This is Your Brain on Sugar

This is why my wife and I are doing Whole30 right now.  I have a serious sweet tooth.  I like to pound the desserts.

Eating, Body Image, and the Gospel

Amie Patrick:

Two months into my freshmen year of college, I was forced to admit something had gone terribly wrong with the way I related to food. I'd gained 30 pounds in that short time, double the stereotypical "Freshman 15" some students gain over the course of an entire school year. Deep down I knew my weight gain wasn't only the result of unhealthy cafeteria food or insufficient exercise. I was eating constantly and compulsively for reasons I didn't understand—and I couldn't stop. I felt completely condemned and paralyzed with embarrassment, which I knew wasn't helpful or biblical, but I had no idea how to think otherwise. I was stuck.

I spent the next 20 years seeking to understand a biblical view of my body and of eating, as well as specifically examining how I'd ended up so trapped and confused. I struggled, prayed, immersed myself in Scripture, and repented. I sought out wise counselors, deep community, and biblical resources. I tried all kinds of practical strategies with varying degrees of success. I experienced seasons of freedom and moments of profound despair. I wondered if lasting freedom was even a realistic possibility. 

And then, a few years ago, I slowly began to realize my struggle with food had gradually lessened and was no longer such an all-consuming battle. My ups and downs leveled out. Food didn't consume my thinking, my weight was stable and healthy, and I no longer viewed myself with shame and contempt. I certainly wasn't perfect, but I was different. The little victories had added up, and the stretches of freedom had grown longer and deeper. Over time, I'd developed completely different beliefs and habits. I was changed from the inside out. It wasn't a flashy, overnight turnaround, but it was definitely a miracle.   

What I know for sure is that these changes didn't happen because I had extraordinary willpower or because I finally found a diet fad that magically worked for me. I am different today only because of God's transforming power in my life. Still, it took a long time for me see any connection between the gospel and my struggles in this area. In hindsight, however, it's unmistakably clear that these truths were foundational to my transformation and resulting freedom.

Read the rest.   

Why You Should Never Trust the Before/After Pic for Weight Loss Promotion

Great exposé here.

Little Food Legalists

My wife and I have experienced a bit of a food revolution in the last few years.  It's been great.  But I fear that our children are turning into little food legalists as a result of listening in on some of our conversations.  Kind of like the kids below.  

Butter vs. Margarine

Just in case you were wondering.

Junk Food For The Brain

Barnabas Piper:

When I was in college my personal food pyramid was built on a base of Coke and Krispy Kreme Donuts. I managed to stay not fat and not dead because God gave me a decent metabolism. In the years since then I have lost that metabolism but gained a wife who has taught me a curriculum’s worth about eating a healthy and balanced diet, about mixing healthy proteins with an abundance of fresh foods. As a result I am healthier now than I have been in years.  

In this way, the mind is no different from the body. Too often we feed our minds with rubbish – intellectual donuts and coke. This might be pulp novels, gossip magazines, reality television shows, shock-comedy, poorly written or argued works, or simply those books and articles that propagate untruth. When we consume this type of material in quantity our minds become fat and sluggish. They gravitate only toward what is easy for them to handle and digest not realizing the damage that is being caused. The mental processing systems will be short-circuited as the arteries of the mind become coated with the plaque of anti-intellectualism and untrue thinking.

Read the rest.   

NYC Soda Ban Explained

Interesting video.

What Does Eating, Sleeping, and Exercise Have To Do with Sanctification?

Great discussion here. I think we need to talk about these issues way more.

Eating to the Glory of God

Seems like today people are trying to focus more on eating better.  I know that we are as a family and it has greatly blessed us in terms of energy level, sleep, and fighting sickness.

Here is a great article on how to eat to the glory of God.  It's a good reminder concerning something that most of us routinely do three times a day and is at the core of what it means to be human.

(HT:  T-Wax)

Dieting, Exercise and Healthy Motivations

Mike Cosper has a good post about the above issues. Good stuff. His conclusion:

In recent years, I find I'm far more motivated by how I feel than by how I look. When an injury required almost three months off from exercise last year, I once again stared at a bit of a discouraging "spare tire," but I was far more concerned with my general fatigue and weakness.

When we're healthy, we're better able to serve, love, and bless others. We don't wear out so quickly, and we're not daunted by requests to help, whether it's moving a table, leading a kids' Sunday school class, or traveling to Africa.

The dieting roller coaster isn't ending. So long as we have Big Macs and big screen TVs, there will be a host of people who wake up one day saying, "I need to lose weight." And in the world of diet books and exercise tapes, there is plenty of good science and helpful information. We don't necessarily need different goals for our weight and fitness. We need better motivations.

Read the rest.

A Couple of Engaging Documentaries for Your Health

Yesterday I wrote about Whole 30, the diet challenge for 30 days to recalibrate your system, help you lose weight, have more energy, diagnose your food idols, and care for what God has said is "very good".

Recently my wife and I have watched a couple of documentaries that have been quite enlightening and interesting.

First, Food Inc.

Here is a description:

For most Americans, the ideal meal is fast, cheap, and tasty. Food, Inc. examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact. Director Robert Kenner explores the subject from all angles, talking to authors, advocates, farmers, and CEOs, like co-producer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma), Gary Hirschberg (Stonyfield Farms), and Barbara Kowalcyk, who's been lobbying for more rigorous standards since E. coli claimed the life of her two-year-old son. The filmmaker takes his camera into slaughterhouses and factory farms where chickens grow too fast to walk properly, cows eat feed pumped with toxic chemicals, and illegal immigrants risk life and limb to bring these products to market at an affordable cost. If eco-docs tends to preach to the converted, Kenner presents his findings in such an engaging fashion that Food, Inc. may well reach the very viewers who could benefit from it the most: harried workers who don't have the time or income to read every book and eat non-genetically modified produce every day. Though he covers some of the same ground as Super-Size Me and King Corn, Food Inc. presents a broader picture of the problem, and if Kenner takes an understandably tough stance on particular politicians and corporations, he's just as quick to praise those who are trying to be responsible--even Wal-Mart, which now carries organic products. That development may have more to do with economics than empathy, but the consumer still benefits, and every little bit counts.

The second, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, is also a "must see".  It's very funny and quite motivating.

Here is a description:

100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn't end well- with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn't far behind. FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe's personal mission to regain his health. With doctors and conventional medicines unable to help long- term, Joe turns to the only option left, the body's ability to heal itself. He trades in the junk food and hits the road with juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for the next 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe has one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle. While talking to more than 500 Americans about food, health and longevity, it's at a truck stop in Arizona where Joe meets a truck driver who suffers from the same rare condition. Phil Staples is morbidly obese weighing in at 429 lbs; a cheeseburger away from a heart-attack. As Joe is recovering his health, Phil begins his own epic journey to get well. What emerges is nothing short of amazing - an inspiring tale of healing and human connection. Part road trip, part self-help manifesto, FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD defies the traditional documentary format to present an unconventional and uplifting story of two men from different worlds who each realize that the only person who can save them is themselves.

If you have Netflix, you can watch both of these via instant streaming.