“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.”

Mark Twain

Religious people love to blame people who smoke, drink or do drugs. Yet they have zero issues with gluttony. Take a look around, a majority of preachers on television and most churches are overweight or obese. It seems gluttony is the last acceptable sin committed with no shame by those who love to point fingers at smokers or drinkers.

I am by no means advocating smoking or heavy drink – I used to engage in both – my point is what we eat can be as, if not more detrimental than smoking or drinking too much.

A good friend of mine, Martha, has been trying to have a baby for over ten years without success. After five rounds of unsuccessful in vitro fertilization and a twenty-pound weight gain, she finally decided maybe having a baby was not in the cards for her.

Then the unexpected happened. Through her job, she met a young pregnant lady who, unable to keep her baby, wanted to put him up for adoption. The day she and her husband brought home their baby was the happiest of their lives together.

When I finally met baby David, he was a month old. Martha talked me to death about the joys and challenges of motherhood. She was quite happy being a new mom. Her biggest challenge so far was David was sleeping all day and not much at night and “oh, he was struggling to have a bowel movement so the doctor changed his formula,” she said casually.

I watched as she pulled out the container of baby formula, mixed it with water and fed baby David. He ate a couple ounces of the stuff then began to twist and turn. His stomach seemed to grow larger. The look on his face communicated unease. Burping him didn’t ease his anguish. It was clear David was not enjoying his meal.

“Why don’t you try something organic?” I offered.

“My husband would kill me,” she said with concern on her face, “he only wants to do what the doctor says.”

After a few moments discussing the possible benefits of something “more natural” for David she reluctantly agreed to at least look into it.

I tell this story because of the massive confusion that exist on the proper way to eat, the proper care and feeding of our bodies. Believers seem to be the least educated about the effects nutrition has on their lives and especially their relationship with God. Yes, that’s right, what you eat affects not only your life, but the lives of those around you and most importantly your relationship with the Almighty.

The man who built his house on sand.

“’But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.’”
Matthew 7:26-27 (NIV)

What we eat has a huge impact on our health. If good health is the basis of a prosperous life, then nutrition is the foundation of good health. I often tell my patients and clients there is nothing that circumvent chronic poor nutrition. What goes into your mouth does matter when it comes to your health.

That’s because how our body functions are greatly dependent on what we put in it. If we constantly garbage in, we must expect garbage out. Just as you would not put diesel in a car that requires gas to properly run without damaging the motor, so you destroy your body by feeding it the wrong fuel. That is like building a house on sand; when sickness and diseases come, your body will not be able to fight them off because you did not prepare it for that.

What does it mean the body is the temple of God?

There are those who wrongly interpret what Jesus meant when he said it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person but rather what comes out of it.

The Original Diet: how to eat fos

“’Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.’” Matthew 7:24-25 (NIV)