How to Defeat Harmful Habits (Counseling Through the Bible Series) (25 page)

• Brain function in recovered anorexic women
showed little emotional response to winning or losing a simple game
, while brain function in nonanorexic women revealed a stronger emotional response to the same situations.

• Brain function in recovered anorexic women
showed little difference in distinguishing between positive and negative feedback
, while brain function in nonanorexic women revealed stronger degrees of activity when it came to discriminating between positive and negative responses.

• Brain function in recovered anorexic women
showed stronger emphasis on strategic methods of game play
, while brain function in nonanorexic women revealed greater enjoyment of game play.

• Brain function in recovered anorexic women
revealed undue worry over making mistakes and a desire to discover “rules” where none exist
, while brain function in nonanorexic women showed an aptitude for making choices and then moving on more easily.

In addition, the human brain needs sufficient nutrition and relaxation. Studies show that stress and starvation deprives the brain of necessary nutrients and slows down the thought processes, leaving starving people feeling…
⁴⁴

• Fearful and distraught

• Dull and mentally slow

• Moody and mentally foggy

• Agitated and without good judgment

In an experiment, a group showed some distinct characteristics after experiencing six months of reduced food intake.
⁴⁵

They…

• Obsessed about food

• Conversed constantly about food

• Expressed interest in nothing but food

Clearly, anyone who is starving becomes preoccupied with food, just like the anorexic. Interestingly, this food obsession can disappear when normal caloric intake resumes. Just as a well-oiled engine is able to run silently and smoothly, a well-fed brain is able to take thoughts captive and control unhealthy urges.

“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”

(2 C
ORINTHIANS
10:5).

Hers should have been a storybook life—complete with the happiest ending. But even though she lived in a palace, the princess couldn’t hide the pain.

Lady Diana Spencer walked the aisle and onto the world stage when she married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981, and became Princess Diana. The 20-year-old bride was beautiful, bashful, and immediately beloved.

She would go on to become arguably the most famous woman in the world, her every move recorded, photographed, adored. But what went on behind closed castle doors didn’t fit with the regal, public façade.

Prince Charles’ previous longtime romantic relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles interfered with Diana’s marriage, as did the prince’s ensuing adultery. Both Diana’s marriage and her spirit were broken. Thus, the princess would seek consolation in food—large amounts of it. Yet it was only a fleeting fix for her pain, for she would always purge it back up.

“Rampant bulimia” was her recourse upon learning that Prince Charles had resumed his relationship with Camilla.
⁴⁶
Her external out-of-control bingeing and purging merely reflected her internal depth of despair.

“So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun”

(E
CCLESIASTES
2:20).

Diana described “a feeling of being no good at anything and being useless and hopeless and failed in every direction.”
⁴⁷

Her husband’s love for another woman also led to increased isolation. Diana recalled Charles’ friends labeling her sick, unstable, and in need of being put in some sort of home to get better. “I was almost an embarrassment.”
⁴⁸

The Princess of Wales was a princess in pain. She felt helpless over her husband’s infidelity and inadequate around the royal family. “Anything good I ever did nobody ever said a thing, never said, ‘well done,’” she shared. “But if I tripped up, which invariably I did, because I was new at the game, a ton of bricks came down on me.”
⁴⁹

By her own admission, the rejection and loneliness led her into an illicit affair; her low self-worth was the setup for her eating disorder. And because of her husband’s betrayal, her dignity was damaged and her security was destroyed. Any struggler in such emotional pain could identify with the suffering of Job:

“Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud”

(J
OB
30:15).

In a 1995 interview, Princess Diana contemplated her marriage into the royal family and the adjustments she had to make to life in the limelight. Diana believed she had Charles’ support, but it wouldn’t take long for external pressures to put a strain on their marriage.
She
—not he—would become the media darling, a source of “phenomenal” pressure while trying to operate publicly as a couple.
⁵⁰

Diana’s struggles with insecurity surfaced early on, even hinting at the deception and distortion over one’s personal appearance that accompanies bulimia. She in no way saw herself as the world saw her: “It took a long time to understand why people were so interested in me…As far as I was concerned I was a fat, chubby, 20-year-old, 21-year-old, and I couldn’t understand the level of interest.”
⁵¹

The eyes of the world were riveted on England as the death of Princess Diana stirred profound curiosity about the details of her life. Of paramount interest was her struggle with an eating disorder. Reports depicted the princess as having a monumental appetite, yet pictures portrayed a beautiful woman who was stylishly thin.

In public interviews, she had admitted she had struggled through bouts with bulimia. Both anorexia and bulimia are addictive behaviors, yet both are part of a syndrome of suffering that is never beyond God’s healing hand.

“Heal me, O L
ORD
, and I will be healed;
save me and I will be saved”

(J
EREMIAH
17:14).

Denial, the mental process that leads sufferers to conclude they are okay and do not have a problem, is common among those who have various forms of eating disorders. Defiance is often the result when they are confronted with the possibility that something is wrong.

Initial steps for intervention include encouraging a loved one to mark on a checklist for anorexia or bulimia all emotions and behaviors pertaining to that person. Seeing something written, something tangible, might help raise red flags and initiate first steps toward the road to recovery. Taking the time to consult with a medical professional is also highly beneficial.

But more often than not, interventions are intense because people with anorexia and bulimia are driven by one solitary fear—the fear of getting fat. While you might prefer to avoid facing a sufferer’s irrational thinking and strong emotional displays, remember that the earlier the intervention, the greater the chance for recovery.
⁵²

Also, realize the responsibility you have to do everything within your power to rescue your loved one from the very real and ruthless jaws of death that await all who fail to escape the deadly grip of anorexia and bulimia.

“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter”

(P
ROVERBS
24:11).

A
RE
Y
OU
P
UZZLED OVER
H
AVING AN
E
ATING
D
ISORDER
?

Puzzles are solved by carefully putting the pieces together so that they depict a complete picture. When you put the emotional clues of an eating disorder together, the picture emerges of a person in pain—one who feels love-starved, security-deprived, insignificant.

Learning the truth and resting in the Lord’s unfailing love are the key to solving the problem, to beginning the healing process of returning the sufferer to wholeness.

The following words in Isaiah comforted the nation of Israel long ago, and they can offer comfort to an anorexic or bulimic today:

“‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed
,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the L
ORD
,
who has compassion on you”

(I
SAIAH
54:10).

As you read through the following list, check each item that applies to you or your loved one:

“I hate how I look.”

“I hate how I feel.”

“I don’t like my body.”

“I feel fat and powerless.”

“I constantly compare my body to the bodies of those who are thin.”