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FOOD
Critical to the young people of Daniel's day was their stand on
food. Much is said in Scripture about eating. (I Cor. 10:31)
Blessings and dangers surround this most central and significant
event in our daily lives. Remember this; it was on the issue of
food that the teenagers first stood up for God and His ways.
Their clear stand here made all the difference later. Here they
first began to prove "ten times better" than everyone
else in the realm. Yet this initial test is the one key area so
many young people fail when it comes to a choice between
Babylon's' program and Gods'.
How about you? Would you pass the first Daniel test?
THE THIRD WAY:
Notice the way these boys witnessed. When faced with a choice
between the Kings fare and that which they knew under God they
neither compromised nor rebelled. They did not buy into Babylon,
but they were also not seen as religious freaks or rebels.
"Test us" they told their guardian. "Deal with us
as you see the results."
The principle is simple and profound. God's laws are not
inventions. They are descriptions of reality. How can you be the
best you can be? Your task is to find out what He says and how He
set up things to work. Then align your life to the truth you see.
Match your life-style and your habits to His and you maximize
your potential in everything. Walk away from truth in any area
and you will pay the penalty.
And what is the truth about your body and food? "Man shall
not live by bread alone" Jesus said "but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God." (Matt. 4:4) In this
saying Jesus links truth and food together. Just as bread is
central to nutrition and we cannot live without it, so is His
word and His speaking to us. The link between what and how we eat
to sustain our physical life and what and how we hear to sustain
our spiritual life is more profound than we realize. (John
6:35-51)
GOD'S GUIDE TO GOOD FOOD
God designed us. We are not accidents. He designed our sustaining
ecology. He was the one Who first planted a garden for man and
set him in it. He commanded all its foods and herbs (with the one
exception of the tree of knowledge of good and evil) to be for
his care and food. Not only did He make foods look good, He even
made them taste good! Things we routinely process out of our
foods and throw away today as waste or animal food often holds
the very things we most need to help us in a high-stress,
high-risk culture. We also face much greater toxin levels in our
air, ground and water that we must compensate for whenever we can
with heightened nutrition.
Fruit juices act as body cleansers; the blood, kidneys, urinary
system and digestive tract. They provide natural carbohydrate
sugars for energy as well as minerals and vitamins, especially C.
Apple juice, freshly extracted is one of the best energy builders
you can use. It is mildly laxative, helps treat nasal or sinus
congestion and acts as a cleanser for the liver and gall-bladder.
Its silicon is good for the skin, hair and fingernails. The best
thing you can start your day with is nothing but some form of
fruit or fruit juice.
Vegetables and their properly extracted juices build and rebuild
body tissues. Almost all of your needed enzymes and amino acids
as well as vitamins and minerals are in chemical and
preservative-free fresh vegetables. Raw juices like celery,
cabbage and carrot are wonderful healers after illness or
surgery. You will need a serious extractor to do some of these
vegetables as juices, but this life investment will cost far less
than one hospital bill!
Carrot juice is full in particular of the healing vitamin A for
mucous membranes; sinus, lung or nasal conditions like asthma,
hay fever or bronchitis. It is especially good for teenagers,
helping your glands develop normally and minimizing acne
problems. Raw cabbage juice in six-glass a day lots for 3 weeks
has helped heal stomach ulcers; it can be mixed with a little
carrot juice for better flavor. Celery juice is high in minerals
like sodium, magnesium, potassium calcium and sulfur, as well as
vitamins A, B and C. It is one of natures best tranquilizers,
promoting sound sleep and rested nerves. It also works to
dissolve unwanted calcium deposits and is beneficial for
arthritis and hardened arteries.
DIGGING YOUR GRAVE WITH A FORK
What foods can hurt you in quality or quantity? Whenever you have
a choice, stick to things that are fresh, natural and
unprocessed. The more that is done to a food, the less chance it
has of helping you and the more chance it has of hurting you.
Learn to eat healthy and give your body what it deserves to do
its best for you. Many commercial foods, beverages and even
bottled water today are contaminated by solvents, toxins and
pollutants that will hurt your body over a period of time. If
each time you ate a meal someone put a drop of paint thinner in
it, how do you think you would feel after a month? Something like
that happens with a great deal of off-the-shelf cereals or
processed snack foods.
If Satan re-designed an orange he would first pick it before it
was ripe, suck the juice out of it, fill it with antifreeze
preservative and paint it with chemical dye to make it look the
right color. Then he would label it "New, Improved" and
sell it to you for three times what it would cost off a tree. The
question is: why would you prefer one of his?
Foods to Minimize Or Avoid
You know it, but you still need to hear it; avoid as much as
possible all junk food. If you just eat junk you'll feel like
junk. Treat your body right and it will do a magnificent job for
you. Rob it long-term of what it needs to perform well and it
will one day close shop on you in one or more painful or
life-threatening ways. Remember Humpty-Dumpty. Go high on all
kinds of good grains and home-made breads and granolas. At least
70% of what you eat should be water-rich foods. Plenty of
vegetables and fruit. Juices, water, milk. When you go to eat
something ask yourself: "Is this going to clog me or clean
me?"
Some kinds of meats can be bad for you long-term. The word
unclean as used of creatures in the Bible does not mean evil. An
unclean animal acts as an agent of judgment on humanity. To eat
an unclean food is not evil, but it can definitely result in
physical judgment! Meats from omnivorous animals (those that eat
both carrion meat and plants) are much more prone to disease. Eat
them, especially poorly cooked and you risk their acquired
infections. Some meats, like pork, can carry in their flesh over
twenty different kinds of worms and parasites including the
deadly and usually fatal trichinosis. See the appendix for a
natural, painless herbal cleaning program that can clean up over
a hundred different types of parasitic infections within two
weeks.
You can recognize them from Bible warnings - don't eat those that
neither split the hoof or chew the cud. (Lev 11:3-26) Animals
that do are always safer than those that don't. Lamb, beef, deer
and other similar meats are O.K. as long as you avoid eating the
entrails, blood or the fat - leave these to burn as a present to
God! (Lev. 3:3-9)
Carrion fish are the rats and roaches of the sea. Likewise taboo
to Israel in Scripture, they can be simply recognized as having
no fins (tails) or scales. (Lev. 11: 9-12; Deut. 14:9-10) Some
forms of seafood carry greater risk. Shark, catfish and swordfish
are all garbage collectors. Shrimp, crab, oysters, and other
shellfish are more prone to disease and concentrate lethal
seawater-dissolved toxins like mercury in their flesh. Bite for
bite, undercooked or raw shellfish is the riskiest food you can
eat. Focus on finnys. Good fish include trout, bass, flounder,
snapper, perch, tuna, salmon, sardines. Make sure fish are fresh
with little or no smell. Cook well in a pan.
