The Benefits of Healthy Eating: Your Body: God's Temple

I have to admit it.  I never really found much motivation to eat healthy.  Not that I "loved" the way that I looked, but I was comfortable with it.  Lifestyle change (for me) couldn't just be about my looks.

Being a nurse, I do have a little incentive to want to avoid all of the diseases that I see ravage my patients.  But, to some extent, we all kind of live with the notion that "that won't happen to me....."  It wasn't enough of a motivator either.

At some point, my responsibility became to nourish not just myself, but those who were depending on me.  Now nutrition is getting a little more important!  But still, sometimes it is just too easy to give in to the whining in the grocery store cereal isle. Convenience foods are just a way of life.

But then came the real life changer.  The sudden realization that my body being a temple for the Holy Spirit.  Now it really matters!  I am thankful for a God who loves me no matter what, but what a change it can make to view nutrition and exercise as worship.  Don't get me wrong, I don't worship exercise or food.  But worship is something that is weaved into the fiber of our being.  We worship God in our words, our song, in our work, and in the way that we care for the temple that He has given us.  There are so many things we do that could be viewed as unpleasant: dishes, laundry, scrubbing toilets, going to work....but if we could view ourselves as worshiping God with our every breath, every action, it makes it so much easier to say no to the things that are harmful.

As in anything, I am thankful for God's grace.  He knows we are going to fall.  And I do believe that He meant for us to enjoy eating.  There are so many illustrations in the Bible that use feasts and suppers. I also think it is unhealthy to get so wrapped up in the idea of what is healthy and what is not that we are consumed by it.  I have been learning and making changes a little at a time so it won't be so overwhelming for my family and I.

There has been one common sense principle throughout all of this that is a common thread:  God's way is better. 

We have developed so many ways to process food to make it cheaper, somewhat safer, and in the meantime, we have altered what He has given us to the extent that it is no longer good for us.  We don't want to work for or pay for good nutritious food.  I chalk much of that up to our busy culture, and the fact that the majority of us do not own milk cows, chickens, cattle...etc..I know it is impossible for everyone to do this.  There are ways to obtain fresh grass-fed meats, organic vegetables, fresh whole milks and cheeses....but they are expensive and in some cases illegal thanks to the FDA.  And we are all about cutting costs.  I am suggesting (and this is just my opinion) that there are better and healthier ways to cut cost from your budgets. 

For a little levity, enjoy this video from comedian Tim Hawkins.  I think it just might speak volumes  :)