Nutrition

NUTRITION

I was asked a few weeks ago to speak on nutrition at church. Now I know what you are thinking, “Here we go again another talk about fruits and vegetables”. Well stick with me here because my take on it is a little different. It gave me the opportunity to organize my thoughts and review my life in regards to what worked and what didn’t when it comes to health.

We have a relationship and addiction to food. Most of us even have had or are currently having an affair with food. I am talking about the emotional connection we create with food. Our affair with food is very similar to a sexual affair. We lie to others and ourselves about what we eat and how much we eat. We hide from our spouse or children food that we want to eat for just our self. We feel guilty when we overindulge. We plan and dream about how good something is going to taste. Food is pleasurable and a reward for a myriad of life situations. Our relationship with food can be summarized as lying, hiding, guilt, pleasure, dreaming and fantasizing. This also doesn’t even address the issues of cost, timing or availability, but you get my point. Generally we have become an obese nation of people living to eat.

What will it take to become a nation of folks who just eat to live? First we have to break the emotional connection we have with food. This is why all diets do not work. They do not address this relationship. Reward yourself with anything besides food. Exercise, sports, hunting, shopping, sex are all better choices for rewards than eating. We must realize that it is a matter of life and death and disease. Eating to live is a choice, a lifestyle. Our health is not the responsibility of the medical community or insurance or some government program. WE are responsible for our HEALTH and until we end our affair with food it will be a fleeting goal.

The Bible says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are to honor God with our body. You’re not going to want to read the next questions. But if it makes you change your lifestyle, so be it. Do we honor God when we go through the drive thru? Do we honor God when we go to the all you can eat buffet? Do we honor God when we go to the local tavern and drink a gallon of alcohol? My point is simply we treat our animals BETTER than this priceless gift God has given us called our BODY.

The first rule of life is that we are GIVEN a body for our journey. Love it, hate it, it’s the only body we will ever get here. Cherie-Carter Scott has a great book about this called, “If life is a game, these are the rules,” which addresses this issue in detail. Check it out, you can read it in a week or less.

In closing, the first step to a healthier, nutritious life is ending your affair with food. It’s a choice and a decision to be healthy. One that I wish I had made 30 years earlier.

God Bless,

Art