Oghomwen (Owen) Jones
Many of us take considerable care of what we own, particularly when they are expensive. Are we as intentional about looking after our bodies, as we are our various possessions?
Some may think this is a bizarre question. Please stay with me. Many people pay absolutely none or minuscule attention to the foods/drinks they consume. Conversely great care is often taken by these same individuals in looking after their possessions.
With women this could be their handbags, jewellery, wigs, clothes, etc. For men perhaps their various gadgets, cars, motorbikes etc.
Many will take great care of their belongings, for instance with wigs, women will often make sure that they are groomed with good quality products. With their cars, men ensure that they are filled with the right fuel.
These same individuals may see absolutely nothing wrong with consuming excessive amounts of processed foods and drinks.
See the picture? Some take better care of their various possessions than they do their bodies. Food for thought right?
The thing is that these foods have virtually no nutritional benefits and should really be eaten very sparingly if at all. Do you realise the efforts made by various food giants to get people hooked to their products? They often incur high research and development costs, with an end game…to find the precise combination of unhealthy ingredients required to get people addicted.
Research has proven that processed foods/drinks are more addictive than cigarettes, alcohol and cocaine. I find this notion very alarming. It has also been found that there has been an unquestionable correlation in the increase of various metabolic diseases in some countries in Africa and other parts of the world. It was only soon after the initial introduction of these highly processed foods/drinks, that these diseases were experienced in these countries. Yikes!
I have to say in doing research as I wrote my book ‘Moderation Is Key’, I became even more cautious with these foods. We cannot consume excessive amounts of these foods for sustained periods without some negative impact on our wellbeing.
Some of the unhealthy conditions that can be caused are diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease fatty liver disease, obesity, etc. I have written a couple of other blogs on processed foods and beverages. Please take a look. Even better get a copy of my book. It’s a one stop, easy to read manual, in which I share numerous tips, that I used on my weight loss journey 30 years ago. I lost weight those many years ago and by God’s Grace, have kept it off. I have continued to use these tips for successful weight maintenance. They will work for you too.
The culprit ingredients to keep an ever vigilant eye on, in these highly processed products are high fructose corn syrup (HCFS), other sugars, salt, trans fats etc. This is best done by paying close attention to food labels.
Typically when these ingredients appear at the top of the product component list, it is a good indication that it contains a high percentage of these ‘poisons’. Yes many of these ingredients are poisonous, as they cause havoc to our health over time, when eaten excessively for sustained periods.
Our bodies His Temple are the only body we have here on earth, with which to fulfil our purpose. How well our bodies are and perform, whether they are healthy or not is mainly up to us. Let’s make the decision to intentionally fuel it with moderate amounts of a variety of the nutrient dense foods God has graciously blessed us with. We must also exercise too, in moderation. When we choose to INTENTIONALLY eat well and exercise we help prevent disease in our body. We must always remember that ‘prevention is better than cure’. Prevention, is cheaper, both monetarily, physically and emotionally.
As I have tried to remind readers in previous blogs, our bodies are The Lord’s Temple…not our own.
Scripture tells us so:
1 Corinthians 6:19 KJV
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
We really ought to take care, and be mindful of what we consume. Another reminder of what we are here on earth to accomplish is worthwhile…our unique purpose. We need to be healthy to fulfil our purpose. When the foods we eat compromise our health, it can cause our wellness to gradually slip away and so get in the way of accomplishing ALL that The Lord intended us to…
