A long journey begins with a single step
Every day in every aspect of our life, we make choices that profoundly affect our capacity to be healthy. Eating becomes one of those challenges.
The Bible uses many things from the common circumstances of everyday life to give us clear and sensitive instruction into our relationship with Him. These instructions work as a logical direction finder that God gives us which strengthens our relationship with Him, and shares many parallels with our relationships with fellow men. In this manner, we perceive God as our Father and Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, connecting each of us to a spiritual family, that have certain responsibilities. The Bible’s writers use our senses to teach us about the spiritual aspects, and about the physical body. These parallels help us a great deal to grasp concepts that are essential to this relationship.
Ephesians 5:25-26 teaches us why Jesus willingly gave Himself. Simply stated so that we can be free from the dirt and the toxic impurities of this world. We have to recognize the death of old and toxic habits, so there can be no doubt in our minds that we will repent (turn from), and that our house (body, physical and mental), might be a fit place for the Holy Spirit to live.
We must discuss and establish a healthy environment to live in. This is for many of us is new and a terrifying process. It means that we give control of our self to a power that is greater than our selves. Why because we have a tendency to do wrong things, leaving us with a life that is unmanageable.
Adam and Eve’s original sin is one of these events, but we will skip it, as it has been explained so often. A second involves Jacob and Rebecca s deception of the blind Isaac, which we will discuss for its useful background information. However, we should carefully examine Esau’s rejection of his birthright. Esau’s actions paint such a clear picture of an unconverted person. By choosing to eat a stew at the wrong time, he reveals a significant flaw in his character that all of us share to some degree. Perhaps never in all man’s history has something so valuable been purchased for so little!
Of course this behavior is not unusual among addicted individuals. One day while as a patient at the United States Naval Hospital in San Diego California, I was privileged to observe an individual that was strapped to his bed. This person would have sold his mother for one drink.
So how do we nourish our digestive stem without causing further damage by practicing our habitual behavior?
A major principle we can learn from our eating habits is that we will quite likely experience our most severe temptations and trials in common everyday events. We might be led by imagination rather than realism and picture ourselves giving our life to Christ before a firing squad; by being shown as less than, as Isaiah is reputed to have been; or perhaps holding fast to our faith while imprisoned in a concentration camp but after this ordeal go about with as negative lifestyle. But these extreme cases do not happen to many. Most people’s temptations and tests occur in the midst of everyday, commonplace events like eating or conducting business affairs or relating to others within a family or community.
One paraphrase of Romans 1:28-31 changed the term “reprobate mind” (KJV; debased mind, NKJV) to “degrading passions and pleasure seeking stimulation, or to a term I use, Addictive Mental Process (AMP).” Another rendered it as “irrational stimulation resulting in outrageous behavior.” Without a strong resistance to this daily unrelenting pressure, such stimulation will gradually produce a stupor, an apathy, an unfeeling indifference toward the highest priorities of life, that is, our relationships with God and our fellow man. If we do not defend our self against physical and mental lawlessness, we will lose our God-given love. The individual must guard strongly against becoming caught up in the stupor-inducing spirit of the times of which Paul forewarns us in Ephesians 6:10-14
Now let us explore a parallel between physical and spiritual eating. Such verses as Jeremiah 3:15 say, “And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Here, God appeals to His people, promising to supply leaders who will provide them with good things that we can feed our mind, if only we will turn to Him in repentance. Romans 12:1-2. Step 3. The apostle Paul adds in Acts 20:28, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd. The primary responsibility is to provide good spiritual food to those they were ordained to pastors.
OUT OF CONTROL EATING
As stated above, eating can be applied to the quality of our mental thinking as well as to our physical excess. Eating, then, is a continuous daily experience of, or pleasure in, something other than food.
Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good . *
If morality requires respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute value. It rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for it s sake, to idolize physical perfection and success at sports, by its selective preference of the strong over the weak, such a conception can lead to the perversion of human relationships. **
God is infinitely good and all his works are good. Yet no one can escape the experience of suffering or the evils in nature which seem to be linked to the limitations proper to creatures: and above all to the question of moral evil. I have asked this question many times, Where does evil come from? ” From my own personal experience, since growing closer to Christ I have experienced lot s of temptations, especially those of a mental variety, , and found there is no solution, other than to continue to ask God that I become more like Jesus. Thus putting into action true love in Christ.
The old physical law of space, simply states that no two things or thoughts may occupy the same space at the same time. So if we continually have Christ in our heart/mind the thought of Christ in our thinking, in our heart, there will be no room or space for unrighteous thoughts. We must therefore approach the question of the origin of evil by fixing the eyes of our faith on Him who alone is its conqueror.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
Food sensitivities may cause allergic people to crave those foods to which they are allergic. Just as a drug addict suffers withdrawal symptoms when the drug is withdrawn, allergic people experience discomfort when they lose access to a particular food.
Obese people can testify to the overwhelming power of food allergy addiction. Compulsive eaters crave and continue to eat those allergenic foods to which they are addicted day after day. The obese person has no idea that his daily food cravings or eating habits are based on a physiological need to stop withdrawal symptoms caused by food allergy addiction.
The phenomenon of instantaneous allergy and addiction to both foods and chemicals is now well accepted by doctors specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies. These specialists, believe that many chronic health problems, such as migraine, fatigue, depression, and arthritis are caused by allergies to foods and chemicals and affect approximately one-third of the population living in industrialized countries.
As with food it is commonly observed that chemicals cause varied reactions among different people. For instances, an individual s genetic predisposition to allergies will determine which part of his body will become the vulnerable target organ or tissue. Any major organ may become involved: the symptoms of cerebral allergies include hyperactivity, depression, irritability, headaches and some forms of schizophrenia; hypoglycemia is a manifestation of pancreatic malfunction, frequently caused by chemical reactions; while in other cases, the blood vessels may be the target organ with the resulting signs of vasculitis, (inflammation of a blood vessel or lymph vessel), and edema. The symptoms are compounded and are generally more severe following frequent contact with an allergy-provoking food and/or chemical substance.
Water retention, or edema, is particularly common among allergic individuals and is an important contributing factor to obesity. The removal of an offending food will often result in a rapid water loss of five to ten pounds within a week s time, all without the use of a diuretic.
To understand both allergic and associated addictive phenomenon we can look at the two conditions, both are aspects of food intolerance. In allergy-addiction, there are three principle stages: the first stage is characterized by an acute allergic reaction to a toxic substance. Recall the first time that you, or someone whom you know, smoked a cigarette. Most frequently, the individual will find the smoke distasteful and may even have clinical symptoms such as coughing, sore throat and dizziness.
This acute reaction can be taken as evidence that the cigarette smoke has some toxic effects on the body. After smoking becomes a habit, the symptoms are no longer noticeable. It is important to note that tobacco is cured using sugar. This is also true with alcohol.
It is significant to note that all addictions are similar, whether cigarettes, coffee, heroin, wheat or milk products. The final stage occurs when the body fails to maintain adaptation and experiences the allergic and addicted symptoms simultaneously. This is the stage in which chronic symptoms of disease emerge.
Can we now realize that people who are allergic to sugar experience a craving for sweets. One patient ate 50 twinkies a day and although her stomach would hurt, she would keep on eating. When her husband left for work in the morning she would take a tablespoon of sugar as soon as he was out the door, because it would make her feel good. remember alcohol turns to sugar and tobacco is cured with sugar.
Food and substance sensitivities exist when an individual experiences difficulty in the digestion of specific foods or certain groupings of foods, sugar specifically. Food allergies exist when an individual’s immune system reacts negatively. The following are just a few examples: fatigue, lethargy, needing to sleep after you have eaten; mood swings, depression, restlessness, headaches, migraines, joint pain, gas, bloating, and indigestion.
Just remember each one of us is made of body, mind, emotion and spirit and you cannot separate the body from the mind, emotions or spirit. Like most modern illnesses with modern day symptoms such fatigue, depression, aching joints and muscles, migraines, asthma, lupus, different types bowel diseases, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, the causes are often complex and are of a variety of origins including the spirit, mind and emotions.
Flower essences have caused drastic changes with those who suffer from addictive substances. ***
St. John’s Wort Combination. Researchers at Harvard Medical School injected 71 golden Syrian hamsters, who by nature have an unusual craving for alcohol. The hamsters immediately cut back on their alcohol consumption and began to drink more water. These preliminary findings add an interesting sidebar to already recognized herbal traditions. Hypericin, an active constituent in St. John’s Wort ****, supports the nervous system in times of physical and emotional stress. Each capsule of St. John’s Wort Combination contains 1 mg of daidzin and 1 mg hypericin.
There are additional herbal products, Gods choice of food for us, but what is important in the process of alleviating addictions is that there are herbs available to us. Since the Flood every moving clean, healthful, nonpoisonous type of animal life is good for food’ just as God gave us the healthful, nonpoisonous herbs.
* 2288 Catholic Catechism pp 551 Catechism of the Catholic Church
** 2289 Catholic Catechism pp 552 Catechism of the Catholic Church
*** Flower essences write for more information
**** St John s Wort – write for more information write for more information
Note: Always consult with your health care professional before making any changes to your diet, medications or intake of herbal remedies.