Good morning! Happy Saturday! I hope you are all doing well. I had oral surgery this week, having bone grafting done between 4 of my teeth, so it has been a week of ups and down. Happily, yesterday, I felt great just in time for our Homecoming. So, Andrew and I enjoyed our town, the parade and the game last night. What a great day to be an Eagle, and make me really thankful I am back home. We live 2 blocks from the high school; where I attended and Robert attended, so we were able to walk to the game last night. We would have walked to the parade but I knew I wanted to look for some things at Rauch's jewelry and gift shop and didn't want to have to carry it home on foot, and of course, I found what I was looking for. :-).
Anyway, I have decided to do another 4 part series. This time, looking at what the Bible says about certain areas of our lives. We are going to talk about Nutrition, Fitness, Finances and our Faith. So, let's get started!
3 Things the Bible Says About Nutrition
When we think about what the Bible teaches us, nutrition probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind. The Bible doesn't tell us how many calories to eat, give us protein goals, tell us how many carbs we should have, or hand us the perfect meal plan.
But it DOES have quite a bit to say about food, self-control and how we care for the bodies God has given us. And as I've been learning more about nutrition, I've realized that taking care of our bodies doesn't have to be about vanity or trying to look a certain way. It can be part of being a good steward of what God has entrusted to us.
Here are three things the Bible says about nutrition that have really stood out to me.
1. Food is a gift from God, not the enemy.
“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.”
1 Timothy 4:4
This is one I am having to relearn myself. For years, I made carbohydrates a royal enemy. If I was trying to lose weight, carbs were one of the first things I thought I needed to get rid of.
Through my nutrition classes, though, I'm learning that carbs have a purpose. They are one of our body's primary sources of energy, and when we're physically active, they help fuel our workouts and replenish the glycogen our muscles use for energy. With as much as I work out now, I'm realizing that by trying so hard to avoid carbs, I may actually have been making it harder for my body to perform, recover and build the strength I'm working for.
That doesn't mean I've decided all carbs are created equal. There is a big nutritional difference between getting our carbs from whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables and getting most of them from highly processed foods and added sugars. I still want to lean into the foods that give my body the most nutrition.
But I'm having to rebuild my relationship with carbs and stop treating an entire nutrient as though it were the enemy.
Protein has a purpose. Fat has a purpose. Carbohydrates have a purpose. God designed our bodies to need nourishment, and learning how to provide that nourishment wisely is part of taking care of what He has given us.
Maybe healthy nutrition isn't about being afraid of food. Maybe it's about learning to understand it.
2. Food shouldn't control us.
“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient... I will not be brought under the power of any.”
1 Corinthians 6:12
Oh, this one hits home.
I can remember plenty of bad days when the peanut butter jar was one of the first places I turned. And if there happened to be chocolate chips in the house that I could throw into the peanut butter while I ate it straight out of the jar, all the better.
I wasn't hungry. I was escaping.
Maybe I'd had a bad day. Maybe the budget was too tight. Maybe there were too many things running through my mind and I just wanted them all to be quiet for a little while. I think part of it was that I wanted something I could control. I had food. I could choose to eat it. And for those few minutes, it made me feel better.
Then 6:00 the next morning would come. I'd step on the scale, and when yesterday's 339 had become 341, I'd cry.
What I didn't understand then was that the food I was turning to because I wanted some sense of control was actually controlling me more than the things I was trying to escape from.
Food isn't bad. Peanut butter isn't bad. Chocolate chips aren't bad. But when I'm using food to numb something, escape something, reward myself, punish myself or give myself a temporary feeling of control, I need to ask a different question.
Why am I eating it?
Am I hungry? Am I nourishing my body? Am I simply enjoying something I like? Or am I asking food to fix something food was never capable of fixing?
One of the biggest things I've learned on this journey is that when what I'm really hungry for is relief, peace, comfort or reassurance, I need to take that need to Jesus instead of taking it to food.
