Food-Filled Fridays: The Importance of Nutrition

Well, as I wrote last week, the topic for today is the importance of nutrition in one’s diet.

Before we start talking, I want you to take a look at the following website:  This Is Why You’re Fat

If you’d rather not hit the link, just take a look at the following pictures:

← Want some Whopper dip?

It’s really healthy…made with 3 mashed Whoppers….

…or this? ↓

“A hamburger made out of two square pizzas (pepperoni, olives, mushrooms and bacon) instead of bread, and two Quarter Pounders and Fries instead of meat, with ketchup, mayonnaise and champagne flavored honey mustard.”

and how ’bout this? ←  It’s “from FlipFlops in New Smyrna, FL.  Four half pound patties with potato pancakes, five cheeses, grilled peppers, fried onions, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and a pound of fries for a side.”

As I sit here and look at these, I realize there is no wonder Americans are fat.  There’s no wonder we’re struggling with obesity!

According to Gordon Campbell‘s article “The Obesity Epidemic” in the Huffington Post, “Almost 40% of New York City public school children in kindergarten through eighth grade are overweight or obese. Obesity rates are substantially higher in low-income neighborhoods like Harlem and Corona, Queens where the percentages of obese or overweight children are 48% and 51% respectively.”

What???

Almost 40%?? Up to 51%???  How in the world?!  That makes me sick!

The first time I realized I had a passion regarding this subject was at a local gas station.  I was sitting there in the car while Adam pumped gas, and I noticed a little boy (around 9 years old) getting out of his SUV and walking into the store.  I didn’t notice much about him ’til he walked back out, armed with a liter of Mountain Dew and a full-size bag of chips.  That’s when I realized he was obese.  I was aghast!  What in the world?!  Why did his mother let me get that junk food?!  Then I looked at her and realized he was just following her example.  She was just as unhealthy with her choice of snack as well.

It broke my heart.  This poor boy is not being given a fair chance at a healthy life. He is not being trained correctly.

Let me ask you this: have you ever met a child that will choose to eat healthy and avoid unhealthy food choices on his/her own?  I’m not talking about high schoolers or even junior-highers here.  I’m talking about young kids that avoid sweets and decide to eat vegetables, take their vitamins, and avoid health-damaging menu items.  I know I wasn’t that child.  I wasn’t a big sweets eater, but I would eat a whole bag of chips and dip if given the chance!  I loved my burgers and fries. I adored cheese, pizza, Spaghettios, and canned food.

However, those foods were never part of my life on a regular basis.  I had a mother that was really focused on us kids eating healthy food.

I could sit here and preach you through the “why’s” of eating healthy.  I could shove at you articles like Why Good Nutrient Is Important and What is Nutrition? Why is Good Nutrition Important? However, if you had wanted to know, you would have researched and found them yourself.  Today, I want to appeal to you on the spiritual basis of your body being a temple and our poor treatment of it being what is deemed a “respectable” or acceptable sin.

When we hear about someone else robbing a bank, cheating on their spouse, or lying on their taxes, we Christians are often tempted to shake our heads in sadness.  However, when that person who committed the wrong is a professing Christian, our sadness often turns to disbelief.  When I think about this though, I think about Matthew 7:5, which reads:

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Here I am shaking my head at someone else’s sin yet often, in regards to some areas that are perhaps less obvious and less newsworthy, I can be just as sinful.  Nutrition is one of them.  God does not have a scale for sin.  All sin is sin.  All sin is damaging to His Glory. All sin is a poor witness for Him.

My lack of care for my body through poor nutrition– either through stuffing it with high-calorie, low-nutrition food or through starvation and an imbalance of food nutrients– is sinful because it finds its root in an attitude of selfishness, demonstrates a lack of self-control, and reveals a heart of pride and self-glorification.

Ouch… Are these harsh accusations to be making? Am I being judgmental? I sure am not intending to be judgmental, and as hard as these accusations are, I am more and more fed up by the hypocrisy of Christians (and the hypocrisy in my own life) before the world.  We are called to be different.  We are called to walk in the Truth of the Word, and yet we coddle a variety of sins including gluttony, a lack of discipline, and a lack of self-control, and an overall lack of care for the Temple (our bodies in which Christ dwells).

Let’s remind ourselves of what the Word says about our bodies:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

…Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 10:31 also reads:

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. “

So, how does that affect our day-to-day?  How does this charge to glorify God with what we eat affect our lives?

I challenge you to take some time today to search your heart (as I also will be searching mine) to see how you need to alter some life patterns of not glorifying God with what you eat, how you each, or how much or how little you eat.

With that in mind, what changes will you be making to your diet today?  Will you be more focused on glorifying God with your body and how you fuel it?  Will you think about the nutrient your body needs to function correctly or will you continue to fill it with unhealthy options… or refuse to fill it with what you need to flourish and live a full life glorifying God?

That’s all for now.

Prayerfully considering these truths and praying for you all as you meditate on them as well,

Ashley

**Please note: I am not attacking anyone, nor am I seeking to make anyone who cannot help their weight due to health conditions. I will say that I am an example of someone who’s weight has fluctuated due to health issues, and I know and love others who do as well. I’m not talking about that here.  I just want to tackle the issue of carelessness in this area.**

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Tune in next week for more Food-Filled Fridays!