Birds or flying creatures prohibited as unclean food in Scripture
are again carrion-eaters like the eagle, osprey, buzzard, bat and
owl. Duck, chicken, turkey, geese, pigeon and pheasant and other
grain or seed-eating birds are fine. (Source: Gordon S. Tessler
Ph.D. - Nutrition & Biblical Health)
Again make sure all meats are well-cooked and (even when
refrigerated) not kept stored for more than a few days before
preparing. All meats should be drained and cooked well, never
eaten raw (Gen. 9:4, Lev. 19:26). Many meats carry hidden
parasites which are only destroyed by cooking temperatures of at
least 212 °F (100°C) for at least 20 minutes. Avoid the rare.
Let meat fall off the bone. Use butter, olive oil, or lard but
avoid all hydrogenated oils & margarine. Also remember that
open-flame cooking like barbecue and toasting can produce
carcinogens.
Even the way you mix foods when you eat affects your ability to
get the most out of it. Different foods call out different
digestive juices and some of these don't work well with each
other at the same time. Bad food combinations result in only
partial digestion that over time builds up in your body like
left-overs in a refrigerator. If you have problems with gas, bad
digestion, headaches, sour stomach or similar tummy troubles, eat
foods in their proper order. Don't mix fruit with anything else
and eat it first. It digests quicker. Some favorite combinations
like meat and bread or meat and potatoes, eggs and potatoes or
eggs and bread don't work well for the digestion. Don't eat
starches and acidic foods together, like potatoes and lemonade.
Don't combine carbo and protein in the same meal. Don't even
drink fluids with your meal; it dilutes down your digestive
process.
Sugar, candies, salt, coffee, tea, refined and over-processed
foods can all long-term hurt you. Caffeine is a toxic alkaloid, a
slow-working vegetable poison that directly affects your central
nervous system like its close relative nicotine. If you're trying
to kick a smoking habit, don't drink caffeine! Soft drink
companies add it to most sodas; check the labels. Why? Not for
its taste (it is quite bitter). Like any other narcotic, it can
addict you. And does it? We drink over 50 million cokes alone
every day! That's the real thing.
Tea and coffee are multi-billion dollar industries; coffee is
Americas' largest food import. Everybody drinks it. Yet the
amount of caffeine in just two daily cups of coffee not only can
cause life-threatening changes in some heart rhythms but
increases a woman's' risk of breast cancer ten times. Caffeine
addicts you and will cause withdrawal symptoms if you try to stop
- nerves, irritability, sleeplessness and even muscle shakes.
Decafs are even worse. Caffeine is not removed. It is only
reduced from 2-4 grains a cup to 2-15 mg a cup. Methylene
Chloride, the solvent used for this process, is a toxic solvent
suspected as cancer-causing. That cup of coffee that gets you
started in the morning may be ending your life - and sooner than
you realize.(American Heart Association) Even tea is not exempt.
A single tall glass of iced tea can give you over 20 mg. of
kidney-stone forming oxalic acid. Cocoa and chocolate also
contain oxalic acid. Some preachers of the past put coffee &
tea right in with alcohol & tobacco. Yet you must drink a lot
each day. Go with fruit juices, herbal teas, or just plain water
- at least 8 glasses a day - whenever you can.
Sugars greatly inhibit your body's' ability to fight disease and
depress your immune system. Check it out. Cut right back and
you'll begin to get well again.
Try the Daniel test: "Ten days". Cut out all problem
foods completely for ten days. Then check out how you feel. Now
imagine what you will look and feel like three years from now if
you go on eating smart. Adam and Eve first fell over food. Don't
hurt the house of the Holy Spirit. Don't let a Jack or Mac attack
do you in. Get a life. Eat right or die both sick and quick.
Power to the phytochems.
FASTING
"But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken
from them; then shall they fast." (Matt. 9:15)
Over-eating (surfeiting or gluttony) is a sin in Scripture. We
eat far too much and too much bad stuff. Your waste disposal
systems are incredible, but they have their limits. If your body
is overloaded with bad or undigested food it toxifies. A
toxin-loaded system reacts with various symptoms of sickness.
Fever, headaches, chills, nausea and pain are all signs of a
lowered immune system no longer able to keep the poisons and
nutrition debts you have collected at bay. Disease can be a
sermon to your system; listen carefully to what it says. A round
of colds and flu usually follows right on the heels of huge
Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Fasting is a great tool for
both cleansing and regulating the body. Fast a meal now and then.
Rethink your daily eating habits. Cut back on how much and how
often you eat; you will not only look and feel better, but
probably live much longer.
Try a longer fast (2-3 days) if your body needs a rest or
recovery and you have time to do it. Daniel fasted and sought God
for his nation and had a supernatural encounter from heaven (Dan.
9:3-23). While you can "fast" anything that is
important to you, like sleep, friends, conversation or music, the
Bible word for "fast" means to cover the mouth. FASTING
for the Christian is simply the voluntary missing of a life need.
It is not always food--it can be rest, sleep, friends, or drink.
But used in the Bible it usually means not eating food for a
certain time. It can help you in two ways: it can rest and clean
your body by not weighing it down with food; it can draw your
heart close to God since you are spending the same time you would
usually give to eating in prayer instead. You can fast from
anything that you are willing to temporarily sacrifice for God.
Before any big, important event in your life, when you really
need to do your best with God's help, this is a Christian secret
you might like to try. For an important speech, prayer, message,
or game: FASTING may be a real help. It is an indication that you
are EARNEST, that there is something you want so greatly, you
will put everything aside to get it. It's honestly,
sincerely--sometimes desperately--reaching out for God and His
will. We put Him first, above food, water, friends.
Fasting is mentioned over fifty times in Scripture, always in
context where people were getting serious with God. Besides
Jesus, Moses, Ester, Nehemiah, David, Paul and other key leaders
of the Bible took extended fasts. A FULL FAST is nothing but
water; you should always drink more water when you fast, to help
clean out your system. A food and water fast for 3 days in
Scripture is a rare DESPERATION FAST, because it can actually
threaten your life with the build-up of released toxins in your
body. A FORTY-DAY FAST has been a life-changing experience for
those who have felt called and strengthened of God to try it.
Don't WORK and fast for any long periods; be sensible and
discreet. Fasting is not self-hate, protest or calculated
self-destruction. (Is. 58:5) It is for power with God to break
chains and set people free. It is a declaration act of utter
devotion. Do it as to the Lord. (Matt. 6:16-18).
RULES FOR FASTING:
(1) It must be VOLUNTARY, something you choose to do yourself.
There is no value in doing it because you are told to. God will
not force you to fast, but if you really need that extra
intensity, it is there to help.
It must be PRIVATE. If you tell anyone you are fasting, so they
will be convinced of your spirituality, God will not bless you
for it. Fasting must be done for HIM. If you go around 'boasting
about it to others, you already have your reward.
Of course, you may have to tell parents, or friends who know your
eating habits, so as not to worry them; but this is different.
When you fast, don't go around looking haggard,
dead-on-your-feet, and wiped-out. (Matthew 6:18.)
It must be SENSIBLE. You won't want to fast for weeks as a
teenager, nor if you have a demanding or strenuous Job to do as
well. Holiday or weekends are best; you will be able to control
your activity better. If you want to go on a long fast, start
with a few smaller ones and then work up with rests in between.
Long fasts need longer rest periods both during and after the
fast.