Food could distract me from a problem for a few minutes, but it couldn't change the problem. It couldn't give me wisdom about what to do next, and it couldn't give me peace about the things I couldn't control.
Jesus can.
When I'm overwhelmed, I can pray about what's overwhelming me. When I'm worried about something I can't control, I can give it to Him. When my mind is racing, I can get into His Word instead of getting into the refrigerator.
Does that mean I've never emotionally eaten again? Absolutely not. This is a journey, not a switch that magically flipped one day. But I'm much more likely now to stop and ask, “Am I actually hungry, or am I trying to feed something that food can't satisfy?”
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
1 Peter 5:7
Self-control doesn't mean I can never eat the peanut butter or chocolate chips. It means they don't get to be in control anymore. There are some burdens that were never meant to be carried to the refrigerator. They were meant to be carried to Jesus.
3. Even eating can be an act of worship.
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
I love the days when I can get to the end of the day and truly feel like I can say, “I glorified God with my actions today.”
I've come to realize that includes what I ate. Not because God is keeping a tally of how many vegetables I ate or whether I passed up dessert, and certainly not because eating well guarantees us a long life. But when I know I've been a good steward of the body God gave me, there is something about that that makes me feel closer to Him.
Maybe part of the reason I feel so strongly about this is because I had some incredible examples. My grandmothers lived to be 88 and 102, and both died of natural causes.
And then there was my mom.
Mom was 86 when we lost her in the accident. She had lived with Type 1 diabetes since she was four years old. Yet she had taken such good care of herself throughout her life that doctors were often amazed when they learned how long she had been diabetic. At 86, she was still going strong, and I truly believe that had the accident not happened, we very well could have had her with us for several more years.
Taking care of herself mattered to Mom. Her independence was incredibly important to her, and she knew that taking care of her body gave her the best opportunity to remain independent for as long as possible.
But honoring God mattered to her, too.
She did that in the way she lived her life, right down to the way she cared for the body He had given her. When her doctors told her something wasn't good for her particular body, she listened. She treated that knowledge almost as though God Himself had whispered, “This isn't good for the body I've entrusted to you.”
And she obeyed.
The older I get, the more I understand that.
Our bodies aren't all the same. What works well for one person may not be what another person's body needs. Part of good stewardship is learning about the body we've actually been given and then doing our best to care for it.
For me, nutrition is becoming less about asking, “Will this make me gain weight?” and more about asking, “Is this helping me take care of the body God entrusted to me?”
I don't want to take care of myself simply because I want to live to 88, 102 or any particular age. None of us has been promised a certain number of years.
I want to take care of myself because I want to be able to use whatever years God does give me. I want the energy to serve Him, the strength to serve other people and the ability to remain capable and independent for as long as I can.
And at the end of as many days as possible, I want to be able to lay my head down and say, “Lord, I did my best to be a good steward of what You gave me today.”
Sometimes worship looks like singing a hymn. Sometimes it looks like serving someone else. Sometimes it looks like opening our Bible.
And sometimes, I think, worship can look as ordinary as taking care of the body God gave us.
THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE
This week, before you eat, take just a second to check in with yourself.
Ask yourself:
Why am I eating this?
Am I hungry?
Am I fueling my body?
Am I choosing something my body needs?
Am I simply enjoying a food I love?
Or am I trying to feed a worry, hurt, stress or emotion that really needs to be taken somewhere else?
And then ask one more question:
“Am I being a good steward of the body God gave me?”
Sometimes good stewardship might mean choosing the vegetables.
Sometimes it might mean realizing your body needs some carbohydrates.
Sometimes it might mean enjoying dessert with your family without an ounce of guilt.
And sometimes it might mean putting the peanut butter jar back in the cabinet and taking whatever is really bothering you to Jesus.
This isn't about perfect eating. I don't think that's what God is asking of us.
It's about learning. It's about self-control. It's about gratitude. And it's about doing our best to be faithful with what we've been given.
Food is a gift. Our bodies are a gift. Let's treat them both that way.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
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