Eating Disorder Prayers
Prayer for Anorexia, Blessing for a Healthy Body Image, and More
Sep 24, 2009
Food is necessary for health and life. Yet many people struggle with food and body image, some to the extremes of anorexia nervosa and bulimia. The following prayers — prayer for disordered eating, prayer for anorexia, blessing for bulimia, blessing for a healthy body image, and thanksgiving for treating an eating disorder — invite God to bless, strengthen, and heal all who struggle with eating.
Prayer for Disordered Eating
Many suffer from some degree of disordered eating, or an unhealthy relationship with food. Whether it’s emotional eating, fad diets taken to the extreme, or simply overeating, the person with disordered eating often needs love and discipline to stop.
The following prayer asks God to strengthen someone struggling with food and stop the unhealthy eating pattern:
“Loving God, You created this world, my body, and all the food I enjoy. Please help me to choose healthy foods in moderation. Save me from the ways I harm myself with food [may share specific patterns with God if desired.] When I’m feeling lost, helpless, or out of control, help me to choose other ways besides food to deal with my problems. Stop me from harming myself through food, and guide me to love my body and myself, as You love me. Amen.”
One might repeat the phrase “stop me from harming myself through food, and guide me to love my body” to stop emotional eating or overeating. A concerned friend or family member might also share this prayer on behalf of an individual struggling with his/her diet.
Prayer for Anorexia
Anorexia, or eating too little to remain healthy due to a distorted perception of the body, is a problem for too many in today’s world. Often, the anorexic feels a lack of control in his/her life and takes control over his/her body through unhealthy starvation. The following prayer asks God to protect the anorexic, help him/her to love his/her body, and grant him/her the power to stop this cycle of self-destruction:
“Loving God, You created me in Your image and likeness. Let me see myself as beautiful just as I am, the way You created me. Help me to eat healthy foods and nourish myself by eating regularly. Be with me as I fight my desire to starve myself. Grant me healing and peace in my relationship with food. Amen.”
If an anorexic person struggles to eat, he/she might try repeating the phrase, “Be with me as I fight my desire to starve myself,” until he/she can manage to eat.
Prayer for a Bulimic
Bulimia, or binging on food and then purging in a desire to control body weight, also plagues many in today’s world. Bulimics not only confuse their bodies, but over time, they may destroy their digestive tracts through excessive vomiting. The following prayer asks God to help the bulimic stop harmful behaviors and heal his/her body image:
“Loving God, I am Your beloved child. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. Protect me now, too, as I struggle to keep myself from [insert specific purging method used.] Let me eat healthy foods that nourish me, and grant me other ways to deal with my stress besides binging and purging. Let me feel Your love for me, and see myself as You see me, that I might learn to love my body, too. Amen.”
A bulimic struggling with stress might offer this prayer as an alternative to the cycle of binging/purging. Concerned friends or family members might also share this prayer on behalf of a bulimic loved one to seek healing and offer support.
Blessing for a Healthy Body Image
Many people struggle with accepting their bodies as they are. The following body blessing sanctifies the body as God’s holy temple, that the individual may see himself/herself as beautiful:
“Loving God, my body is Your temple. Thank you for every curve, bulge, limb, follicle, and finger. Please bless my body and help me to care for it with the love and respect that befits a place where You dwell. Let the light of Your love heal me in body, mind, and spirit, and keep me forever in Your love. Amen.”
The following prayer might be prayed for one struggling with an eating disorder, or simply for a person struggling with changes in his/her body, such as illness or pregnancy.
Thanksgiving for Eating Disorder Treatment
Being in treatment for an eating disorder takes courage, patience, and lots of hard work. Choosing to fight toxic eating habits is also a reason to celebrate. The following prayer offers God thanks for the decision to receive treatment, as well as for the healing that occurs:
“Loving God, thank you for guiding [insert eating disordered individual's name] to seek treatment for his/her struggles with food and body image. Please guide and keep [insert individual’s name] throughout this journey of healing. Bless and strengthen all who care for him/her during this difficult time. Let [insert individual’s name] know that he/she is not alone, and rejoice with him/her every step in the way of good health and self-love, in Your loving and precious name. Amen.”
Eating disorders can tear an individual or a family apart. With prayer, however, a religious family or support group is never alone.
For prayers to enjoy healthy eating habits, one may enjoy Prayer for Health Eating: Blessing a Meal, Prayer for Trying New Foods, and More.
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