It must be THOUGHTFUL. Don't inconvenience parents or friends by
being difficult! On a long fast, you must drink MUCH WATER, at
least eight GLASSES A DAY If you want a real fast? don't drink
anything else. Long fasts can last from two to three or even four
weeks. The most difficult part is the first five to six days. You
may feel headachy, sick to your stomach, and tired, as your body
poisons are emptied out. Keep flushing your system out with
water. After the worst peak is over, you can go many, many days
without real appetite for food. STOP the fast if HUNGER returns;
this is a sign that the body has used up all its reserves, and if
you go on any longer you will begin to starve. Be very careful in
breaking a long fast; take as LONG TO BREAK IT AS YOU DID TO TAKE
IT. Use juices, clear, non-milky soups, etc., until you come
gradually back to normal diet. Use your normal action time,
eating, pleasure, company time, for prayer instead. Talk to Jesus
during this time. Read the Bible. You'll be richly blessed.
POWER FOODS
There are many special foods that you can buy to supplement your
regular meals that are power helps to your general health. You
may want to try some of these:
Alfalfa in tablets or powder is one of natures most complete
nutritional foods. It has every essential amino acid, all the
fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) as well as C and the entire
B complex, almost all the key minerals and most of the key trace
minerals. Its antitoxin powers exceed that of liver, brewers
yeast and wheat germ. Studies show it provides resistance to and
healing in all kinds of sinus and "-itus" diseases,
like arthritis, neuritis, bronchitis. It has the ability to lower
high levels of cholesterol. You can't OD on it, and can eat it
raw as sprouts, as a tablet (6 or more a day) or drink it as a
tea.
Blackstrap Molasses, the third extraction of a sugar refinery is
both black and bountiful. It contains thiamin, riboflavin, niacin
and pyridoxine (Vitamins B1, B2 B3 and B6), inositol, pantothenic
acid, biotin, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, phosphorus and
copper! Two teaspoons twice a day, morning and night have helped
heal bad cases of skin rashes, eczema and shingles, stopped hair
color and thickness loss, and anemia.
Brewers Yeast is one of the most powerful energy pickup foods you
can eat. It has all the B-vitamins, 19 amino acids and 18
minerals! A heaped teaspoon to a tablespoon of the powder in a
glass of orange juice is one of the most potent instant energy
drinks you can make. Because it is high in phosphorus (which
pulls calcium from the body) when you use it compensate with
1-2,000 mg a day of calcium gluconate.
Brown Rice is another complete food, containing in its raw state
a tremendous number of needed nutrients for your entire body. As
with other natural grains it is cheap and tasty.
Golden Seal is one of God's most wonderful and powerful
antibiotic herbs. It is a natural remedy for all sorts of skin,
mucous membrane, stomach and toxic liver troubles, including
colds, flu, open sores, boils, skin infections, ringworm etc. It
helps clear drugs from your system. Golden Seal is toxic to some
bacteria and microbes, and reduces inflammation. It aids
digestion and appetite, though no more than one/two capsules of
the powder should be taken a day (250-500 mg).
Honey is a great natural Biblical sweetener and comes in all
kinds of flavors. Honey from a local area helps desensitize from
local pollens. Add a quarter teaspoon Vitamin C to any
store-bought honey to detoxify any ergot mold. Warm to mix and
dissolve.
Lecithin is another wonder food great for your memory and
cardiovascular system. As an emulsifier it keeps fat in solution,
and hinders cholesterol precipitation in blood vessel walls. It
lowers blood cholesterol, and with it high blood pressure. It
helps distribute body weight better. Three 19-grain caps a day
has effectively helped psoriasis within a three-month period.
Again you can take as much as you want without harm.
Purple Coneflower or (Echinacea angustifolia) like Golden Seal
has a long folk history of use in killing bacteria, inhibiting
inflammation, stimulating the immune system and promoting wound
healing; all great for acne! Use like Golden Seal 250-500 mg. a
day.
Sea Kelp is the best known source of all the body trace elements
in almost direct proportion to their balance in the human
bloodstream. Loss of trace minerals can lead to painful leg
cramps, easy bruising and brittle fingernails. Copper deficiency
causes premature hair graying and loss, skin rashes and possible
heart damage. Iodine shortage leads to apathy, listlessness and
low blood pressure. Insufficient manganese can bring on all sorts
of back problems as well as muscle fatigue and exhaustion. 1-3
tabs a day.
Wheat Germ is loaded with high-quality germination and growth
nutrients; protein, minerals, vitamin B complex, fats and complex
carbohydrates; its oil is high in Vitamin E. Besides its value in
the heart and blood, it helps restore normal menstrual flow and
fertility in women, and builds up energy and vitality. Mix it in
cereals and drinks.
Nuts of all kinds - walnuts, peanuts, macadamias, cashews, pecans
etc. are a delicious and instant source of snack energy.
Especially powerful are raw almonds; between 9-11 of these eaten
at once will give you one of the greatest bursts of instant
energy of all the foods. Whenever possible eat nuts raw, but pass
on any that have brown spots on them; they contain toxins. You
can heat them to kill molds or use them for cooking.
Self-Hate - Anorexia & Bulimia
"..Your hideous obsession with celebrities, beauty and youth
has made every single one of my friends convinced they are ugly
and worthless." Crasher, U-S Talk Net
One of the great battles in many teenagers lives is with the idea
of being too fat. Thousands of young people today, believing they
are physically ugly, overweight and worthless either starve
themselves in anorexia or binge and purge in bulimia. Some go so
far in these forms of food slavery they feel like dying; and
sadly, some actually have. To fight these terrible battles with
something God designed not only as a need but a joy in our lives
is an awful reversal of His design. Our culture makes a god of
beauty and slimness. From a thousand subtle hints and pressures
around us even from our families and friends, we can get the idea
that we are the wrong weight or shape to be loved and valued.
And all this is nonsense. To take our image of our lives from a
culture that changes its sense of value like a set of clothes is
utterly wrong. Only from Jesus can we get a true picture of our
worth. Only in Christ can we have our false and ugly
self-pictures broken up and be given a new vision of value. Love
Him and love your neighbor as yourself. SELF-LOVE is a command of
Christ. (Mark 12:31) It is the exact opposite of selfishness. If
you have bought into a bad picture of your own body, the proper
place to start is an apology to God for self-hate. There is much
you can do to improve your looks if you need some help. But start
right first. Don't put yourself down. Thank God for what you have
and are now. Change can come but it must be God's way. (Eph.
5:29; I Cor. 6:9)
GLUTTONY
The sin of gluttony in the Bible is not just eating too much. A
glutton is not always fat. You can be totally skinny and be a
glutton. It is making a god out of food. It is centering your
whole life around what you eat. It is making food the most
important thing in the world to you. Food is important but food
is never to be the center or answer of your life. (Prov. 23:21;
Matt. 6:25; Rom 14:17) In the Bible, people who made a god out of
food and drink actually courted death (Deut. 21:20; Prov. 23:2)
Perhaps you really do need to lose some fat. Perhaps you really
do have a problem carrying around too much weight. It is true
that being overweight carries its own penalty. But fat is not
something bad. Fat is a key part of your bodies' energy storage
system. Used right, fats can be your friend. You need to know
what fat really is.
