No Binge-Eating Episodes During Lent – Why Was I Suddenly Able to Eat Healthily?

During Lent 2026, something happened that still amazes me when I look back on it: for weeks, I ate healthily, moved a lot, and did not have any binge-eating episodes.

Why?

I had known the problem for a long time. I knew how quickly the thought of something sweet could turn into buying it, how one piece could turn into several, and how eating could eventually become something that had very little to do with actual hunger.

I had already started eating more healthily and moving more in January. But when Lent began on Ash Wednesday, my everyday life suddenly became much clearer.

I gave up sweets and coffee. I also stopped going to cafés.

At the same time, I practised OMAD – One Meal a Day. Once a day, I prepared a huge brunch for myself. I made sure that I ate enough and that my body received as much protein, vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients as possible.

After that, the subject of food was finished for around 23 hours.

And that felt incredibly freeing.

I did not constantly have to wonder:

Should I eat something now?

Am I hungry?

Am I allowed to treat myself?

Should I buy something else?

Maybe just a coffee?

Maybe some cake after all?

I simply did not have to make these decisions all the time anymore.

My daily routine suddenly became very clear too

After my brunch, I usually went to my cleaning job. There, I was physically active and at the same time had a clear task.

In the afternoon, I worked on my MacBook.

In the evening, I either went to a Bible study group, spent time reading the Bible at home, or made myself comfortable and watched a film.

I also went for a lot of walks.

Twice a week, I walked to a supermarket that was around ten kilometres away. The route was beautiful, so grocery shopping turned into a long hike. On some days, I walked ten to twenty kilometres.

On the other days, my walks were shorter, but my cleaning job already gave me additional physical activity.

I did not get my car until 31 March. At that point, a new option suddenly appeared: why walk ten kilometres when I could simply get into the car?

Even that makes me realise today how strongly our environment can influence our behaviour.

My faith played a major role

Lent was not an ordinary diet for me.

It had a religious meaning.

During this period, I spent more time with God, the Bible and my faith. I prayed more, attended more Bible study groups and church services, and prepared for Reconciliation in the Catholic Church.

That made a big difference.

It was not merely about not eating certain things.

It was about consciously doing something because I believed it corresponded to my faith and because I wanted God’s will in my life to matter more than every spontaneous desire.

My financial situation was different too. I had changed one of my Patreon accounts from a topic that had earned me good money to language learning, because the previous topic no longer felt compatible with my deepening faith. As a result, a substantial part of my income disappeared.

Regular café visits or buying additional sweets, cake and coffee were therefore hardly affordable anymore.

By the end of Lent, I had lost around four kilograms.

But something else mattered much more to me:

I had not had any binge-eating episodes.

And that is exactly why I am asking myself today:

Why did it suddenly work?

What can cause binge-eating episodes?

If binge eating is explained simply as a lack of discipline, that is far too simplistic.

There can be many different reasons.

For example:

physical hunger
not consuming enough calories overall
very long periods without eating
severe restriction
lack of sleep
exhaustion
stress
feeling overwhelmed
anxiety
inner restlessness
sadness
frustration
boredom
loneliness
lack of emotional closeness
lack of physical closeness
an unfulfilled need for a relationship or sexuality
lack of comfort and security
lack of recognition
lack of belonging
lack of autonomy
lack of self-efficacy
too little joy
too little play
too little variety
lack of meaning
eating for comfort
eating as a reward
eating to calm down
eating as distraction
eating as a break
eating to release tension
habits
certain triggers
easily available food
impulsive behaviour
black-and-white thinking
feelings of guilt
strict prohibitions
thoughts such as “never again”
constantly thinking about food
trying actively to suppress thoughts about food
several of these factors at the same time

So it is entirely possible that a binge-eating episode is not only about food.

Perhaps food is simply the quickest solution our brain knows at that particular moment.

Which basic needs may lie behind it?

