Women’s Food and God Review – A Christian View

Geneen Roth’s Women Food and God has highlighted binge eating and binge eating. The author’s premise is that “how we eat is how we live.” She says that our eating behavior expresses our emotions, approach to life, and even how we view God. This last connection is what drew me to the book. This review is written as information if you are looking for a godly solution to cure binge eating.

Now I must say upfront that I approached the book with some expectation; I suffered from binge eating for over 20 years, eventually hitting 240 pounds. But through the power of God, I learned to manage my emotions and reestablished a correct relationship with food. I eventually ended up losing 85 pounds and have maintained that weight for several years. My healing would not have been possible without a personal relationship with God. Through the person of Jesus Christ, I came to know God as my Redeemer, Healer, Strength, Wisdom, Joy, and Comfort.

So it was the God who loves me that I expected to see in Women Food and God. The book began with promise: he affirmed the importance of refraining from self-condemnation. This is an important key to healing. The conviction makes you feel ashamed, frustrated and depressed. The Bible tells us that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. God is always about restoration, not condemnation (Romans 8:1).

I also found value in an initial conversation in the book; One woman revealed that she binge-ate because food was her only source of comfort for her emotional pain. That is a central theme of binge-eating healing; Since the woman truly believed that food was her only comfort, he defiantly told Mrs. Roth that he would not deprive himself of it.

However, I cannot recommend Women Food and God for those looking for a godly solution to binge eating for a reason: On page 16, Ms. Roth says, “It doesn’t matter if you believe in one God, in many gods, or in no god”. “This contradicts the Bible:” Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First, and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God'” (Isaiah 44:6).

As Christians, we are told to girdle on the truth. In ancient times, the waist/stomach area was considered the seat of emotions. So we must secure our emotions with the truth. We believe that there is only one God and we use the Bible as our source of truth.

I decided not to continue reading Women, Food and God because, according to Ms. Roth’s statement, she says that you can take God out of the picture and her methods will still work. If that is the case, what role does God play in his book? Is he God as he defines himself or is he god as the reader defines him? From personal experience, I found that having a stable vision of God’s love as expressed in the Bible, knowing that He has a future and a hope for me, and believing that I could trust Him for my healing, were vital to my success.

Again, this review was written to help you make a more informed decision about the book before you buy it. I urge everyone to use spiritual discernment regarding your final purchasing decision.