Why Fats Can Be Your Friend
"Their faces were fairer and fatter than all the
others"
Fats are made of fatty acids and glycerol. Fatty acids are long
chains of carbon atoms linked to hydrogen atoms. If all the
possible spaces for hydrogen atoms are filled, we call it a
saturated fatty acid. A fat with two empty hydrogen atoms spaces
on its chain is monounsaturated. Fatty acids with room for more
than two hydrogen atoms are polyunsaturated. All natural foods
contain a mix of these fatty acids. Fats supply 9 calories of
energy per gram whatever their saturation.
It is true that today we often eat too much fat. In the early
twentieth century, the fat in an average Western diet was about
30% of our total daily calories. Now with our cooking oils, salad
dressings, vegetable shortening and hydrogenated fats it is
between 40 and 45 percent. (A single tablespoon of salad dressing
contains 12 grams of fat.) The average American eats 155 grams of
fat a day, much more than we need. 97% of the fat we eat is
stored as fat. In the Far East, eating about 1/4 the amount of
fat of an American diet they have much lower heart disease and
colon cancer rates.
Much of our food fat is from obvious sources: butter, oils, salad
dressings and fatty meats. But 2/3 of the fat we eat comes from
"hidden sources". These are foods like whole milk, ice
cream, luncheon meats, avocados, olives, nuts, cheese and
chocolate. Nutritionists think calories provided by fat should be
no more than 30% of your daily total. If your aim was 2,000
calories a day you would eat 67 grams of fat at most. The bottom
line is this; if you don't want to get fat, eat less fat. Fat
makes you fat. To cut down, eat everything else but fat. You will
always have the same number of fat cells in your body, but fat
cells can grow to 20 times their normal size.
What use is fat? Most of your body energy is from carbohydrate
(glucose) and fats (fatty acids). Protein pitches in if you don't
get enough of these. Yet by far your most abundant energy source
is fat! One molecule of fat yields about 460 molecules of ATP
(adenosine triphosphate, what your muscles use to work.) Glucose
yields only 36 molecules of ATP. Fat stored in a healthy adult
150lb+ male is 100,000 kilocalories of energy. Glucose stored as
glycogen can give only about 2,000. If you learn to burn fat, you
can tap into long-term endurance energy. You can get 80-90% of
your energy from these fat stores if you train your body by right
eating & exercise.
You get enormous benefits. You store less fat (leading to weight
loss). Endurance improves. And you "spare" your
glycogen for when you need it most: short high-intensity efforts.
Within the first five minutes of short term high intensity
exercise, you pull glycogen directly from your muscles and liver.
You can only store a limited amount of glycogen in your body,
though training, conditioning and good nutrition can increase it.
(It takes about 90 seconds for your muscles to recharge with ATP
after a short energy burst. That is why in high-intensity,
short-exchange sports like tennis, a 90-second sit-down break
between change-overs really helps.) A by-product of glycogen burn
is lactic acid, one cause of muscle soreness.
Longer endurance oxygen-burning events draw progressively more on
your fat reserves, and do not create lactic acid as a by-product.
(Melaluca markets the Access ™ Bar, a patented food that
bypasses the body's fat storage system and allows you to directly
utilize body fat during workouts for energy.)
Phillip Maffetone, an applied kinesiologist and athletic trainer
says that while it is obvious that too much fat can hurt you, the
key is to balance your intake. Just as you mix aerobic and
anaerobic workouts, you need to combine dietary fats. Try for
twice the amount of unsaturated (Omega 6) to saturated fats.
(A) Omega 6 (monounsaturate) fats are in vegetables, peanuts,
peanut butter and olives, margarine, vegetable shortening, and
most nuts. You find them in many oils like olive, safflower,
peanut and corn oils, and concentrates of black-currant seed,
borage, and primrose oil. They elevate cholesterol levels, but
not as high as saturated fatty acids.
(B) Saturated fats (with the essential fat arachidonic acid)
Mainly in meat and dairy products like cream, cheese and butter,
egg yolks, chocolate, coconut and palm oil. Most are solids at
room temperature. These all help build up cholesterol. We know it
for its bad role in blood vessel wall deposits that can lead to
heart attacks and stroke.
(Cholesterol is a yellowish, wax-like substance closely related
to fat. You only get it from eating animal products. Foods
particularly high in cholesterol are red meats, lobster, shrimp,
oysters, liver, kidney, veal, lamb, crab, beef heart, and egg
yolk. Yet it is a normal part of our cell structure. It makes
building blocks for bile acids, vitamin D, sex and adrenal gland
hormones. If there were no cholesterol in your diet, your body
would create what it needs to function properly. Insoluble in
water, our blood stream carries it by a protein in a combination
called a lipoprotein. The ratio of cholesterol to High Density
Lipoproteins is important. People with higher levels of some HDL
have less risk of heart disease. Even saturated fats don't have
to be "bad" in a balanced diet.)
(C) Omega 3 fats are polyunsaturated, usually liquid at room
temperature. These are in beans and plant oils like corn,
safflower, cottonseed, and sunflower as well as in linseed
(flaxseed), sesame, soy, and walnut oils. You find them in fish
and fish oil concentrates called EPA. There are mixes of all
three fats in all natural foods.
What is the key in getting fats to work for you? Aim for equal
amounts of all 3 each week or month. It is easier than you think.
Most foods contain a combination of all three types. (If you're a
vegetarian and eat very little "B" fats then eat equal
amounts of "A" and "C." Your body will
convert some to "B.") Follow this ratio. Stay within
the 30% limit of total fats in your diet, and you won't have
problems with excess fat.
Pro-Protein: Athletes need an increased level of protein. It lets
you use the proper amount of calories without boosting your fat
or carbo percentages. (Think of it as creating an optimum fuel
mix for a racecar.) Protein prevents muscle breakdown, and mental
and physical fatigue. It also regulates body workout functions.
A hormone derived from protein increases the carbo your muscles
can store after hard exercise. Your protein balance also controls
serotamin, a chemical that influences how tired you feel.
Cutting Down on Carbos - Besides balancing fat intake, you must
stop your body from turning off its fat-burning mechanism. It
will do so if you eat too much carbohydrate. Carbo stimulates
insulin release, which causes a drop in blood sugar. To
compensate, your body sends more blood sugar to the muscle cells
to increase glycogen storage. Your body tries to use more
carbohydrate as fuel. But because you only have a small storage
space for glycogen, insulin changes about 40% of that
carbohydrate into fat. High-carbo diets - those including refined
carbohydrate such as pasta or rice - result in more insulin being
released and less fat being burned.
There's more: If you don't provide your body with enough fat to
use as energy, you force it to use more sugar. This lowers your
blood sugar. Your body compensates by raising it again. This
rollercoaster can create mood swings in athletes on high-carbo,
super-low-fat diets, and bring fatigue, clumsiness, headaches,
depression or allergies.
