Before we begin with this week I have to ask how last week went. Was it okay? Did you run into any challenges?
For me I found that thinking about whether I was hungry enough for an apple went a long way towards getting me to think about food in general and what I was consuming. As the mother of a two year old who is home during the day I found I was mindlessly snacking on whatever lay around instead of being intentional with my food. I’m glad I took on the challenge and look forward to a new week.
Before we begin this week I recommend reading Daniel 1.
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You’re heard about the prophet Daniel, right? The guy who survived the lion’s den and have incredible visions. He had a pretty amazing life. One of the things that is kept fairly quiet about Daniel is that he was a very healthy guy. While he was young and in training to enter into the service of the King he made a choice to avoid the assigned rations that the King offered and instead eat a vegetarian diet as a way to ensure he kept his body running pure.
Imagine sitting in a room with twenty other people all eating rich delicious dishes and indulging in all that is available to them. It would have been difficult to choose a separate path. The courage required to refuse the King’s offering and stand separate from those he worked with is incredibly when you think about it. Daniel did not bow to outside pressure. He refused to conform and instead stood firm knowing that the diet he chose would be best for his body.
I think we can all understand a little of what Daniel is going through at this point. In our fast moving world where things have to be accomplished yesterday and food is something that we often buy prepackaged and prepared for us it can be hard to know what we are consuming, it can be hard to keep things pure. When Daniel makes the decision to eat vegetables and water, he’s making a decision to control what goes into his body. He’s making the decision to consume only the food that will benefit him and honor God.
We need to make that decision ourselves. Each item of food that we consume which is prepackaged and prepared for us contains ingredients we cannot see and may not choose to eat if we knew what they were. These foods can make our bodies feel tired and run down. They can prevent us from running at their optimal levels. The food we eat should {like Daniel’s} be whole foods found in nature made to fuel our bodies and keep them running clean. We should be searching for the foods that help us feel our best.
This week our challenge is to avoid as much packaged food as possible and return to food at it’s most pure source. We should be eating whole grains {like oatmeal and brown rice}, beans, vegetables, fruit and minimally processed soy products {if your into that kind of thing}. If you eat meat, you should be eating meat pieces instead of nuggets and fish instead of fish sticks. Let’s strive to run clean and pure like Daniel did.
Food and Faith Challenge:
Michael Pollan says “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants“. Daniel stuck to eating plants. More and more studies are showing the health benefits of eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and grains. This week try to cut back on your meat consumption and consume more plant based foods. If you eat meat 3 times a day scale it back a little. If you can try to throw in a couple of vegetarian meals throughout the week to see how your body reacts to more phytonutrients and fiber {two of the greatest things plants can give you}. Each bite that goes into our mouth is one that fuels our body and helps to keep things running and we all want to feel great, right?
