even food?
you understood more fully the enemy’s tactics and how God wants you to fight this battle?
My journey
I love food. I learned at an early age that food made me feel better.
I kept finding myself in this cycle of wanting to eat healthy, but finding that the best way to handle my stress, sadness or fatigue was to open my pantry or fridge; I suppose very much like an alcoholic reaches for the bottle in times of distress.
This wasn’t that big of deal was it? I wasn’t sinning, was I? I wasn’t getting drunk, so this must not be so bad?
But why could I not have just one cookie? Why did I get so disgusted with my self when I ate too much?
Was there really a cure for this cycle? Was there even a reason to cure this cycle?
I began to really ask God about this. I read books about emotional eating and studied His Word. God gently revealed the issues in my heart. He took me on a journey to help me overcome (not perfectly yet), my food addictions and to have a more balanced understanding of food, His Truth and what the true battle is. God has shown me how to fight this battle. He is the one who holds the solution to my problem.
Not Alone!
The last couple of years I started sharing what I was learning with some close friends.
I was remineded that I was not alone in this battle. We encouraged and prayed for each other. We studied and discussed the Balanced Beauty lessons together . We checked in and kept each other accountable to important spiritual disciplines and health habits that really make a difference!
It has been a life-giving, life-transforming experience and I now want to invite others! If any of this sounds familiar in your life, I’d love for you to be a part of Balanced Beauties.
Curious what Balanced Beauties is all about? Try the mini – course. This gives you a good introduction to each topic.
What other Balanced Beauties have said:
Favorite Parts of the Balanced Beauties Plan:
“The encouragement it provided for taking steps forward”
“If I had to pick just one, it would be the community with accountability”
“I really loved hearing everyone’s perspective and ideas during the zoom meetings, and the way you were able to bring it all together. I honestly really have struggled in my relationship with God over the last couple of years and it was so good for me to be challenged and to not feel judged by this group, as well as to be reminded of better times when I DID spend regular time memorizing and in the Word, etc. etc. Every lesson was challenging and even though I didn’t participate in the sugar fast (kicking myself for that now) your study guide was SO helpful to me and I am making changes slowly to get my health back.”
Mindset shifts that happened:
“the new mindset of how choosing how I can honor God with the food I eat, and with how I take care of my body.”
“Even 15 minutes in a messy area will get things done and probably cause me to spend more that 15 minutes.”
“Just do it! Sometimes I’m paralyzed by the hope (lie) of perfection, just getting started is huge!”
“This sounds really simple, but honestly the drinking more water thing was really an eye opener to me. I have been drinking more than ever before 🙂 Also just thinking more along the way about the choices I am making with regard to food and exercise. It was a really vicious downhill slide that I went on after my year of broken bones and I would say I haven’t really recovered, sitting more, eating more, feeling worse, sleeping worse, etc. etc. I am optimistic that if I continue to put the principals I learned in this study into practice, I WILL feel better.”
Improvements experienced:
“I lost 7 lbs!! But, much more than that, I have shifted my mindset about health and foods I put into my body.”
“To be purposeful in the areas addressed in the book. Makes me aware of places in my heart and home that I need to give to the Lord.”
“Awareness of sugar, how good I feel when off vs. when back on. Encouragement to memorize Scripture and recommit portions of His Word to memory”
“I think the decluttering section was probably the easiest for me, because I can see real results right away when I clean out a drawer. I don’t have a lot of patience sometimes with how long other changes take. But I am realizing how good it feels to not have to dig through clutter to get to what I want or need. AND to break it up into small doses – I don’t have to take a week off (though I probably should), but doing a drawer each evening is doable.”
This is not a diet or new eating plan
As you can see by the comments, food is not the only thing we talk about.
God’s Truth from the Bible is our foundation. We get grounded first as we discuss our sinful nature, our identity in Christ, and making sure Bible study and prayer are a part of our lives, before we dig into the topic of food.
We then dive into emotional eating. We get to lies we’ve believed and learn to replace them with Truth. We discuss how to eat a diet that fuels our bodies. I provide helpful food lists and meal plan ideas.
But we don’t stop with food! We also discuss exercise, decluttering, and keeping close connections with our family members.
These topics are all under the umbrella of BALANCE!
We do not get extreme with anything, but we do set goals and strive to keep making progressive steps forward.
Working together in a community of other women with similar passions, desires and struggles will help you get up again and keep fighting the fight.
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14