For centuries people ate mostly meat and vegetables. We have only
recently tried to digest large amounts of sugar and starch. Many
people can't. Up to half the population may be "carbo
intolerant." This intolerance (called insulin resistance,
hypoglycemia, or hyperinsulism) can make you tired, crave sweets
or caffeine, get bloated, sleepy, fat and even depressed.
Long-term problems may be increased triglycerides and high blood
pressure. Does it affect you? Try a 10 day diet that eliminates
most breads, pastas, sweets, fruit and fruit juices, potatoes,
milk, and yogurt. Do it with a doctors help. If you feel better,
suspect carbo intolerance. Add a few carbos to your diet until
symptoms reappear. Your optimal amount of carbohydrate is just
below this. (Phillip Maffetone)
VITAMINERALS
What can help you stay well in a sick world? Vitamins and
minerals are micro-nutrients that help keep your body working at
high performance. But you cannot live on them. They are not pep
pills or food substitutes. They stimulate, but do not act as
nutritional fuel. At cell level they act as catalysts or
co-enzymes. They regulate your body fuel processes to change
proteins and carbohydrates to tissue and energy.
Even though your body needs only small amounts, vitamins are
absolutely necessary for you to grow, stay vital and resist
disease. Even a tiny deficiency long-term can endanger your whole
body. Colloidal forms are the best absorbed; see appendix for a
list of key trace minerals and symptoms of deficiency. Sadly, it
takes weeks or months for signs of deficiencies to show as your
body uses up its supply. You may not see a developing problem,
because your cells will still keep working, but less and less
efficiently. They either get proper nourishment or get hurt
beyond repair.Here are key vitamins and minerals you need, why
they are important, and recommended units:
VITAMIN A is the key to strong protective cell-tissues of your
body both inside and out, from your skin to your stomach lining,
eyes and bone cells. It is a key factor in healthy skin, hair,
teeth and gums. It helps prevent both zits and rough or itchy
skin. Vitamin A is like an internal gas-mask for your lungs; it
fights the effect of city or airborne pollution that can lead to
emphysema and chronic bronchitis. It lubricates all membranes and
keeps them strong. . Not enough A brings eye dryness (inability
to tear), night blindness, asthma, poor bone growth, weak tooth
enamel, chronic diarrhea, and frequent colds or respiratory
infection. Food sources are vegetables, apricots, leafy greens,
yams, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, winter squash,
watermelon, fruits, liver, fish and eggs. Vitamin A is
fat-soluble. Your body needs fats and zinc as well as other
minerals and enzymes to absorb it. Pregnant women should consult
a doctor before taking extra vitamin A, but unless you plan on
huge doses (more than 100,000 units a day over many months) it is
harmless. 20,00-50,000 units a day corrects most problem
conditions. Vitamin A and C are the two key vitamins most young
people don't get enough of.
BETA CAROTENE converts to vitamin A in the liver as your body
needs it. A powerful anti-ineffective and antioxidant for immune
health, beta carotene also helps protect you from pollutants. It
also helps slow the aging process and aids in allergy control.
Supplements protect against respiratory diseases and infections.
Food sources are green leafy vegetables, green peppers, carrots,
and other range and sea vegetables.
VITAMIN C is your "life-machinery oil" an anti-poison
to keep your immune system strong and alert. It helps protect
against cancers, viral and bacterial infections, heart disease,
arthritis and allergies. A strong antioxidant, vitamin C helps to
prevent free-radical damage. It safeguards against heavy metal
toxins, environmental pollutants, stress and early aging. Vitamin
C accelerates healing after surgery, increases infection
resistance and is essential for forming new collagen tissue. It
is works on deep and chronic infections with no response to
antibiotics, as well as simple colds and flu. It is a great
detoxin; direct injection of 12,000 mg. of C has reportedly
neutralized even monoxide, barbiturate and snakebite poisoning!
It boosts adrenal and iron sufficiency especially when the body
is under stress. Low backache, tight neck or shoulders respond to
C dosages. It enables you to work or play harder by boosting the
amount of glycogen your liver and muscles can store, stave off
tiredness longer and keep you more mentally alert.
Aspirin, oral contraceptives, smoking and tetracycline both
inhibit and deplete C levels. Your body can only store a few
grams of C a day. With a vitamin C deficiency you bruise and
bleed more easily and heal more slowly, or develop receding gums,
fatigue or rough skin. C & E reduce muscle damage in
exercise. Food sources are citrus fruits, green peppers, papaya,
tomatoes, strawberries, kiwi, potatoes, greens, cauliflower and
broccoli. Like the Bs, it is harmless, water-soluble and must be
restored every day. (100-1,000 mg. a day) Too much can only give
you a bit of an upset stomach or diarrhea but if you have had
kidney stones, make sure you take adequate magnesium and Vitamin
6 as well, as C helps precipitate out oxalic acid. At least
2,500-5,000 mg or more a day is corrective; a large dose lasts
from 6-8 hours, so it can work all night if taken before you
sleep. It is cheaper bought as ascorbic acid powder; mix with
water or juice. Add a little of the powdered crystals to food to
help detoxify it.
Vitamin C also needs BIOFLAVONOIDS (part of the C complex) to
function well. Bioflavs prevent arteries from hardening, and help
make your blood vessels, veins and capillaries strong. They guard
connective tissue integrity, helping to control bruising,
internal bleeding and mouth herpes. They help lower cholesterol
and stimulate bile production. Bioflavs act as anti-microbials
against infections. They also help reduce cataract formation and
guard against diabetic retinopathy. Your body does not produce
its own bioflavonoids; you must get them regularly from your
diet. The strongest supplementary form is quercitin. Effective
food sources include the white part beneath the skin of citrus
fruits, herbal sources, buckwheat and most vegetables.
VITAMIN D - Calcium absorption. If you work or play in a lot of
sunshine your body can make its own D, but if you live where the
sun is a real event or if you rarely exercise outdoors, you may
need to supplement. Food sources; fish like sardines, tuna,
salmon, herring. Some milk is D-fortified. Up to 400 IU a day
supplement.
VITAMIN E is an alternative fat-soluble antioxidant and important
immune stimulant. It is also an effective anticoagulant and
vasco-dialator against varicose veins, blood clots and heart
disease. It helps more oxygen get to the heart and helps the
heart use oxygen more effectively. It helps prevent heart attacks
by stopping blood clots, and given as soon as possible after an
attack, helps minimize heart damage. It is the most effective
agent to prevent or relieve exercise or night leg cramps, a
signal that the area is not getting enough oxygen. Vitamin E
works with selenium to help neutralize free radicals that bring
premature aging. This vitamin helps retard cellular and mental
aging, alleviates fatigue and provides tissue oxygen to
accelerate healing of wounds and burns.
E also improves skin problems and texture, filling pits and
softening. Its deficiency may result in muscle and nerve
degeneration, anemia and skin pigmentation. Although E is not
toxic, it can strengthen heart muscles so effectively that those
with heart disease or high blood pressure history should not use
at the outset more than 100 units a day. Good food sources are
almonds, leafy vegetables, salmon, soy products, wheat germ and
wheat germ oil. Correction involves from 200-1,600 I.U.s a day.
