Die Eet-obsessie

Reaksie op ons nuusbriewe het my al hoe meer laat besef dat daar heelwat mense is wat nie weet hoe om los te kom uit die strik van ‘n onbeheerbare drang om te eet nie.

Een aand het nog ‘n wonderwerk gebeur. Ons gaan inloer by ‘n buurvrou wie se eggenoot van meer as 40 jaar onlangs oorlede is en daar ontmoet ek vir Marica Marais. ‘n Pragtige, fietse en sprankelende kind van die Here.

Die Huisgenoot het op 6 Julie 1992 ’n artikel getiteld “Stryd van ‘n Skelm Eter” oor Marica gepubliseer. Daarin word vertel hoedat sy haar so vol kos gestop het dat sy van pyn opgekrul het. En toe kom die redding….

Die tydskrif Joy! Het in Mei 1995 ook ‘n artikel geplaas waarin Marica vertel hoedat sy aan kos en oefening verslaaf was totdat ‘n vriend haar weer na die Here se oplossings teruggelei het. Nou hunker sy na Geestelike voedsel en om ander te help om vry te kom van obsessiewe etery.

Marica het ‘n boekie getiteld “Nooit weer vet nie” in 2 000 die lig laat sien.

Die volgende uittreksel uit haar eertydse webblad gee ‘n oorsig van waar Marica nou staan:

A Practical Guide To Overcoming Eating Disorders

An obsession with food, weight or body image can create serious emotional problems. This obsession coupled with a physical craving for food, not being able to stop eating, forms the basis of addiction. Shame, guilt and depression drives the person to secret bingeing.

The addict (compulsive eater) begins to withdraw from friends and family, which in turn makes him/her, feel lonely and depressed.

Anxiety attacks are common. The person’s self esteem deteriorates. Terrible loneliness often sets in. It is estimated that two out of every four women today, suffer from eating disorders. As with any type of substance abuse, the problem is not with the substance, but with the way it is used.

The addiction is not only to food, but also to feelings you come to associate with it. The only way to be released from the prison of fasting, binging or purging, is to allow the Lord Jesus Christ (the Word that became flesh, John 1:14) – the Living Bread, to work a profound inner change in your attitudes and beliefs about yourself.

That inner change came after I devoted my life to the Lord Jesus and began to stand on the promises of God’s Word. In 1 Timothy 4:1-5, the apostle Paul gave Timothy certain instructions –

“but the Holy Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach.

Through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared. Who forbid people to marry and teach them to abstain from certain kinds of food, which God created to be, received with thanksgiving by those who believe and have an increasingly clear knowledge of the truth?

For everything God has created is good and nothing is to be thrown away or refused if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is hallowed by The Word of God and by prayer”

How It Started For Me

The problem started when I was about twenty years old. Growing up I never had an obsession with weight or food.

My mother died when I was three years old and my father just before I started by second year at varsity. I was nineteen years old. My whole life came to a halt when he died. Growing up, my father gave me recognition when I achieved academically.

After his death I was still trying to get recognition for the things I did. Subconsciously, I think I got the message that I was only okay when I performed. I did not think that I was worth loving just for who I was. I thought I had to do something to be accepted or loved.

I enrolled for different degrees and diplomas. I also thought that if I looked better, if I were thinner and if I dressed nicely, people would like me more. Soon my whole life was revolving around food, exercise and compulsive spending. I was going nowhere fast…

Because I have been an addict myself, I understand the battle people are facing when they suffer from eating disorders. Many times a hunger for love and acceptance drives people to do things that they think will make them more acceptable.

These false crutches soon become an obsession. But when dieting does not work and the emotional pain gets worse, you do the exact opposite – you overeat. Then the guilt sets in and you feel ashamed. You really hate yourself. And eventually you are back where you started – hungry for love.

This hunger for love caused me to make several mistakes in my life. It also resulted in severe rebellion. I have been divorced three times, mainly because I could never submit to a man. I always wanted to be in control.

Only when I realised my helplessness and the fact that I was completely out of control was I able to surrender my life to Jesus Christ. His blood washed away my sins and healed the emotional wounds that I had. Only then could I start working on, “Who I am in Christ”.

Aanhaling: The preservation of health is a duty. Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality.

Outeur: Herbert Spencer 1820-1903, Britse filosoof