Unhealthy Food & "Processed" Gospels

My son is getting married this fall, and the thought of what I will look like in the photos frightens me.  I've gained a lot of weight in the past 10 years, and it's embarrassing.  My knee is falling apart, I have constant back pain, and looking in the mirror, quite frankly, disappoints me every single day. It is a constant reminder of my failure at commitment to stick to a diet, to an exercise program, and to a new healthy way of living.  And the honest to God truth is, I'm lazy.  

It's been below zero for the past several months, and it takes too much effort to clean off the car, treck out into the snow and zero degrees to the gym for a swim, and it's much more comfortable cuddled on the couch watching my favorite TV shows.  

I'm a nurse, and I see the results of an unhealthy lifestyle every single time I go to work.  So "I didn't know" is not an excuse for me.  I stare at my Irish dance shoes, wishing I could put them back on, remembering when I could get through a two-hour intense aerobic dance lesson a couple of times a week, and competing against girls half my age (and winning)!  I'll never wear those shoes again, and only another Irish dancer understands the heartache of not being able to pound out one more treble reel on a good old hard wood floor.  Those days are over.  

But, thankfully, I can start all over.  In fact, I can start all over every single day.  I may not ever Irish dance (standing up) again, but like my Dad, my feet have never seemed to stop moving.  There are "eternal jigs and reels" running through my veins, and my feet are never still, even when sitting. And I can purchase different food, cook new meals, join a Weight Watcher support group, get more active (snow, snow, go away!), and develop a new healthy lifestyle.  It truly is, never too late.

So this morning, I made the first step.  I asked the expert some simple questions on where to start with developing a healthier lifestyle.  Yup, you guessed it - Google!  And here are some things that I read:

1) Eat whole foods, which have not been tampered with.  They should be straight from the farm - whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, grass-fed and free-range meats, low fat dairy products, nuts and seeds without added salts.

(Right about at this point, a light bulb went off.  I KNOW how to do this.)

2) Refined sugar provides nothing but calories.  Just stick to the good, healthy foods, because refined sugar really has very little place in the eating clean plan.

3) Eat smaller meals throughout the day to rev up your metabolism and reduce the chance of eating something unhealthy.  You will never get hungry on this plan, or feel deprived with the need to eat something unhealthy.

4) Avoid processed foods:  Processed foods have a label, which means that there is more than one ingredient used to make that food.  Avoid putting these in your shopping basket.

WARNING!  WARNING!   Rabbit Trail .................

1) Eat whole foods, which have not been tampered with?  Sounds a lot to me like Proverbs 30:5-6, "Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.  Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar."

2) Refined sugar really has very little place in the eating clean plan?  Sounds a lot like 2 Timothy 4:3-4, "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suite their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

3) Eat smaller meals throughout the day, so you will never go hungry or feel deprived, or want to eat something unhealthy?  Reminds me of Psalm 44:8, "In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever."

4) Avoid processed foods.  They have more than one ingredient used to make it.  Avoid even putting it in your shopping basket.  Titus 2:1 says, "You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine."    Hebrews 13:9 says, "Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings."

Years ago, I began to pray that the Lord would never, ever let me be deceived, that truth and lie would be so black and white obvious, that it would be undeniable to me.  He has been so faithful with me in doing so.  Sooo faithful.  So today, understanding my hunger to know the Truth about Christ and to only follow sound doctrine, He knew exactly how I would understand it, and He used His Word to teach me.  (Truly, an "I could've had a V8!" moment).

My health and my being overweight is a direct result of what I have allowed to go into my body, and also the lack of discipline in exercise.  

Our spiritual health (or lack of spiritual "healthiness"), is also a direct result of what we have allowed ourselves to ingest, and the lack of discipline in feeding ourselves ONLY Truth.  

But guess what!  I can start a diet over and over and over.  And we can begin seeking Truth and forgiveness every day too, because His mercies are new - every single day!

The Bible tells us over and over that we are to feed ourselves from His Word.  

Matthew 4:4 says, "It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."

Are you saved?  Have you been born again?  If you have, then you should have a hunger for God's Word and His Truth like you have never, ever had before.  That's what happens!  Just like Jeremiah 15:16 says, "When I discovered your words, I DEVOURED them.  They are my joy and my heart's DELIGHT, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven's armies."

And if you are delighting yourself in God's Word, are you rejecting the "processed foods?"  The false gospels, the half-truth gospels, or are you nibbling on them just because they "taste good?"   God did give us a warning label!  (His Word!)  He said to rebuke doctrine that was not sound.

2 John 1:10-11 says, "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them.  Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work."

I'm so thankful today for my relationship with the Lord.  He knows me so well, that He knew exactly how to customize exactly how to teach me something.

So my commitment as March comes to an end, is to chase health with the same speed at which I currently chase Truth.  I've got friends who are already running alongside of me chasing Truth.  I'm asking each of you to cheer me on as I begin chasing health (yes, AGAIN!)

But I am also challenging YOU, to be courageous enough to seek the Truth!  and seek it despite the cost.  Yes, despite the cost!

See you at the finish line.