Pierce a 440 unit capsule to apply it directly to the skin for
fungal infections, warts and facial or other scar tissue healing.
B-COMPLEX vitamins are the energy vitamins. Your body cannot
store them. They help keep the right balance of sodium/potassium
levels in your body that in turn regulate body fluids. This
reduces swelling or bloating in your body due to water imbalance.
Excessive sugar, alcohol or process foods drain B-complex from
your system. Excess Bs passes away in urine, as they are all
water-soluble, and so also must be replaced every day.
B-1 (Thiamine) - the brain-boost mellow vitamin. Even a slight
deficiency hurts your memory, concentration, appetite and the way
you feel; it can make you irritable, easily angry, over-sensitive
and sleepless. B-1 steadies your nerves and emotions and gives
you more drive and initiative. As a carbohydrate-burn catalyst,
too high a carbo diet (junk food and sodas) with not enough B-1
can do weird Jeckle & Hyde things to your moods. Coffee
(regular or decaf) sugar and alcohol all deplete thiamin,
creating addiction symptoms. Food sources are brewers yeast,
dried sunflower seeds and soybeans. 5-25 mg.
B-2 (Riboflavin) - the red blood breathing vitamin. Does your
tongue looks more purple than pink? Do you have to wear
sunglasses because your eyes hurt, your hair is over-oily and
your mouth, eyebrows or nose is flaky? It may not be because
you're trying to be cool; you may have a B-2 deficiency! B-2 is
an enzyme activator and with other proteins not only makes the
enzymes that carry oxygen through your body but helps every cell
breathe. Riboflavin is very sensitive. It is water-soluble and
easily destroyed by light and heat. Beef kidney and liver,
almonds, broccoli, brewers yeast, wheat germ, wild rice and dairy
foods like whole milk, yogurt and cheese are food sources. To
keep B-2 in a food, don't soak fruit or vegetables too long in
water, steam instead of boiling and keep milk away from light.
From 10-25 mg a day. As it is water-soluble, larger doses are
excreted.
B-12 (the energy booster shot) only occurs in meat, dairy
products and eggs, so vegetarians may need extra of this. Vitamin
B-12 helps build the protein sheath that surrounds your nerve
fibers and spinal cord as well as supervises red blood cell
production; (some 200 million a minute!) Your body only needs
tiny traces (5 mc, a day or five millionth of a gram!).
Medically-prescribed injections can go to 100 mc.
Niacin (Nicotinic acid, Niacinamide) a natural tissue
tranquilizer supports the cells of your skin, tongue, intestines
and nervous system. Niacin lack can make you feel irritable, give
you a sore mouth and gums, ugly breath and even make you feel and
act crazy! A severe deficiency in the past brought pellagra, a
condition that mimics madness with schizophrenia, hallucinations,
bizarre thoughts and actions. Food sources are fish, poultry,
organ meats, beans, peanuts, whole wheat products and brewers
yeast. You only need between 10-50 mg. a day. More than 100
milligrams at a time can make you blush and feel hot and itchy,
as your blood vessels widen and release a rush of blood to the
skin, but corrective medical dosages can range from 50-250 mg a
day without harm.
Pantothenic Acid, part of the B-complex group, is needed all over
your body. It makes a key catalyst to turn fats, carbohydrates
and proteins into energy (Co-enzyme A, or CoA). Some think it may
extend life by as much as 10 years by slowing down the rate of
your body's' biochemical works. Liver, whole grains and milk are
food sources. It helps combats fatigue, aids those with allergies
and hay fever and like Choline (which is found in lecithin) is a
marvelous memory aid. You need from 5-50 mg a day but can use up
to 400 mg a day (100 mg a meal) in conjunction with the rest of
the B-complex vitamins. About two tablespoons of lecithin
granules a day will give you all the choline you need.
Pyridoxine (B6) is another stress-reducer and energy-enhancer,
reducing the effects of tiredness and fatigue. Between 100-300 mg
a day can drastically relieve carpal tunnel syndrome, and linked
with magnesium, the re-formation of kidney stones. Significant in
increasing blood circulation, B-6 prevents platelet blood
clotting and cholesterol build-up. For girls it prevents PMS
symptoms if taken 7-10 days before. Use 35-100 mg. a day.
Minerals and Trace Minerals
Minerals and trace minerals allow your body to absorb nutrients.
Minerals keep the body pH-balanced: alkaline instead of acid. You
cannot form bones or digest food without them. While trace
minerals are only .01 per- cent of your body weight, not getting
enough of these micro-nutrients can cause you severe depression,
menstrual disorders, hyperactivity, sugar imbalances, nerve and
stress conditions, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, premature
aging of the hair and skin, and memory loss.
CHROMIUM is an essential mineral in helping the body utilize
energy from its sugars. It is linked with niacin and amino-acids
in controlling your GTF levels (Glucose Tolerance Factor) and has
been used by many pro athletes as a performance enhancer.
Chromium helps protect against diabetes and heart disease by
working to help your body's insulin become more efficient, to
clear blood fats and keep sugars at the right level. White flours
and white sugar rob the body of chromium, as does too much milk.
Food sources are brewers yeast, calves liver, potatoes in their
skins, chilies, mushrooms, whole grain bread and chicken legs.
Only tiny amounts are needed: 100-200 micrograms a day.
CALCIUM and MAGNESIUM are related muscle minerals that help calm
and soothe your nerves. These ions compete to both relax and
contract your heart and balance your kidneys. While calcium makes
your blood vessels contract, magnesium dilates them and can lower
high blood pressure.
Calcium is essential for building, mending and keeping your bones
and fingernails strong. It helps your blood clot properly, kills
pain and helps you to sleep well. Some migraine headaches,
muscular stiffness, soreness, cramps, aches and pains of all
types and spasms are relieved by calcium. It stimulates certain
enzyme reactions and helps control fluid movement through cells
and tissue walls. Calcium lack strangely enough may stimulate
painful calcium deposits and bone spurs, as your body, aware of
its lack, tries to limit your movement and activity in areas of
stress. We need calcium every day of our lives, and most people
in the Western world don't get enough. Food sources rich in
calcium are dairy products, salmon (with bones) and broccoli.
Meats promote calcium loss in the body. You need 800-1,200 mg a
day. Three 8-oz glasses of milk, three 8-oz cups of plain yogurt
or 6 oz of cheddar cheese provide 1,200 mg.
Magnesium is the key cell mineral needed for your bones, teeth
and soft tissues. You need more if you are involved in endurance
sports, and are prone to cramp. You lose magnesium under stress,
especially loud noise. Magnesium can prevent a buildup of bad
calcium deposits like calcium-based kidney stones. A long
deficiency contributes not only to painful mineral deposits like
kidney stones, but heart attacks. Good food sources are leafy
green vegetables, peas, nuts, whole grain foods, brown rice and
soybeans; you can use between 350-450 mg a day, unless you have
previous kidney failure. Five cups of green beans or 12 brazil
nuts provide 350 mg. of magnesium.
