Living Totally Healthy in 2021

My Boaz and I traveled to Florida over the Christmas break. Boy! Was I reminded what it was like before I went gluten-free while eating healthy food. The food fare available, unless I wanted to risk COVID, was slim. Even though I packed food in our cooler and carried a bag of healthy snacks, some of our food choices were slim–a couple of fast-food chains with food to take out, gas station offerings, and hitting the grocery. I found myself in pain, bloated, foggy-brained, and developed mouth sores. Now that we are home, we are back to our healthy gluten-free, allergy-friendly options. My waist shrank two inches, my body doesn’t hurt as it did, and I can think more clearly. As for the mouth sores—from gluten- or egg-contamination—healing will take a while. It is so easy to take healthy living for granted until it’s not possible to maintain.

What Will You Do?

I imagine the Thanksmasyears holiday fare—Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years’—makes you consider what happened to your body, too. Are you bloated? Are you carrying an extra five to ten pounds? Achy? Do you lack energy? Then it’s time to begin getting your health and weight on track with the Lord. What does that mean? A Bible verse jumped out at me this week: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say, ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,” Titus 2:11-12 NIV. Our bodies know when we aren’t treating it the way God intended. He never created us to eat highly processed foods, nor did He mean for us to overindulge for so long with feasts. He also never designed our bodies to sit the majority of our days, either. In Genesis 2:5-9, 15-16, the Bible shows us that when God created Adam and Eve, they were to take care of the Garden (work) and eat from it (nutritious food). Also, in Genesis 9:3, this passage tells us our diet is now to include fish and meat. We make foods from these basics God gave us, but it is essential to bear these things in mind when it comes to our food:

Go Simple,

Go Fresh,

Go Natural.

Another thought is that we must work for what we have. Adam and Eve did physical labor (Genesis 3:17-19). I believe there was physical labor before they were banished from the Garden, but it was now much more difficult. God never intended us to live sedentary lives. Our labor-saving devices are nice, but they also allow us to damage our bodies from a lack of physical exercise. With this, I would ask you to consider these thoughts about physical activity:

Go Move,

Go Often,

Go Now.

If you are curious about how these slogans are used at Be Totally Fit for Life! come to my intro class of our Healthy Lifestyles series #1: Let the Adventure Begin! Watch for announcements on our website and social media.

How Will You Make 2021 Work for You?

So, a classmate shared a meme that read: “I’d like to cancel my subscription to 2021. I’ve experienced the free 7-day trial and I’m not interested.” I have no idea who originally posted this, but it was so telling of our feelings about the New Year and our feelings about the previous one. If you know who originally posted this, let me know so I can give them proper credit. Here is the deal: A New Year is never a blank slate. A lot of stuff flows from one year into the next. There are billions of people in this world, and one person’s actions and words affect those around them. They influence others. It ripples around the globe. All we can do is work with what we have and let God handle the rest. Let’s be godly influencers mentally, relationally, spiritually, and physically.

Getting back to the original Bible passage of Titus 2:11-12, God calls us to say “No” to anything ungodly. Gluttony and slothfulness (from the King James Version) aren’t godly. Instead, working for what we have and not overindulging are what we should practice. When you think about our world right now, ungodly practices would include: vanity (obsessing about our appearance), mindfulness practices from Eastern religious practices like yoga, and more (New Age Movement in health, fitness, and wellness), and eating whatever we want whenever we want because we deserve it (hedonistic view of happiness by satisfying fleshly desires). Christians are called to be self-controlled, and live upright, godly lives. It shouldn’t be a mystery by our behavior Whose child we are. It should be readily evident, even in what we eat, how we live life, how we treat people, and our self-controlled behavior.

I want to invite you to join me in our first session of Healthy Lifestyles—Let the Adventure Begin! I will offer a demo class on Facebook live on our Be Totally Fit for Life! page. See the personal stewardship difference, the biblical Christian perspective we offer through our Healthy Lifestyles focus groups. Watch for announcements.

Discussion thoughts: What will you do to become a better steward of your body in 2021? How will you make a difference in the lives of others this year?