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 6:19-20 ESV
Do you eat to be healthy, or just full? Do you live to eat or eat to live?
In my last few blogs, I have veered off from my usual posts about prayer and other inspirations because I felt compelled to talk about today’s foods (my health testimony is in my first food blog, Don’t Give Us This Daily Bread, 1/20/17).
After all, we pray for our daily bread, and we often pray for our food to bless our bodies. But our bread is not the bread it used to be and our modern foods do more to mess our bodies than bless our bodies (see Bless This Food to Our Body, 2/3/17).
My dear father recently passed away at age 95. You might say, “Wow, he must have been healthy.” Yes, in many ways he was. For much of my parents’ lives, organic was the only option. But in more recent years they, my dad especially, have eaten more of our modern-day foods.
In addition to a modern diet, my dad was given a statin drug for lowering cholesterol (the most widely prescribed medications in the world – a goldmine for the pharmaceutical industry). Statins have been accused of causing dementia and Alzheimer’s because our brains need cholesterol.
The reality is, we lost my dad a few years earlier to dementia.
There is no magic pill.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Hyppocrites
In addition to the over-use of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, which are even in our foods, many of the foods we eat today are grown with genetically modified organisms, are overly processed, laced with chemicals, preservatives, sugars, food dyes, etc.
These practices cause decreased beneficial gut bacteria, which creates problems in our digestive track, inflammation, mal-absorption of nutrients, yeast overgrowth – a plethora of ailments (to learn more about gut bacteria, see my last blog, America, We’ve Gut a Problem, 2/18/17, just below this one).
Have you or someone you know been diagnosed with allergies, asthma, eczema or psoriasis, any number of autoimmune diseases (celiac, Hashimotos, diabetes, lupus, Parkinson’s, etc.), depression, inflammatory bowel disease (IBS), ADD/ADHD, dementia or some other disease, even autism? (Researchers have found many children 
with autism have unusual species or imbalances of gut bacteria, not to mention what MIT’s Dr. Stephanie Seneff says about Glyphosate in our grains – a must-watch video, link at end).
If we want to see radical change in our health, we must be willing to make radical changes in our diet. The Standard American Diet (“SAD”) has us addicted to the foods we consume. Many people don’t even have a taste for nutritious food anymore. But once we change our palate, healthy foods taste delicious.
Here are 12 tips to get you started changing your diet, including how to afford more organic:
Note: You may want to start a little at a time*, but eventually you must be diligent (as my testimony proves in my first food blog, Don’t Give Us This Daily Bread). Patience and persistence are imperative for success. Otherwise, you simply will not see results.
1. When switching to an organic and/or gluten free diet, think of the things you won’t be buying anymore. What might you eliminate from your grocery list – impulse purchases, processed foods, prepared foods, etc. Coffee from a coffee shop? Most of us can find things to eliminate from our diet and lifestyle. If you add up all the things you will not be buying anymore, you will see a lot of money freed up for what is safer and more nutritious.
When buying meat (preferably grass-fed!), plan to eat a smaller amount, thereby making up for the
expense. Most people don’t need as much animal protein as they eat anyway.
2. Ready-made, processed foods are not cheap, either. To start, what one thing might you replace by preparing it yourself? What would be the next thing? For example, old fashioned oats are much cheaper and healthier than processed cereals. Make a large batch of organic oatmeal at the beginning of the week to be heated up later (preferably not in a microwave).
3. *I started out only buying organic for the things I consumed regularly (coffee, eggs, lettuce, apples). Perhaps you could, too.
The ten most important foods to buy organic:
http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/eorganic.htm
The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen:
http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/
4. Do most of your shopping around the perimeter of your grocery store.
Resist impulse items, and don’t walk by the things you crave.
Make sure you carry a list, and have a meal plan and stick to it.
6. If you cannot get fresh fruits in your area, try organic frozen ones to use in smoothies (or freeze your own when they are in season).
7. Don’t think in terms of what you can’t eat, think in terms of what you can eat. And think of how much better off everyone will be and feel. You may not be having ill effects now, but it’s very possible you will later. What might be the cost later if you do not invest this way in your health now?
8. Your family may not want this change, especially if it means they may no longer have that doughnut. But I am confident one day they will rise up and call you blessed (Proverbs 31:28).
9. In addition to good health, think of the extra benefits – more energy, more alert, better skin and possible weight loss!
10. IMPORTANT: Be aware of the symptoms of detox. You may feel sick or have headaches as toxins leave your body. If this happens, it is a good thing. Drink lots of water and don’t give up. Know that you will soon feel great, and you will stop craving the unhealthy foods.
11. Pray. Pray continually. When you feel weak, pray. When you have a craving, pray. When you feel overwhelmed, pray. When you’re tempted to cheat, pray. Pray and read your Bible instead.
If we vote with our wallets, the food industry will have to respond, and we can change the price of organic for our children when they are older.
Let’s ask ourselves:
· If insuring good physical and brain health depended on my taking some actions, what would they be?
· What do I want my health to be like when I am older? What can I do now to make the most difference in my health in five years? Ten years or more? What might I wish I had done now?
· Many of us are too busy surviving in the present to take the time necessary to prevent what could happen to our health in the future. How much time per day/per week will I spend educating myself about today’s foods and natural healing, not just for my own health, but for my family’s?
Let’s eat to live, not live to eat. Let’s teach our families how to eat to be nourished and healthy, not just full.
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Proverbs 31:28-19 ESV
I’d love to hear from you. What are your health stories?
LINKS for further information:
Check out the cute cartoon video that will simplify and explain the gut microbiome on this link:
Dr. Stephanie Seneff, Senior Research Scientist at MIT on Glyphosate and ASD:
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ve been blessed by doing so. If you would like to receive a notification when I post, just add your email where it says follow. And as always, I’d love to hear your comments here and/or on social media.
Blessings and health to you, Penny
