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Reading Group Guide

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. When we are too busy to think about how and why we eat, we eat mindlessly. Learning to PAUSE and slow down is an important part of eating better and with intention. Based on the information and suggestions in the book, what specific steps can you take to stop being so busy and take better care of yourself?

2. Review the signs of physical hunger. Each time you want to eat, go over those signs and decide if you are really hungry. If not, identify the cue or trigger that is prompting you to eat. For example, is it stress, an environmental cue, an emotion, a relationship issue, etc. Keep the diary suggested in Chapters 5 and 8. Track your patterns of unintentional eating and notice what triggers you the most to eat when not hungry. Share with the group which type of cues trigger you the most?

3. Think about the meaning of food in your life. How does your cultural background influence your thoughts about food and eating? How does your family and prior experiences with food play into how you use food today? Do you use food as reward, love and ascribe other meanings? Discuss these meanings in the group.

4. On a piece of paper, jot down the foods you tend to eat when you feel stressed? Now, come up with strategies to de-stress yourself without using food. Make a list of things you can do when stress begins to mount in your life. Try substituting those things the next time you feel the urge to eat when stressed. Share your successes with the group.

5. Look at your eating area in your house, condo or apartment. Does it look relaxing, inviting and do you even use it? Review all the environmental cues in Chapter 6 that make us overeat and check those against your own eating environment. What physical changes can you make to improve your eating area? Do you also need to commit to eating in that space and take more time with each meal? Finally, count the number of family meals eaten at the table. What can you do to increase that number given all the benefits of families eating together? Have the group discuss the changes they made.

6. Evaluate the important relationships in your life. Are they meeting your expectations? Are your expectations realistic? Do you feel your intimacy needs are being met? Include your relationship with God in this evaluation. Now, think about the times you may eat when upset or disappointed in these relationships? What can do you to resolve these issues other than use food to cope with negative feelings? Identify the relationships that lead you to eat without thinking? How often do you use prayer and time with God when you feel let down in relationships?

7. It is so difficult to make time to be quiet. Yet, the Bible talks about the need for a pause to refresh our spirits. Look up these scriptures: Psalm 131:2; Pslam 130:5-6; Isaiah 30:15, 18; Psalm 40:1-3; Psalm 51:16. Read these scriptures and discuss the importance of waiting on the Lord.

8. This week, notice a time in which you are having food thoughts when you aren't hungry. Practice the skill of not resisting those thoughts but allowing them to come and go. Notice what happens to those thoughts. Write down your observations. Did this work better than trying to resist those thoughts? Did the craving pass? Practice this several times in the next week and report to the group on your experiences.

9. Take a few moments and examine your spiritual life. Do you practice spiritual disciplines or have you become complacent when it comes to spending time reading your Bible and sitting quietly before the Lord in prayer? If so, commit to those disciplines once again or perhaps for the first time. As you become more intimate with God, what do you notice about food cravings and mindless eating?

10. Eating in response to emotions is perhaps one of the most common things people do. Using the PRESS PAUSE principle, look at the chapter on regulating and tolerating emotions (Chapter 12) and come up with emotional rescues that would work. Decide which lifestyle changes you need to make and choose one to begin the process. Report on how it worked at the next study group.

11. Renewing the mind is a biblical concept that requires us to continually put on the mind of Christ. What can you do on a daily basis to fill your mind with truth and God's thought? Identify ways that will keep you operating in truth and empower your spirit with the fullness of God.

12. The final chapter in the book focuses on how to execute intentional eating. Evaluate each of the ten guidelines in terms of your own issues with food. Which of these will be the most difficult? Which of these is already a part of you? What can you do to keep these guidelines in place and develop a positive, healthy relationship with food? Discuss these in the group.