In Part I we covered the fact that God designed our bodies to heal themselves, and when He created the world, He provided everything our bodies need to function at optimal levels (animals and plants, sunshine, water, fresh air).
Part II talked about the decline of medicine (man refusing to acknowledge and work with God's design), the decline of the environment (producing less nutritious food sources but adding innumerable toxins), the decline of the human body, and the decline of diet (from consuming living, nutrient-dense food to eating unnatural, fake, man-made foods that our bodies weren't designed to consume).
The third thing I would like to discuss is discipline. There is often a failure to be good stewards of our bodies. I have already made several references to my faith, so it should come as no surprise that my views are based on what God says in His Word. The Bible actually speaks about discipline in relation to our bodies quite a bit.
First of all, the Bible is very clear that for those who have trusted Christ, their bodies are no longer their own. 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? 1 Corinthians 6:19 What? Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? Although the context of these verses mostly concerns sexual sins, the teaching is still clear, and the principle applies: we shouldn't sin with our bodies because they no longer belong to us.
It follows that, since our bodies belong to God, we need to honor them and care for them in a way that honors God. Self-control, or temperance, is a major factor in caring for our bodies. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." Galatians 5:22-23 and 1 Peter 1:5-7 both list self-control as one of the qualities that should be evident in the lives of Christians. Proverbs 25:28 says that a man without self-control is like a broken down, unprotected city.
So how does all this relate to my topic? Many Christians are quick and adamant to declare the necessity of discipline and self-control in body-relevant areas like sexual conduct, alcohol, smoking, drugs, and modesty; however, many of those same Christians don't consider their diets to be one of those relevant areas. Overeating, gluttony, unhealthy eating--these are considered "acceptable"--but the other end of the spectrum--eating disorders like anorexia or bulemia--would be considered problems. Addiction to nicotine, tobacco, drugs, alcohol, and pornography are decried as clear sins, whereas addiction to caffeine (coffee or soda) or chocolate is found harmless and amusing. There is an undeniable hypocrisy in that kind of attitude. 1 Corinthians 10:31 makes it pretty clear that even the most basic, fundamental daily human activities--eating and drinking--are to be done to the glory of God. So there really is no excuse for keeping diet, nutrition, and healthy bodies on the list of things that don't really matter in the Christian life. Unfortunately, many Christians are in the same boat as the rest of society--we live to eat instead of eating to live.
I think it's obvious that choosing a healthy diet takes discipline and self-control, because, unfortunately, most of the things we like to eat that taste really good aren't good for us. And a lot of the foods that are truly healthy aren't always the most appealing to our taste buds. The standard American diet, in which sugar is added to virtually everything, has actually spoiled us and ruined our ability to enjoy the bitter/sour/fermented flavors of a lot of the natural foods that were common for our ancestors. Personally, I have found that my tastes have changed right along with my diet change. There were several foods that at first I didn't really enjoy their taste, but I ate them anyway because of their nutritive value. The more I ate them, though, my taste buds adjusted, and now I actually enjoy those flavors! We are addicted to sugar. If you don't believe me, just experiment on yourself and commit to going without any sugar at all for just one day--or maybe three days, or a whole week. It won't take long to discover how much you crave sugar. Not only do most of us struggle with discipline in what we eat, we also struggle to control how much we eat. I think that's pretty self-evident and self-explanatory. I have to say that once I began eating only nutritious foods and avoided unhealthy foods, I didn't pay attention to how much I was eating because it became unnecessary. Nutrient-dense foods satisfy better than calorie-dense foods, and once the body is broken from craving sugar, the desire to overeat is greatly reduced.
Balance is key as well. Nutrition is not an exact science, and I'm not prepared to state that every single time you consume something that isn't 100% healthy, that you are sinning. Enjoying a special treat or dessert occasionally isn't a big deal when you are eating healthy the majority of the time. (Although, in our society, "treats" aren't treats anymore--they are standard several-times-a-day indulgences.) For one thing, not everyone agrees on what foods are 100% healthy. For another thing, it's not very practical to live that way--how would you ever be able to eat at someone else's house or a restaurant, because you can't guarantee that only "approved" foods are available. Then, we must avoid being prideful about this subject--we can't start being food Nazis and looking down on people who don't eat all organic food, etc. We need to follow the principle of being a good steward of the body God gave us as opposed to following an exhaustive list of acceptable and unacceptable foods that can't realistically be kept.
I understand that it's difficult to keep up with the recommendations on what is healthy and what is unhealthy, because they seem to be constantly changing. One year eggs are bad for you; the next they are good. The same with butter, or coffee, or chocolate, and on and on. Which is exactly why I think it's safest to stick with God's plan and eat the food He provided for us in its natural forms. There shouldn't be a question whether or not meat, eggs, milk, and butter are healthy, especially when they are produced by animals that are allowed to eat the way they were designed to eat--because God provided those animals as food for us! There shouldn't be a question whether or not any naturally occurring fruit, vegetable, or grain is good for us, because God provided it all, and our bodies are designed to consume them. The problem comes when God's provisions are contaminated by chemicals, pollutants, and pesticides, or compromised and changed from their original forms by unnatural processing. It also shouldn't be a question whether unnatural, man-made substances full of artificial ingredients and chemicals created in a lab and labeled "food" are unhealthy. Likewise, there shouldn't be a question about whether the nutrients and substances from God-given plants, herbs, and animals are superior for treating illnesses in the body compared to man-made chemicals and drugs which the body is not designed to consume. Why would anyone in their right mind think that a man-made product is in any way superior to what Almighty God provided specifically for the body He designed?!
Yet, sadly, this is where we find ourselves today.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that we will be far healthier when we acknowledge that God designed our bodies and provided the best foods and medicines to keep them healthy and heal them; that our bodies, our food sources, and our philosophy of health care has declined; and that it takes the biblically-mandated attribute of self-control to make right choices regarding the stewardship of these bodies given to us by God.
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