Free to Eat

Yeah… right…duh… Joyce did it again! She got my hopes up and then wham ~ reality!  Let's look at the scripture...

You may freely eat of every tree in the garden. Genesis 2:16

What was God  saying and what was Joyce Meyer echoing back in part, “We are free to eat.”   If you never thought of that before then think it, because however crazy it sounds, it’s really true. We are free to eat!  Every bite we take is a free choice, right? Right!

  

What are the results of freely eating? All we need to do is take a look at our physical selves and examine how we really feel. Maybe we look okay, but do we have stamina to make it through another day, hour, or even minute?

  

Think of all the different diets most of us have tried in our lifetime. We placed restrictions on ourselves that were not healthy. But, the claims all said these diets and products were healthy.  Did we have ticklish ears?  Did we want to believe in a counterfiet miracle?  Research after the fact of poor diets and dieter’s symptoms including sickness and sometimes even death were some of the results.  Many of the dieting supplements or dieting with severe restrictions of essential elements wrecked our bodies. The flip side of all that dieting abuse for most of us was as soon as we took away the products, we ballooned up bigger than what we were when we first began. Most of the time we were even much weaker than before starting those programs.

Oh my, what abuses we were committing, when all we really needed to do was pay attention to what foods God gave us naturally and limit the consumption. Better yet, we could have eaten freely of the foods God gave us and made sure we were active enough to be healthy. In other words God didn’t make us to be sedentary. After all the first exercise mentioned was Adam walking in the garden with God! What a cool thought that is! So it stands to reason that our unused body parts will eventually waste away. It’s called muscle atrophy. Once this process starts, it’s very difficult to reverse.  (I'm not sure we can reverse it entirely. I know first hand what wasted muscle mass is and I’m trying to reverse it right now! I don’t have near the strength in my arms and legs that I once had and it is from years of inactivity.)

I just reverted back to last week.  Exercise was my last blog topic, but this week it's balanced eating... so...

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t ever eat food combinations with enhancements or never have a luscious dessert or drizzle chocolate or have whipped cream over strawberries, etc. But, God constructed our bodies to be like living machines. We can’t operate unless we feed upon essential nutrients from the natural foods that God gave us. Have you ever seen a donut tree? Do you pick candy from a vine? Do we dig up baklava out back in the dirt?  Are processed vitamins growing on bushes?  I don’t think so…

Joyce gave many examples of abusive dieting practices in her book, Look Great, Feel Great chapter: Balanced Eating.   She spoke extensively of fats, foods that were considered bad years ago, proteins and cholesterol.  It is well worth a few moments to read her inspired words. What else did she say? Balance is the key!

We might know that we are supposed to eat more fruits and veggies but we aren’t doing it. We might know that whole grains are much better for our bodies but we aren’t eating them. We might know all the nutrition answers so that we can pass an exam if asked the questions, but we much apply this knowledge to ourselves in order to become strong and useful for the LORD’s work and His ultimate glory!

Think on this story from the first chapter of Daniel.

• But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.
• Now God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for Daniel. But he responded, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has ordered that you eat this food and wine. If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am afraid the king will have me beheaded.”
• Daniel spoke with the attendant who had been appointed by the chief of staff to look after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. “Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said. “At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king’s food. Then make your decision in light of what you see.” The attendant agreed to Daniel’s suggestion and tested them for ten days.
• At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king.  So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the food and wine provided for the others.

Don't go crazy here and think that you have to eat only veggies!  It's a story!  It's a story to bring understanding to the complexity of eating right.  There were other cultural factors within this biblical story but that is an entirely different subject matter. 

Isn't it interesting how food can be compared to the various instructions that we receive whether they are good or bad for us.  Some of it is digested for our good use, some of it is stored and some of it simply goes out as waste. 

Then let's clear our thinking. 

Stop! We just need to stop! We need to stop thinking of food as just food. Stop thinking that yummy, gooey, empty fat producing calories is the only thing in life to enjoy. Stop stuffing our faces!

Start! We just need to start! We need to start putting into practice the marvelous things that we already know. Start reading up on more health wise things we aren’t quite sure of. Start taking responsibility for all that we have put ourselves through and make the changes necessary for a higher quality of life.

I'm ready...  are you ready?

Good Health Blessing

God fills our cup of life each day with gifts that make us strong,

He hears the prayers within our hearts and always rights each wrong.

God fills our cup of life each day and brings us to His door

To shine His gift of perfect health and fill our cups once more.

May the cup of God's blessing and His presence too

Bring the gift of good health to shine on you. ~ Patricia Ann Emme ~