Maslow’s classic hierarchy of needs is no longer viewed as rigidly as it once was. Nevertheless, the underlying idea remains interesting: people have physical and psychological needs, and if those needs remain unmet for a long time, this can influence our behaviour.

These needs may include:

food and physical nourishment
sleep and rest
safety
social connection
emotional closeness
physical closeness
partnership
sexuality
autonomy
competence
recognition
joy
play
variety
meaning

If food is expected to meet many of these needs at the same time, simply taking the food away will not be enough.

Instead, we may need to ask:

What do I actually need?

What does play have to do with eating behaviour?

This thought has become particularly important to me.

As children, we play a lot.

Play gives us joy, excitement, imagination, curiosity, a sense of achievement, autonomy, distraction and sometimes even a state of flow.

Later, play decreases considerably for many people.

My first binge-eating episode happened at a time when I was a teenager, was hardly playing anymore, and at the same time had received pocket money for the first time.

Suddenly, I could decide for myself what to buy.

And suddenly, food was easily accessible.

Of course, that does not mean that playing less automatically causes binge eating.

But today I wonder:

Could food perhaps have taken over some of the functions that play, joy, activity and excitement had previously fulfilled?

Which fruits of the Holy Spirit may be especially helpful?

Galatians 5:22–23 names the fruits of the Holy Spirit:

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

When it comes to binge eating, self-control may be the first thing that comes to mind.

But perhaps that is precisely too narrow a way of looking at it.

Love

Love can mean treating other people and ourselves with love.

If I insult myself after a binge-eating episode, condemn myself and reject myself, that can easily create another vicious circle.

Joy

If joy is missing from everyday life, food can quickly become one of the most reliable sources of pleasure and reward.

Peace

Inner restlessness and stress can increase the urge to calm ourselves through food.

Patience

Not every urge needs to be satisfied immediately.

We can learn to tolerate a feeling for a while without acting on it straight away.

Kindness

Kindness towards ourselves can help us continue sensibly after a mistake instead of falling into black-and-white thinking.

Goodness

Goodness can mean asking what is genuinely good for my body and my life in the long term.

Faithfulness

Faithfulness can also mean remaining faithful to good decisions and helpful habits over a longer period of time.

Gentleness

Gentleness is an important counterbalance to harsh self-control.

I do not have to force myself brutally or fight against myself.

Self-control

Self-control can help us avoid automatically turning an impulse into an action.

But perhaps self-control becomes much easier when love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness are also given room in our lives.

Why Joyce Meyer’s sermon about self-control inspired me to write this article

A sermon by Joyce Meyer about self-control made me think about this subject again from a more fundamental perspective.

Is self-control really the most important thing when it comes to binge eating?

Or can too much control even backfire?

Self-control is important.

But self-control is not the same thing as self-suppression.

If I spend the entire day thinking:

I am not allowed to eat that.

I must never eat sweets again.

I am not allowed to make a mistake.

Then I am constantly thinking about exactly the thing I am trying to avoid.

It is similar to the well-known example:

Do not think of a blue elephant.

And what immediately appears in your mind?

A blue elephant.

Perhaps helpful self-control therefore does not mean constantly fighting against thoughts and desires.

Perhaps it begins much earlier.

What is Joyce Meyer’s sermon about?

Joyce Meyer describes self-control as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

So she does not understand self-control merely as human willpower.

At the same time, she emphasises that this ability is not something we simply receive passively. Self-control has to be developed and practised.

An important part of her sermon concerns habits and moderation.

Self-control is not only visible in major decisions but also in the way we organise our everyday lives.

When do we get up?

How do we use our time?

Do we keep postponing unpleasant tasks?

Do we follow every spontaneous impulse?

Joyce Meyer also says, in essence, that difficult things do not become easier simply because we keep putting them off.

She also talks about the fact that people who want to lead others first need to learn to lead themselves.

That spoke to me as a teacher too.

If I take responsibility for other people, I also want to live as consciously as possible myself instead of merely explaining things that I do not even try to practise in my own life.

