Breaking the Stronghold of Food: How We Conquered Food Addictions and Discovered a New Way of Living

Wonderful book about our health from a biblical world view. There are close to no books that address food addiction and sin. I have really been searching for this for a long time and have prayed about my gluttony and feeling quite hopeless about it. God put a podcast of Michael Brown in my path (I had never heard of him) and God has been so faithful putting many things in my path since 🙏 Michael Brown wrote this book with his wife and I found it very helpful because I related a lot to her struggles and it gave me hope to see how God delivered both of them. There is so much wisdom in this book and they make many great suggestions and encourage a plant based lifestyle but do not push or endorse any type of products. Your health is between you and the Lord!

I didn’t like all the repetition at first. However, it was obvious in helping to understand the depth of Michael’s and Nancy’s relationship to food.I’d recommend this book to anyone who wants to CHANGE the trajectory of the impact that today’s food industry has on their health.I rated it a five due to its impact on my husband’s and my health. They legitimately described so many people’s lives today.

Excellent read! I’m not normally a reader and I finished the book within a week. Dr. Brown and his wife captured every emotion and magnificently penned them. Thank you!

I appreciate all the good health advice. It's a lot of reading and information one might already know. I'm impressed that Michael Brown has a personal trainer and does such intense workouts at his age! Kudos! The author inspired me to eat more vegetables. I've decided to try to eat a salad every day just as he eats a huge salad every night.

Let me be clear right at the start. I do not have this struggle. If it were possible to have all my meals in a pill form suddenly with some futuristic technology and still get all the nutrients and avoid hunger, I would have no problem with it. In my more literalist days, I could not get excited about the end of the age because people would talk about the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and I figured I'd just sit in a corner somewhere waiting until the meal was done. You can tell this looking at me. I weigh about 120 pounds and I'm a 5'7" guy.My diet, however, does not consist of a lot of junk. I do eat seafood and if I snack, I prefer things like granola bars and crackers and such. If we go out to eat, I would prefer to go to Smoothie King or Subway over a pizza place. I do have a fondness for something with peanut butter, but I do not have a food addiction at all. Why would I read this book then?Because my wife does and I think part of being a good husband is understanding your wife.Dr. Brown and his wife both struggled with a food addiction and they had to make a radical change. Dr. Brown writes about how this is also a spiritual struggle and for many people, yes, a sin struggle. It is mistreating the temple that one has been given and cutting their life short and robbing their loved ones of time with them for the sake of food. Dr. Brown is sympathetic in the book as is his wife, but he also just tells it like it is.He's also not preaching from Sinai. He tells about how he was one who struggled with this problem immensely. For him and his wife, much of what they did revolved around food. By removing the addiction to food, their whole lives became immensely better.It wasn't an easy struggle. Dr. Brown before he became a Christian was a heroin addict and once he gave his life to Christ, he went cold turkey entirely and is free. For him, giving up chocolates was harder than giving up heroin. He had to learn to change his palate radically and could not allow himself to cheat at all. Exercise was a part of it, but the biggest change was the change of diet.Dr. Brown walks through how we tolerate often overeating, but we treat it differently from any other wrong. Who of us would say a little bit of pornography is no big deal? Who would say that a little bit of cheating on your wife is nothing major and hey, we all do it? Yet when it comes to food, we let all that fly out the window. Most of us don't eat because we're hungry, but because we want something else and we even have our bodies tricking us into thinking we're hungry when we're really not.It also taught me that I need to be praying for my own wife in this. Granted for me, this is a challenge. I can spend a lot of time doing study and such, but prayer is hard since that's a more relational act. Still, the idea was gripping and I hope that one day, my Princess will be free of the stronghold. I think she will be immensely healthier and happier and it will be better for the two of us.Throughout the book, Nancy throws in her own helpful tips. One particular funny one is about how Dr. Brown saw an infomercial about another miracle weight loss product and was so excited. He really wanted to order it the next day and lose all their pounds. Nancy's comment there begins by pointing out that this man actually has a Ph.D.! Yes. Sometimes Ph.D. can stand for phenomenally dumb. Even smart people, and Dr. Brown is certainly one, can fall for gimmicks like this. For him, there is no gimmick and the same goes for Nancy. There are no shortcuts on the way to success and there is no quarter with the enemy.I do not struggle with this. Still, if you do or know someone who does, go through this book to open you up. I could read all about doughnuts and pizza and ice cream, which I can enjoy, and sleep peacefully not worried about temptation. (My wife says that the old adage of the way to a man's heart being through his stomach would never have worked for me.) Dr. Brown's book is less about diet and exercise I think than a look at the spiritual struggle with questions at the end of each chapter to make you think about the struggle more.In Christ,Nick PetersDeeper Waters Apologetics

I liked everything in this book

This book really helped me to recommit to eating healthy and losing weight as a lifetime endeavor and not just a quick diet. And it helped me to understand that over eating or eating badly is a sin and not just a problem we have. However, unless you were in the situation that the Browns were in where they were simply eating horribly, The diet they recommend may not be the best. Half of the book is really devoted to telling us how much they like Dr Furhman’s take on eating which I don’t think is as proven as they say. I think something like the Mediterranean diet is a much better way to eat than what the Browns decided to do. I also don’t think you have to give up foods for life although this may be the fact for some people like the Browns. I was disappointed that they didn’t offer more to eat than just Dr. Furhman’s and seemed to think this was the proven best eating plan. Read it for the motivation not for the eating recommendations.

This book is fantastic I really like the author, and his wife's input. I can totally align exactly with what she says it's been very helpful for me in seeking God's will for my life and my health. I highly recommend it if you have food addictions or any kind of issues with food. This book is fantastic

I thought the authors did a really good job, providing detailed information, examples of success stories, and directions for how to help yourself as well as references for deeper dives. I appreciate the biblical perspective as well.

This book is hard to put down. I like the way that the authors relate to themselves and to me. I understand completely what they’re trying to say. As a Christian I see the stronghold and the pain it causes, so the way they both deal with the addictions to food is very inspiring. I would highly recommend this book.

I just loved the bookThe book of Gods principles for healthy living...

A really nice book but a bit boring sometimes. I've found it to be a little bit too repetitive for my tastes, I think it could have been written in half the pages and be just as good. I would have also tried to incorporate more biblical linking, since that seems to be the strength of the author and he can provide very useful spiritual insights and teachings.

Really got into the real problems behind our unhealthy eating habits. Dealt in a biblically based manner. Would be recommend.