POTASSIUM - with sodium (in a 3:1 ratio) forms key ions for
electrolyte fluid balance in the body. It helps nerves transmit
messages, digestive enzymes and growth. It is a key to control
high blood pressure and muscle strength. These two ions
tug-of-war. If sodium wins, potassium is dumped from the body and
the cells hold more water. When potassium wins, the cells get rid
of sodium and water. This special bioelectric balance allows
cells energy. Mess up that balance (like when you eat wrong) and
the cells shut off and start to die. You especially need
potassium in heat or hot and humid weather, three times more than
salt. Potatoes, fresh fruit and fish are loaded with it. A cup of
raw peas has 458 mg of potassium and 3 mg. of sodium; processed
peas halve the potassium (239 mg) and increase the sodium 200%!
For 2,000 mg a day you could eat 4 bananas, 4 8-oz glasses of
orange juice or 6 carrots.
SODIUM - is an important part of blood chemistry, but most people
get too much salt in their diet. You need only 500 mg. a day
(about 1/4 teaspoon of salt). We average 4 to 5 grams a day, over
ten times what we need. Cut back on salt. It is a learned taste
and can be unlearned. Foods with salt: those pickled, canned
smoked or cured; soy sauce; luncheon meats, salted snack foods.
Don't take salt tablets when you exercise!
IRON - is essential to blood formation, and helps keep us strong,
alert and energetic. Deficiency (especially through blood loss)
can cause anemia; weakness, easy fatigue, poor resistance,
headaches and pale skin. You only need small amounts in your diet
from 10-30 mg. Meat, liver, beans, leafy green vegetables, dried
fruits, grains all contain iron. Too much is toxic.
SELENIUM is a strong antioxidant. Selenium works with vitamin E
to help prevent fat and cholesterol build-up in your bloodstream.
Deficiency can make your skin age early, damage your liver, and
create hypothyroidism. Food sources include brewer's yeast,
sesame seeds, garlic, tuna, kelp, wheat germ, oysters and fish.
The antioxidant ZINC is key to insulin formation, immune
strength, growth and reproductive health. It functions as an
internal sun visor for your eyes, helping prevent them from free
radical damage. It is both a tranquilizer and vitalizer, helping
you sleep better at night and think better during the day. Zinc
is essential for your tissues to breathe and produce energy by
carbohydrate metabolism. It can help restore appetite and taste.
It tremendously speeds up the healing process in many conditions,
like after surgery. Use it with extra C, A & D whenever you
want a fast recovery from a cold. Zinc corrects bad acne cases
and rough, scaly skin. Food sources include brewer's yeast,
mushrooms, soy foods, wheat germ, sunflower & pumpkin seeds
and eggs. You need between 15-25 mg a day. As a corrective
supplement you can use up to 35 milligrams day of zinc gluconate
or sulphate with low-fiber meals. Great excess can cause nausea,
vomiting or anemia.
Colloidal forms of vitamins & minerals can help supplement
your meals when you can't get enough of what you need from what
you have available.
DRUGS:
"Your merchants were the very great of the earth; for by
your sorceries (pharmakeia) were the nations deceived" (Rev.
18:23)
Forget illegal drugs. Even without that ugly underground economy,
drugs dominate much of the trade of the world. Ours is a drug
culture. In the USA alone, pharmakeia is a 30 billion dollar
industry. There are nearly 90,000 different prescription drugs on
the market; drugstores dispense some two billion prescriptions a
year. No doctor can keep up with the steady flow of new medicine.
The drug companies by default are the ones who recommend
chemicals; it is simpler and legally safer for a doctor to put a
patient on a drug (specified by a company as tested to treat that
condition) than to risk suggesting any non-pharmaceutical
alternative. We use drugs to put us to sleep, keep us awake,
speed us up and slow us down. We have got so used to "better
living through chemicals" that it seems radical indeed to
think there might be other ways to deal with disease.
HEALTH & HEALING
You don't have to treat disease by drugs. Your body never
naturally needs drugs. Drugs do not heal. Drugs "cure"
nothing. When given by a competent doctor, they can target areas
of misbehavior by the body, shut down pain receptors and
chemically block cell response to problem conditions. But use
them wrongly by accident, design or error and they can make you
even sicker or kill you.
Only God heals. He not only can supernaturally minister to your
body when you hurt beyond man's help, but He can keep you in
HEALTH. (Ex. 15:26; Jer. 17:14; 30:17; Matt. 10:1,8; Luke 10:9)
His incredible design of the body ensures that when you treat it
right and don't poison, starve or suffocate it, it will fight off
invaders, rebuild damage and loss, toss out stuff that doesn't
belong and give you power to do what you need to do. And it will
do it for you each day until you run out of time to rebuild what
is broken.
Your body is an entire God-designed community of specialized
internally self-supervised energy units. Live life by God's laws
and watch them work. Give them what they need, and they will keep
you not only healthy but full of life. Go through your medicine
cabinet and ask yourself this question: "Apart from a core
of emergency care, what do I really need in here?" We get
too used to going to chemicals and not to Christ. Good doctors do
the best they can but they can only do so much and take you only
so far. God wants us to ultimately LOOK TO HIM for health and
healing. (2 Chron 16:12-13; Mk. 5:25-29).
DRINKING
Minimize drug use of any kind. Find alternatives to what you
have. Needless to say, you certainly cut out all illegal and
legal addictives. Especially is this true with alcohol and
tobacco of any kind. More kids die by accident than any other
cause of death among teenagers. Over half of those deaths are by
drunk driving. More boys are murdered than kill themselves;
drinking and drugs dominate in the cause of these deaths too. One
single drink of alcohol permanently kills off an irreplaceable
piece of brain. All alcohols kill. Methyl blinds you as you die.
Even a little propyl alcohol lets monsters loose in your body.
But ethyl is the only one that kills you slow so you don't notice
how you die. Don't drink.
Don't drink at all. Alcohol (the decayed end-product of rot) not
only stuns your ability to think clearly, quickly and remember.
Even small amounts knock out your ability to resist disease. No
wonder the Bible says "Wine is mocker, strong drink is
raging and whoever is deceived by it is not wise." (Prov.
20:1; Is. 5:11,22; Is. 28:7) No Kings'child is to touch alcohol.
(Prov. 31:4) Wine is for no-one in ministry (Lev. 10:9); you are
to get your bravery, happiness, and loudness from the Holy
Spirit! (Eph. 5:18; Acts 2:13) The only legitimate use of strong
drink in the Bible is to dull the pain of someone who is dying.
(Prov. 31:6) Many kids use it for this today. Was Jesus ever
tempted? Dying on the cross, they offered Him a drug/alcohol
mixture; the record says He refused.
