Anyone with a gym membership knows that the treadmills fill up quickly after January 1. The resolution to exercise and eat healthy is at the top of many lists, but the commitment usually dies off after a few weeks. Although some may look at making healthy choices as a means to looking good and achieving worldly success, for Christians, choosing a healthy lifestyle is an act of obedience. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
I’ll be honest, when I go to the gym or choose to snack on fruit instead of chips, it’s usually not because I think making healthy choices is honoring to God. But it makes sense that God wants us to be healthy. Just as Christians feel a responsibility to be good stewards of the earth, how much more should we be taking care of our bodies? When we take care of our bodies we are able to better serve God.
Most days I take my body and my health for granted. I am blessed with good health and expect to be able to go for a walk or a run if I want, eat three meals a day, and sleep in a comfortable bed each night. Rarely do I take the time to consider that these are privileges and blessings from God. When he blesses me with health and well being, my response should be to honor him with how I live my life and take care of myself. Sometimes it’s easy to write off healthy goals as vain or to say we don’t have time to exercise or eat healthy; we’re too busy serving God. But in all fairness, for Christians, living a healthy lifestyle is an important part of our faith.
So what does it mean to be healthy in the 21st century? In the United States, we are mainly exposed to allopathic medicine. This means that health care is focused on the treatment of an individual symptom instead of looking for the greater cause of the symptoms.
Ned Looney, a naturopathic pharmacist in Pleasant Hill, helps patients find natural ways to bring about healing and restoration rather than prescribing a drug that is a quick fix to the problem. “The human body was designed to work well,” Looney says. Insurance plans do not cover office visits, but Looney says the costs of the visits are tax deductible and can be paid for with health spending accounts. Although prescription drugs are never the first choice for Looney, he recognizes that they have their place. “There are times for prescription drugs,” he says. “But they should never be our first choice. The U.S. and Canada are the only countries putting prescriptions first.”
Looney offers several suggestions for maintaining a naturally healthy lifestyle:
1. Drink water. “It sounds like such a small thing, but many people drink no water,” Looney says. He recommends drinking at least 64 ounces of water a day, or half an ounce for every pound of body weight.
2. Sleep is good. Adults need at least eight hours of sleep a night, Looney says. He recommends getting on a sleep schedule: going to bed and getting up at the same time. This may sound like a luxury to some, but it is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. We get so busy and run on as little sleep as possible, but then we wonder why we get sick and aren’t able to function as well as we’d like, he says. If we stop and accept the fact that God created our bodies to need sleep and sacrifice time to take care of ourselves in this way, then we can be more effective with the time that we are awake.
3. Say no to fast food. “Fast food’s bad,” Looney says. We all know that eating a hamburger and fries and washing it down with a soda can’t be healthy, but it’s so convenient. If we take the time to fix healthy food for ourselves, we will reap the benefits in the long run. We just have to make it a priority.
Natural health is a way of life for Carrie and Josh Goodman of Des Moines. The couple tries to eat only organic food. “Eating naturally just feels right to us,” Carrie says. “We like picking up an organic product and being able to identify every ingredient on the box. Nothing’s processed. God’s original design for food for our bodies is simple and beautiful.”
When Carrie and her 4-month-old son Lincoln got a cold recently, rather than rushing to the doctor, she consulted with their chiropractor and talked to the nutritionist at Campbell’s Nutrition. She got a natural cough medicine made with black elderberries and loaded up her immune system with fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken broth, and foods with garlic and peppers.
Looney says that with proper rest and fluids, most health concerns (ie: a runny nose or cough) resolve themselves within 72 hours. If symptoms are still hanging on, he says that’s when it’s time to go to the doctor.
A lifestyle that promotes natural health is really just common sense. Next time you feel like you’re coming down with a cold, take your mom’s advice and take it easy. Stay in, eat fruits and vegetables, drink lots of fluids, and get a good night’s sleep instead of pushing your body to the max and then wondering why it breaks down on you. Things that seem inconsequential can literally become an act of worship. It’s something to think about next time you’re staying up way too late watching TV or avoiding going to the gym.
For More Information
Looney gives monthly lectures on natural wellness at Rising Sun Church of Christ in Pleasant Hill. Upcoming topics include: dealing with stress and anxiety, the digestive system, and balancing hormones. The next lecture is Wednesday, February 11. If you are interested in learning more about natural health, Looney recommends the book Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs, by Melody Petersen.
