A Word from Bob: I’ve taken today’s blog post on 6 Biblical Counseling Resources on Eating Disorders from The Annual Guide to Biblical Counseling Resources—2019 Edition which includes 690 resources on scores of biblical counseling and Christian living topics. The entire 160-page resource document is available here.
Eating Disorders: Booklets
Help! I’m a Slave to Food, by Shannon McCoy
Living in a world gone wrong, people face many issues, including the importance of self-discipline in the matter of diet and exercise. Here is biblical counsel at a practical level. Overeating is a silent, subtle, even respectable sin, but it hinders the spiritual growth and effectiveness of many. Perhaps you struggle with it too. If so, this mini-book can help you not as a diet plan, but as a compass directing you to the heart of the problem and to the only solution: Jesus, the One who can bring you out of slavery into freedom.
Eating Disorders: The Quest for Thinness, by Ed Welch
What started as an innocent diet has turned into a monster. You eat too little. You eat too much. You restrict. You binge. Some days you wish you could just forget about food. Can someone like you ever learn to eat normally? Ed Welch describes how easy it is, in a weight-conscious world that also uses food for comfort, to take the small steps that lead to a full-blown eating disorder. The way out is by understanding the thoughts and emotions that trigger your eating habits, and then taking the big step of trusting God, instead of your food rules and rituals.
Eating Disorders: Hope for Hungering Souls, by Mark Shaw
God’s Word has much to say about modern day problems, and that includes the spectrum of eating disorders. Life-threatening problems as a result of disordered eating are at epidemic proportions today. Thankfully, there is real hope and practical help available through Jesus Christ the only One who offers real solutions to hurting souls.
Eating Disorders: Books
Love to Eat, Hate to Eat: Breaking the Bondage of Destructive Eating Habits, by Elyse Fitzpatrick
More than 80% of all Americans have been on a diet at some point in their lives. Low fat, low carb, high protein—you name it—they’ve tried it. Isn’t there a better way to break the cycle in the battle of the bulge? After years of futile dieting, readers know there’s more to weight control than what they eat. Having discovered the power that food has over their lives, counselor Elyse Fitzpatrick helps them: identify destructive eating habits, break the vicious cycle of emotional eating, and develop a flexible plan suited to unique situations.
Redeemed from the Pit: Biblical Repentance and Restoration from the Bondage of Eating Disorders, by Marie Notcheva
Are you one (or do you know someone) among the thousands who suffer from an eating disorder, most likely bulimia? Do you see yourself as fat and unattractive? Do you feel as though you don’t “fit in” and suffer from periods of deep depression? Has binging on food and then purging become a daily part of your routine? Here is hope. Drawing from her own experiences with the disorder, Marie Notcheva shows you how to overcome this life-destroying habit. No, not by some contrived self-help system but, by the power of Christ.
Uncommon Vessels: A Program for Developing Godly Eating Habits, by Elyse Fitzpatrick
Uncommon Vessels digs deep and reveals our true hearts. Our food choices reveal so many things about our true desires to please God and to trust His will. This book helps reclaim your heart and mind, and therefore your food choices, to glorify God.
Join the Conversation
What additional biblical counseling resources would you recommend for eating disorders?
Freedom From Emotional Eating by Barb Reveling is excellent. It not only aims the questions directly at the heart, but teaches new habit-forming methods to bring thoughts captive to scripture, practically.