TOBACCO
"They are a smoke in My nose"(God, talking about
someone He really, really doesn't like Is. 65:5)
Tobacco, smoked, snuffed or chewed is one of the most dangerously
addictive drugs in Western civilization. Despite clear warnings,
the average age of habitual smokers has been dropping for
decades. It is currently 14.4 years old. Half of all regular
smokers will die from their habit. Statistically, each cigarette
robs a regular smoker of 5.5 minutes of their life. SNUFF is even
worse. Companies doctor it to increase its free nicotine
addictiveness; a grim thought, when the average age kids start to
use snuff is 9! You CANNOT SMOKE and be healthy. In the Bible,
smoke is negatively associated with shortness of life, wasting
destruction and judgment. (Deut. 29:20; Ps. 68:2; 102:3; Prov.
10:26; Is 34:10; 51:6; Hos. 13:3; Rev. 9:2-3, 17-18)
Don't you dare take God's temple and fill it with smoke never
intended for His altar. Stop smoking. Do what you have to do, but
break it for good.
SICKNESS & HEALTH
What is sickness? It is your body's' attempt to throw off
whatever it is loaded into it that doesn't belong. If it can get
rid of what bothers it, you will usually get well. DISEASE is a
marker to show up what is wrong. Sickness may signal your need to
take out the garbage. Bacteria attack cells that already have a
problem. Anything that slows down or hinders its effort - which
may include eating (wrong things or at the wrong time) using
drugs just to suppress the symptom, pushing on without giving it
a chance to direct its energy to the problem, even believing the
wrong thing -will cut down your chance of recovery. In Western
medicine we tend to hit the symptoms chemically & quickly so
we don't feel bad. We would rather cut off the pain than deal
with the problem. But problems not dealt with get bigger quick.
How do you know what to do and who to ask?
We are the most wonderful and mysterious beings in the Universe
next to God. No-one knows all the answers to the questions of
health and healing. Good doctors and nuritionalists differ widely
in what they know and what they recommend. Check with someone
competent and qualified to advise you in significant health
choices you make. If you don't choose to check with a doctor or
health professional on what to do about your own unique needs and
problems, you still have the right to decide for yourself how to
use information like this for advice in your own situation. You
have the moral and legal right to prescribe a course of action
for yourself and no-one else ultimately can do that for you. But
make decisions like this with care and with prayer. You are
responsible to the Great Physician for what you do with the
temple He has entrusted you.
PREVENTION VS CURE
Beloved, I wish above all things the you may prosper and be in
health even as your soul prospers." (I John 3:2)
CELLS OF ALL KINDS make up the incredible system of your body.
They just need on their own small level what you need on your own
big level. What they are in their own tiny way is what the total
you will be as they all report in for duty. Cells need air,
exercise, food, stimulation, energy, rest and a good clear way to
get rid of garbage. Fail to give them what they have to have to
do the job for you and you soon won't be able to get it done in
the big world either. God's plan is not just healing; it is for
you to STAY WELL and not need healing. (Ps. 67:2; Prov. 3:5-8;
4:20-23; Is. 58:8-11; Jer. 33:6; 3).
Give your body (the big level) what it needs on the tiny level
and you give it the chance to be its best. Give your body plenty
of air. Exercise, so your cells don't get lazy. Feed them the
right stuff the right way in the right amount. Let them take a
break when they need it. Keep the sewer channels clean and clear
of waste. Let Jesus deal with all REAL CAUSES of so much sickness
and disease in our lives - the violation of His Word and of His
purposes in our bodies, minds and hearts.
People get hurt if they don't know how things work. The evil of
the body is sickness. The evil of the mind is error. The evil of
the soul is sin. And God is against all evil. (John 10:10)
The RULES OF GOOD HEALTH are so ordinary and obvious we keep
missing them. Do it God's way. Keep His rules for a clean body,
heart and mind. Walk in all His ways and learn the truth of His
promise: "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the
Lord your God and will do that which is right in His sight and
will give ear to his commandments and keep all His statutes, I
will put none of these diseases on you that I put on the
Egyptians; for I am the Lord that heals you." (Ex. 15:26)
WITNESSING TO THE ATHLETE:
What would Jesus say to Michael Jordan? Martina Navratilova? Mike
Tyson? Jenny Capriati? Magic Johnson? O.J. Simpson? Athletics for
many has been the ticket out of poverty and obscurity. Some were
wholly unprepared to survive the resulting fame and fortune. Many
world newsmakers today are men and women whose entire identity is
rooted in their physical abilities, while their spiritual and
moral lives suffer badly. Their problems are magnified by media
focus and sometimes affect millions.
Some significant athletes as teenagers or college students have
had life-changing encounters and experiences with Christ. For
some that very encounter is the key to their surviving the rigors
of the professional circuit. Entire ministries have sprung up in
recent years to outreach to, mobilize for forms of ministry and
encourage people who have chosen some form of professional sport
as a career, like Athletes In Action and Champions For Christ.
Today's pro athlete often has a solitary, difficult road. They
never got where they are by sheer talent alone. They put in a lot
of time where no-one cheers or cares at all. To stay in the game
they must make many sacrifices. Many of these are in the areas of
close relationships with others; life at the top is often a hard
and lonely road. Some of the saddest areas neglected in their
drive to win are in the area of the spirit.
Good athletes are often admired, honored even idolized - but they
have their own real personal struggles and all the popularity,
money and fame cannot cure. ATHLETES NEED CHRIST. No matter how
good a man or woman is in a sport, surrender to God is real
victory. How do you minister to people whose lives revolve around
sport? Here are four Bible principles:
(1) A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city. (
Prov. 18:19) Physical strength, courage and determination may win
a championship, but how do you win back a heart? The real test of
power is the healing of relationships. A man or woman may give
their ultimate effort to succeed in their sport and yet fail
utterly in the things that count most. You can help an athlete in
the areas of friendship, forgiveness and family problems.
(2) What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and
lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36) Athletics today is an industry.
The lure of large returns, the love of money, the enticement of
taking the love of risk into the world of gambling all are the
temptations of the professional athlete. Making money only takes
a man or woman so far and then the emptiness kicks in. When you
minister to an athlete, the surrender of their good things their
rights and not just wrongs needs to be made a prominent part of
repentance. Don't back off on the true cost of Christianity.
Remember the rich young ruler. (Luke 12:15)
(3) What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a
little time and then vanishes away. (Jas. 4:14) Youth, strength,
physical skills don't last forever. Minister to athletes about
the long look. They have taken such time and care and effort to
be the best physically, mentally and competitively they can be.
Some have made long-term plans about what to do when their career
peaks and what they want to invest in when the ride is over. They
plan what they have to do to win a game, a race, a championship.
Does it make sense not to plan for what they want to be doing for
the next million years and more?
(4) "Take no thought for your life what you shall eat, or
what you shall drink nor yet for your body. Is not the life more
than food, and the body than clothes?" (Matt. 6:25) Jocks
worry a lot. They are always thinking about what they eat, what
they look like, what could happen to their body if they get
injured. With sponsorships a large part of earnings, what they
wear can also dominate their lives. At the top, physical training
is not enough. Mental pressure is the name of the game in the big
leagues. Speak to the athlete about surrender of their cares and
fears to Christ. He is the only one not swayed by their talent
nor ready to abandon them when they fail. When everything else is
gone, He remains. ( I Jn. 2:16-17).