Another important thought in the sermon is that we should not always put our own will first but should make room for God’s will.

I was also deeply touched by the idea that we should not merely try desperately to change ourselves.

Instead, the focus is on loving God more, becoming more aware of His love, and allowing that relationship to change us.

And finally, the sermon is about the moment between impulse and action.

I can notice that I am about to explode.

I can notice that I desperately want to do something.

And yet I do not have to act on that impulse automatically.

For Joyce Meyer, this is a form of self-control in which the Holy Spirit helps us.

This sermon made me wonder:

Perhaps self-control is not only about being strong enough to say “no” at the decisive moment.

Perhaps it also means organising my everyday life in such a way that I much less often end up in situations where I have to fight with all my strength.

That includes daily structure, habits, sleep, exercise, meaningful tasks, clear rules and decisions that I do not have to renegotiate every single day.

Joyce Meyer’s sermon

Discipline & Self-Control – Pt 1 | Enjoying Everyday Life | Joyce Meyer

Prayers for Relaxation

In my “Prayers for Relaxation” series, I combine prayer with conscious breathing.

In the first article in my series about binge eating, I already used a similar structure.

I have also written a prayer about the fruits of the Holy Spirit before.

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit – Relaxation Prayers with Images in 6 Languages

In this prayer too, requests and gratitude alternate.

The first part is about recognising possible causes of your own eating behaviour.

The second part is about becoming aware of helpful resources and needs and strengthening them.

You can combine the prayer with a simple breathing exercise.

Breathe in slowly during every line written in italics.

Breathe out slowly during the following line in normal type.

Prayer: Understanding binge eating and finding new ways forward

Part 1: Recognising the causes

Please, dear God, help me recognise,
whether genuine hunger lies behind my desire to eat.

Thank you, Lord, for helping me,
understand the signals of my body more and more clearly.

Please, dear God, make me aware,
whether tiredness or exhaustion contribute to my binge-eating episodes.

Thank you, Lord, for every opportunity,
to give my body rest and recovery.

Please, dear God, open my eyes to whether,
stress intensifies my desire to eat.

Thank you, Lord, for every moment,
in which I am able to experience peace and calm.

Please, dear God, help me notice,
whether loneliness lies behind my eating behaviour.

Thank you, Lord, for every person,
with whom I am able to feel connected.

Please, dear God, show me,
whether a lack of emotional closeness plays a role.

Thank you, Lord, for every encounter,
in which I feel seen and understood.

Please, dear God, give me clarity about whether,
I am lacking physical closeness and a sense of security.

Thank you, Lord, for every loving touch,
that gives me warmth and a sense of safety.

Please, dear God, help me understand,
whether unfulfilled desires for partnership or sexuality influence my eating behaviour.

Thank you, Lord, that I may entrust even these needs to you,
honestly and without shame.

Please, dear God, help me notice,
whether boredom intensifies my desire to eat.

Thank you, Lord, for all the possibilities,
to fill my day with beautiful and meaningful things.

Please, dear God, help me recognise,
whether joy, play or variety are missing from my life.

Thank you, Lord, for everything beautiful,
that makes my life lively and colourful.

Please, dear God, show me,
whether I use food for comfort.

Thank you, Lord, for your closeness,
when I am sad or hurt.

Please, dear God, open my eyes to whether,
food sometimes becomes a reward for me.

Thank you, Lord, for all the other things,
I can look forward to and be grateful for.

Please, dear God, help me understand,
whether I use food to calm or distract myself.

Thank you, Lord, for every path,
through which I can find peace and relief.

Please, dear God, help me recognise,
whether a lack of structure makes my everyday life more difficult.

Thank you, Lord, for every task and every rhythm,
that gives my day direction.

Please, dear God, make me aware,
whether strict prohibitions increase my desire for food.

Thank you, Lord, for every insight,
that helps me treat myself sensibly and lovingly.

Please, dear God, help me notice,
whether thoughts such as “never again” make me think about food even more.

