Intuitive Eating with the Bible, Make Peace With Food

The third principle of Intuitive Eating is Make Peace with food which means giving yourself unconditional permission to eat. The goal is to eat the foods you truly desire with attunement to your body. Making food choices should be done without placing judgment on them. Contrary to what diet culture would have you believe

This is a bit counter-cultural right? We are constantly bombarded with messages demonizing some foods and elevating others. Foods are marketed to us as a “sinful indulgence” or “guilt-free”, implying that our righteousness is wrapped up in our food choices. The New Testament, however, makes it clear that observation of food laws for religious reasons is no longer required. In Mark 7:18-19 Jesus declares all food clean; “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” In Acts 10:9-16, Peter was informed by God through a vision that he was not to reject the use of certain animals for food on a religious basis. And the apostle Paul writes,

“For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4).

There is no saving grace in either eating or not eating certain foods. We are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; see Ephesians 2:8-10. The law was kept perfectly by Christ. And He took all the punishment deserved by God’s sinful people. Therefore, the law is not the path to righteousness; Christ is. Therefore, the food laws that set Isreal apart from the nations have been fulfilled and ended in Christ.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” –Romans 10:4

Many Christians fall into the trap of diet culture and use food rules as a way to earn love, worthiness, and righteousness (read more about that here). But, According to God’s word, there are no clean and unclean foods and you can not be made clean or unclean through your food choices. The Bible makes it clear that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

There is a place in a balanced diet for all foods. We were created to thrive when we eat a variety of foods. So honor your taste buds with nutrient-dense whole foods, and processed play foods with less nutritional value. These foods have no moral value and you my friend are not good or bad based on your food choices. Everything God created is good and is to be received with Thanksgiving.

This blog series was designed as a Bible study for anyone struggling with their relationship with food, exercise, and their body. The following posts will each line up with the principles of intuitive eating discussed in Intuitive Eating, a Revolutionary Program That Works, by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch.