Care for Your Health

The Bible states that a person who possesses wisdom will be conscious about his diet, also that self-love is expressed in the most fundamental way when we nourish and care for our bodies. As servants of God and believers in the word of God, we should all heed these instructions. It is a critical choice in disease prevention, acquiring vitality, and achieving longevity.

Here are three things to consider in improving your diet and caring for your body.

First, to be conscious about your diet means to carefully select what foods you will eat. The foods we eat either promote disease or provide the building blocks to good health. For example, high intake of process foods consisting primarily of sugar, salt, and fat, such as cakes, cookies, ice cream, soda, sweeten coffee drinks, white bread/enriched flour, candy, and packaged goods help promote the disease metabolic syndrome. This is a cluster of diseases occurring at once- diabetes, hypertension, elevated triglyceride, high cholesterol, and obesity. There is a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in people whose diets are high in process foods. The foods we eat do have an impact on our health.
It is highly recommended to reduce and eliminate processed foods from your diet. Start by eliminating soda and sweetened drinks from your diet. For some people this change alone results in significant weight loss and reduction in belly fat, which is a risk factor for metabolic syndrome. Instead, try drinking water flavored with fruits. This method is low in sugar, fat, salt, and calories, but higher in nutritional value. Add sliced strawberries or sliced cucumbers( a favorite vegetable of our ancient Israelite ancestors) to your water to enhance the flavor and nutrition the next time your crave a sweeten drink. Here is a website for further recipes:
http://dailyburn.com/life/recipes/fruit-infused-water-recipes/

Next, get adequate physical activity. In our current modern world, we are becoming more and more  inactive at work and at home. Many jobs now are automated and require less physical activity. And at home with 24 hour entertainment available we spend much of our time on computers or phones. Our bodies were made for movement and to be physical. It helps release tension and stress, elevates our mood, remove excess sugar, fat, and calories from our bodies so we can stay lean and healthy. Aim for both functional activities and structured activities. Functional activities are those we do naturally like walking or running. These types of activities help us get exercise throughout the day without having to have a gym membership to do it. Try taking the stairs instead of the elevator next time, park a few blocks away from work and walk, at work deliver messages in person instead of emailing. Structured activities are those that are planned and purposeful, like taking a group exercise class, yoga, training for a 5k road race, strength training two to three times a week. All these various ways to stay physically active will complement a healthy diet in promoting health and vitality.

Finally, strive to get quality sleep. God says that He gives his beloved people sleep and peace of mind. Sleep is a natural part of the cycle of the world with the rhythm of day and night. Our bodies naturally rises with the dawn and begins to get sleepy with dusk and increases as darkness progress. This is what is called our circadian rhythm, that built-in clock that operates on the cycle of day and night. If we get inadequate or poor quality sleep we break this cycle. Limited number of hours or disrupted sleep has many detrimental effects, such as poor memory, decrease problem solving ability, depression, reduce reaction time, impaired healing of tissue and organs, reduction in growth hormones, and increase cravings for carbohydrates and sweets. Adequate and restful sleep does the opposite and helps prevent disease, elevate mood, reduces stress hormones, and provides energy and clarity of mind. Our sleep should be deep, restful, with dream sequences, and a gradual awaking with the new day.
Aim for seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep for most adults, youths and pregnant women may need more due to the growth cycles they are in.

If you have difficulty falling asleep consider the following tips:

• Avoid caffeine after 12noon if you drink coffee. It can alter your ability to fall asleep.
• Try to darken your house to simulate dusk- it cause your melatonin levels to rise. Melatonin is a natural hormone in our bodies that help promote sleepiness.
• Utilize pray and meditation to help you relax and let go of the day. In  the quietness of your bedroom, with the light down low, pray to God and ask Him to watch over you, your family, and your community, and forgive anyone that offended you or ask forgiveness for your offense to anyone that day. Recite Proverbs 3:21,22,23,24 in recognition that God is your protector and giver of good sleep. Breathe deep through your nose and exhale through your mouth in a slow and relaxed manner for 12 breaths. This will help you relax further. Then let go of the day and all your worries, anticipations, and fears and enjoy the rest God gives.

By applying these three methods of being mindful of our diets, nourishing and caring for our body, we will be able to achieve good health, vitality and longevity. And this will not only benefit us but it will equip us to do the calling God has given each of us in our lifetime to do. We will be able to preach better, write better, sing better, provide for our families better, help others better, be better examples of the true believers of Christ. We will be a blessing to ourselves and to the world.

Shalam,
Zarach