Well, I see from my front page that I have not written in a week or more, and looking back on the last few weeks, I have been pretty busy. We have started eating even more healthy and I am trying to take the weight off. At 6'4", I am about 300 pounds. That is unacceptable to me, and is a great contributing source of the pain I feel each day.
With a history of back problems including bulging discs and half a dozen injuries via tree or other large heavy object hitting me, it is a wonder I can get around at all some days. Coupling that with a family history of arthritis and weak knees and ankles, and you have a very large body on an ever weakening frame. Being 50 lbs over weight is not helping this issue.
More than the pain and stress on my body comes the issue that it effects how I live my life each day. Maybe losing weight will reduce the stress on my body enough to control my seizures, maybe not. The focal point is that I need to be who God wants me to be, and serve Him with mind, body, and spirit. This cannot be adequately achieved if I do not lose some of the weight.
In every area of our lives we need to look to see if we are honoring God and living up to what He has for us. I have never thought before that being "a big fat guy"(self labeled) was not honoring to God. There are often reasons that people get heavy, and it is very easy put weight on, but hard to take off. Because it is so hard to lose weight, I must take on a lifestyle that promotes good health, increases my energy, and hopefully reduces my daily pain.
So, where do we go from here? We have eaten fairly well according to American standards for the last few years, but I have a sweet tooth and a history of giving in to cravings that I should not give in to. Candy, chips, and soda were still a part of my diet, and usually more so near bed time, which is the worst time of all to eat this stuff. The candy is gone, the soda is out, and chips are not in the house either. Pretzels are pretty much the worst thing I have eaten in weeks.
In the process of eliminating food that is "bad" we really had to look to the idea of what God provided for us and what we are to do with it. When God created the garden of Eden, it was good, perfect, just how man should live. God gave us food, meat, fruit, veggies, in their natural state and man tends to mess with everything in order to make it better. Most of the time, however, it is not better but worse.
I am no member of the Weston Price society, but I have friends that are, and they certainly do know their nutrition. The basic idea is that Weston Price, a dentist, went to all these societies that were untouched by the modern world. The idea was to learn about dental health and eating habits, from what I understand. In the process of finding these tribes, villages, and groups of people, he noticed that they did not deal with cancer, diabetes, dental problems, as a rule. They were very healthy. So, one has to ask themselves, why then in a nation (USA) of doctors, nutritionists, scientists, and every technology (and diet program) known to man do we lead these "uncivilized" people in all manner of disease rather than cure? I think the source is that of misusing the tools God has given us.
We abuse the food God provided by overcooking, preserving by unnatural methods, using artificial growth hormones, and expecting a can of peaches to last 2 years on a shelf. This is not natural. I live in Maine, and God created the food that grows here to keep well here. If you expect oranges, melons, and peaches to last the winter, you would have to use some serious preservatives, all which either take something good out of, or introduce something bad into our food.
If, however, we plant and eat apples, carrots, parsnips, turnips, squash, and a host of other items the preserve well in our climate, you don't need to do much to keep them good. This is part of our aim at this point. Anyone who has read here knows that we are trying to do our best living on our "1 acre homestead" which most would consider ludicrous. I think it can be done with a little hard work( which we all need) and some time investment.
I will detail later what our plan includes, but for now, the kids just got up and we have chores to do. We also will be eating whole wheat toast, with home made peanut butter, served alongside organically produced eggs from our chickens and a glass of milk (still working on how to get a cow here) that is un-messed-around- with and from a local farm that treats their cows right. In such a short time, I have not seen results on the scale end of things (it won't read my weight because I am over its capacity right now, OUCH!!) I feel better and through the aches and pains can look back on each day knowing that today I worked hard to bring glory to the Lord with how I took care of the body He gave me. In time, it will be more evident and hopefully I will have less pain and be able to do more and more for Him.
Sorry to unload so much, but this is very important to me, and I feel it is something I have to do. We take for granted so much, including our health, and we must take charge of our situations and not allow the way we treat our bodies to affect how we serve our God.
Mark
