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God's Diet Plan
God Nuggets, Issue 7

"The wise person eats to live, while others live to eat." - Proverbs 13:25

Most of us have heard this quote and promptly ignored it - thinking it was merely a line from the newest fad or worse yet, some rail-thin "health nazi."

Surprisingly, it's God's prescription for a long-term healthy life.

"Eat to live" means eating balanced, nutritious and moderate portions. It does not mean we are not to enjoy our food. This bit of dietary wisdom is not aimed at the person who simply looks forward to a good meal. After all, as Catholic philosopher and political pundit, William F. Buckley, wryly comments "eating is the only sensual activity that most of us can enjoy with any regularity, three times a day."

After all, what was God's first communication with Adam and Eve? Perhaps a brief fatherly talk on sex education? Or pre-marital counseling? No, it was about the abundance of delightful tastes and foods God had prepared for them (Genesis 1:29).

What God's wisdom is addressing here is the person whose first priority, in fact their primary priority (or in some sad cases their only priority) or source of gratification is food, food and more food, regardless of its benefit or detriment.

The picture that comes to my mind is an airport worker I recently sat next to at lunch. As he was literally wolfing down a huge mound of French fries with his cheeseburger he was eagerly eying the stack of donuts he had crammed onto a corner of his tray. It goes with out saying that the man needed to lose an extra hundred pounds or two.

Looking forward to a good meal is not the problem. The undisciplined abuse of food - particularly sugar and chemically "fortified" unnatural foods that make up the vast majority of the American diet is what God and common sense would have us avoid.

For more on living a healthy life visit our Healthy Body & Mind section.

by C.V. Doner

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