When you know better, you will do better! – Week 4
This is the final week of the blog series on food, exercise and health. Thank you for reading my health journey! My hope and prayer for all who read this series is that your physical health becomes a priority! Enjoy the info and always honor God with your body.
Food…we all need it along with water to live!! I am very passionate about what food I eat and how I hydrate my body! Guess what…so is my husband Todd. It took us many years to understand what the world was throwing at us about food. “They” told us not to eat fat, then “they” told us to eat low fat! Then “they” said go ahead and eat fat but don’t eat carbs! So… no bread, rice, potatoes or fruit! Then “they” told us to eat high protein only with certain fats – very low glycemic and basically no carbs. It was a crazy roller coaster of “WAYS TO EAT!” We did follow many of these ways to eat that “they” – our society was telling us!!
After many years of study, research and practice – we discovered that we need to eat whole clean foods that the land provides. Plant based eating. This is a very simple approach to a food lifestyle. When you know better, you will do better!
In the Bible Daniel asks the attendant taking care of him and his friends the following…
“Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water. At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the King’s food.” Daniel 1:12
We are not sure what the King’s food was, but Daniel did not want to eat it. Most likely it was pork, and this was forbidden by Jewish law or Daniel did not want to take any gifts or favors from the King. Daniel was captive in Babylon and that culture did not like or honor our God. What a lesson for us to learn, Daniel still obeyed and honored God even though it was not popular with the culture. How awesome is this!!
I mention this scripture because there is not much scripture in the Bible about eating healthy. From what I researched, most people ate off the land in the Biblical times. Gluttony was for the rich mostly and was tied with drunkenness in the OT. But I do believe that Daniel was honoring God by putting vegetables and water in his body. This did keep him healthy and strong to do God’s will and work. Daniel was faithful to God, he had a plan and he stuck with it! We need to have a plan also!!
What do you eat daily? Think about it… Do you eat breakfast? Do you pack your lunch to take to work? Do you cook dinner and eat at home every night? Are you drinking soda, and yes diet soda is worse than soda! Do you go to the grocery store weekly? Do you end up throwing out veggies that go bad in the fridge because you did not cook them?
Todd and I really try to eat real food, we are not even close to perfect but we are progressively active with our food lifestyle. As I was preparing this blog I really wanted the readers to know we do have days of eating junk (some really bad ones) but our focus and belief is on healthy food. We try to get back on track as fast as we can! We don’t diet anymore – thank goodness!!! We aim for health and our attitudes are in favor for health. We have done some fasting and have learned to really appreciate food. We both want to honor God with how we treat our bodies and what we feed our bodies. When you know better, you will do better!
We have learned to eat foods that have nutritional value and agree with our bodies. We eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts. We avoid dairy, meat, eggs and most processed foods, and soy. We have found that these items do not make us feel good when we eat them. Again, we are not perfect and eat these items sometimes and just deal with the discomfort. 😌
Grocery shopping – when shopping at the grocery store, we stay on the outer perimeter within the store. The food on the outer perimeter is usually fresh and real. We do try to buy organic and GMO free foods, but sometimes our budget does not allow it or the store does not have it. We do go down some isles to get canned organic beans, canned tomatoes, oatmeal, olive oil, rice, quinoa, coffee, nuts, olives and 85% dark chocolate. But the majority of our cart is vegetables, fruit and nuts. We do have a plan when we hit the grocery store and we try not to impulse buy – it helps when Todd is with me to make me stick to our list. Lol! Tip: Don’t go to the grocery store hungry!!
Aldi’s and Food Lion are great places to shop. We can get several organic fruits and vegetables very reasonably priced. At Aldi’s some of their nuts are dry roasted without oil and very inexpensive. Please learn to read labels. Do not trust what is on the front of the box, “they” want and will trick you! When you know better, you will do better!
We do meal prep most weekends. Some weekends we do not feel like doing this – trust me – but we really make an effort! After church on Sunday, we go to the store, clean and cut up all the fruits and veggies, make some rice, sweet potatoes, overnight oats, and quinoa – we have our basics prepared for the week. Then… when our week gets super busy, because it will, we have food to warm up or to add to meals if we do have time to cook. YES – it does take time to prep your food! But… it is a great time to catch up on your week with your hubby and spend some quality time together. Facts – it takes about an hour or less at the store and 3 hours to prep. But… it keeps us out of the fast food drive throughs and eating all the nastiness they put in the processed food they are serving you. Yes…even Chick-Fil-A is fast food my friends!! When you know better, you will do better!
We also save money! If Todd and I go to dinner at a local restaurant, it will be at least $30 out the door. Plus they usually use the cheapest ingredients possible to prepare your food. I am not saying we never go out to eat, but we try to eat at home most of the time. Also, make your OWN coffee in the AM, we make organic coffee and save so much money staying out of the coffee shops!!
BLOG ALERT!!! I am not a nutritionist. What I am sharing is my personal experience about what we eat – please study, research, and figure out your way!! We honestly want to honor God with our bodies, eating healthy clean good food is ONE way we do this.
Food for thought… Mia Angelo, a Christian writer and poet said, “when you know better, you will do better.” I have been saying this all through this blog. This was a saying I said for many years before I became a Christian. To my joyful surprise, as I was preparing for a retreat talk a few years ago, I found that this saying is a summary of Ephesians 4:21-22!
“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.”
WOW, WOW, WOW!!! This scripture has so much meaning in my life before I was a Christian and as a Christian. My good friend Terri Broome always says when we hear and learn truth, we can’t un-hear or unlearn truth. I agree with Terri and this scripture sums it up! I am so thankful for His grace and His gift. God is so good!
When we know better, we will do better!
Have a safe and healthy 2020 both spiritually and physically!
Love you all,
Lisa
#rooted
#honorGodwithyourbody