Thank you, Lord, that I can learn,
to focus my attention on what I actually want to do.

Please, dear God, help me understand,
whether black-and-white thinking contributes to my binge-eating episodes.

Thank you, Lord, that one single mistake,
does not determine my entire day or my whole journey.

Please, dear God, show me,
which situations and habits are my personal triggers.

Thank you, Lord, for every new insight,
that allows me to shape my behaviour more consciously.

Part 2: Strengthening resources

Please, dear God, give me the wisdom to recognise,
that my body needs enough nourishment.

Thank you, Lord, for the food,
with which I am able to nourish my body.

Please, dear God, help me understand more deeply,
that a balanced diet can give me strength and stability.

Thank you, Lord, for every meal,
that satisfies me and is good for my body.

Please, dear God, lead me to the understanding,
that sufficient sleep is important for my well-being.

Thank you, Lord, for every night,
in which my body and soul are able to recover.

Please, dear God, give me clarity about,
how movement can give me strength, joy and balance.

Thank you, Lord, for my legs and my body,
with which I can walk, run and discover the world.

Please, dear God, open my eyes to the fact,
that a reliable daily structure can give me stability.

Thank you, Lord, for every task,
that gives my day direction and meaning.

Please, dear God, help me accept,
that I need breaks and rest.

Thank you, Lord, for every peaceful moment,
in which I am able to regain strength.

Please, dear God, give me the insight,
that I need community and connection.

Thank you, Lord, for all the people,
with whom I am able to share my life.

Please, dear God, help me understand more deeply,
that emotional and physical closeness are important needs.

Thank you, Lord, for every form of love and security,
that I am able to receive and pass on.

Please, dear God, remind me,
that joy and play belong to a fulfilling life.

Thank you, Lord, for laughter, curiosity and beautiful experiences,
that enrich my life.

Please, dear God, give me clarity about,
the fact that I do not have to postpone every difficult task.

Thank you, Lord, for every opportunity,
to tackle something and experience that I can make a difference.

Please, dear God, help me understand,
that good habits can make self-control easier.

Thank you, Lord, for every helpful habit,
that has already become part of my life.

Please, dear God, help me recognise,
that I do not have to act on every spontaneous impulse.

Thank you, Lord, for the Holy Spirit,
who gives me self-control and helps me grow in it.

Please, dear God, give me the wisdom,
not always to put my own will first.

Thank you, Lord, that I may trust,
that your will can guide me towards a good life.

Please, dear God, help me understand more deeply,
that change does not have to come only through pressure.

Thank you, Lord, for your love,
from which new strength and new decisions can grow.

Please, dear God, give me clarity about,
the fact that I may take my needs seriously without following them blindly.

Thank you, Lord, that I can learn,
to guide myself with love, patience and gentleness.

Thank you, Lord,
for every small step along this path.

Thank you, Lord,
for every insight, every good decision and every helpful habit.

Thank you, Lord,
that I do not only have to fight against binge eating, but may fill my life with nourishment, movement, community, joy, love, meaning and closeness to you.

Amen.

What other resources and forms of support can help with binge eating?

For believers, cultivating the fruits of the Holy Spirit can be a valuable resource.

But binge-eating episodes can have physical, psychological, social and medical causes.

It would therefore be wrong to treat them solely as a spiritual or moral problem.

Helpful resources may include:

eating enough
consuming enough calories
making sure you get enough protein, fibre, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals
finding an eating rhythm that works well for you personally
getting enough sleep
drinking enough
reducing stress
scheduling regular breaks
exercise
walking
daily structure
clearly defined tasks
social contact
emotional closeness
physical closeness
joy
play
hobbies
variety
meaningful activities
making healthy foods easy to access
getting to know your personal triggers
changing problematic situations whenever possible
reducing black-and-white thinking
avoiding the thought “Now everything is ruined anyway” after one mistake
formulating positive goals instead of relying only on prohibitions
noticing thoughts without automatically acting on them
recognising your needs
developing several ways of meeting those needs
building good habits
reducing the number of basic decisions you have to make again and again
seeking professional support if binge-eating episodes are recurring or severe

Which of these things helped me personally during Lent?

