He Cares About Our Health

My family has been health conscious for as long as I can remember. Every month when I was a little kid, I remember co-op day. Several mothers would get together to distribute bulk organic items they had ordered as a group. I remember our incredible delight, when my siblings and I opened the boxes to find that Mum had ordered organic sodas, cheese puffs or chocolate sandwich cookies on occasion. We were pretty "healthy" back then. Mum really limited the amount of sugar we were taking in, made baked goods from whole wheat that we had ground ourselves, and made sure we drank plenty of water. But, as the years went by, the co-op group dispersed and we fell into a pattern of buying groceries with an attitude geared more towards convenience than health. It was just easier to buy everything at Wal-Mart for a good price. But easier is seldom better. Anything worth having is usually worth working hard for. And keeping the temple that the Lord has made us stewards of nourished and strengthened is definitely something worth working hard for. I have been very convicted about this lately. I want to be healthy, truly healthy, and not just for the physical benefits, but to please my Lord. He is the One who created my body, and the food that will nourish it. He has given me a mind, and He wants me to use it to discover the best ways to please Him through my eating. I want to hunger for good, wholesome food as much as I have for the artificial junk in the past. But, more than anything else, I want to hunger more and more every day for Him.

Here are some guidelines I am going to try to go by (and hopefully get the family to implement as well):

1) No dairy products with added hormones or chemicals

2) Organic produce as much as possible

3) No refined sugar

4) No bleached/enriched flour

5) Grow/Make as much of my own food as possible

6) Support my local Farmer's Market

7) Eat way more vegetables

8) Drink water

I recently went on an eight week fast from refined sugar and wheat products. It was amazing. I had more energy, and had more peace of mind over what I was putting in my body that ever before. I broke my fast for my birthday, and completely blew it. I was half afraid that I wouldn't like sugar anymore, and half hoping that that would be the case. It wasn't. I still love the taste of sugar, but I don't love the feeling it now causes me. I was sick to my stomach and felt depleted after eating it. So, it was kind of nice while it lasted, but I am getting back to my honey/maple syrup sweetened life now. I'm not going to avoid wheat as much as I was before, but I do want to cut back on it. I'm still going to make my cauliflower crust pizza and spaghetti squash, but I will have a whole wheat muffin every now and then.

Have any of you been convicted about your health lately?