When I compare my Lent with this list today, I notice that an astonishing number of these protective factors were present at the same time.

I had a clear eating rhythm.

OMAD helped me personally because I ate one large meal a day and then did not have to think about food again for many hours.

That does not mean that OMAD is suitable for everyone who struggles with binge eating. Especially in the context of eating disorders, severe restriction can be problematic.

For me, however, this clear structure had a very relieving effect at the time.

I also had a great deal of physical activity.

I had a cleaning job.

I had a fixed daily routine.

I worked on my MacBook in the afternoon.

I had Bible study groups and church services.

I prayed more.

I spent more time reading and studying the Bible.

I had long walks that I could look forward to.

I had less money available for spontaneous café visits, sweets and additional food.

And there was a strong sense of meaning behind my behaviour.

I was not fasting merely because I wanted to lose weight.

I fasted because fasting was part of my faith.

Perhaps that is why the internal debate was so much smaller.

The question was not every day:

Will I eat sweets today or not?

The decision had already been made.

Daily structure has helped me before

When I think about the importance of daily structure, I realise that it has already played a very significant role in my life once before.

After I lost custody of my children and lost the court case, I entered a severe depressive period.

I lay on the sofa in my house, kept the curtains closed and really just wanted everything to be over.

Christian sermons were playing on television in the background again and again.

I heard messages such as:

Do not give up.

God loves you.

Get up.

Do something with your life.

For me, those words eventually felt like an indirect message from God.

And then another person came into my life whom, looking back, I almost experience as an angel.

A friend had previously lost a mutual friend to suicide and had experienced how helpless she had been at the time.

When she saw how badly I was doing, she did not want to stand by helplessly once again.

She did not leave me alone.

She made sure I showered.

We went shopping.

I fetched wood, chopped wood and stacked it.

I started writing job applications again.

Eventually, I found a one-euro job with the local council.

I weeded there and cycled around seven kilometres to work.

Suddenly, there were tasks again.

Movement.

Responsibility.

A reason to get up.

Later, both during my training and in psychiatric contexts, I repeatedly heard how important daily structure can be.

Today, I wonder whether I underestimated its connection with my eating behaviour for a long time.

Perhaps self-control also means organising my life well in advance

Self-control is important.

But perhaps the best form of self-control is not having to resist a powerful urge as often as possible.

Perhaps it also means:

structuring my day,

going to bed on time,

getting enough exercise,

nourishing my body properly,

taking my needs seriously,

building good habits,

connecting with other people,

doing things that bring me joy,

and making decisions in advance so that I do not have to renegotiate them with myself constantly.

Eventually, self-control may even become a habit.

And eventually, it may no longer feel like control at all.

Perhaps it simply feels like living a life that is consistent with my values.

Conclusion: Why was I suddenly able to eat healthily during Lent?

Today, I no longer believe that there is one single answer.

It was probably not only OMAD.

It was not only exercise.

It was not only faith.

It was not only self-control.

It was not only daily structure.

It was not only money.

It was probably the combination.

I had a clear eating structure.

I had tasks.

I moved a lot.

I had fewer opportunities for spontaneous purchases.

I had community.

I had meaningful activities.

I had relaxation.

I had a sense of purpose.

And I felt that my behaviour did not merely serve a short-term goal, but was part of my faith and my life.

Perhaps, therefore, the most important question is not:

Why was I so good at controlling myself back then?

But rather:

What conditions were so favourable at that time that I did not have to keep controlling myself constantly?

And perhaps that is exactly where one possible path lies:

Not only fighting against binge eating.

But building a life in which food no longer has to take on the task of solving hunger, boredom, the need for comfort, loneliness, reward, lack of joy, lack of structure and many other needs all at once.

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POLYGLOT MONA