A Thanksgiving Day Diet Reminder
11/22/11 10:19
If you read the title of this entry and instantly got cold chills trying to reconcile your dietary convictions with your hyper-salivary alimental anticipations of puddings and pies and tasty turkey, well, then I have achieved my goal. And having done so, please fret no longer. You will be pleased to know that that will be the extent of my holiday feast guilt-tripping. No, I would rather use this time to draw all of us back to something much more simple, more liberating, and something we so often neglect to do, though the reminder is right in front of our faces.
Although it is true that what we eat can have a significant impact on our health, and I am by no means advocating overt gluttony or over-indulgence, I also have a sense that in our quest for the perfect meal, the ideal food rotation plan, or the best elimination diet, we lose something much more fundamental, and arguably much more important: a heart of genuine gratitude.
Consider these verses from Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 10:
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
“If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thanked God for? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
We all come from different places, different families and traditions. We have different resources and education. Some people live extravagantly and some meagerly. Some can afford organic, free-range, non-GMO everything, and others don’t know how they will feed their families from day to day. There is such a wide spectrum of human experience. Through my faith walk, however, I’ve come to believe that God is a remarkable neutralizer. He has a keen way of cutting to the quick in all of us. He finds the common denominators that lie inside every human heart - no matter what their circumstances - and says, “never mind all of that other stuff for a moment, this is what really matters.” And thankfulness is just such an example.
So, this is my “Thanksgiving Day Diet Reminder” to you: whatever you eat or drink this holiday season, do so with a heart of thanksgiving. Pay less attention to the concerns that merely stress you out - those thoughts that heap on the fear and anxiety - and focus more on just being thankful. Whether you have a bountiful homemade banquet or a microwaved Banquet frozen meal, let’s just receive what we’ve been given with thankfulness. After all, it’s what really matters most in the end anyway.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Dr. Chris
Although it is true that what we eat can have a significant impact on our health, and I am by no means advocating overt gluttony or over-indulgence, I also have a sense that in our quest for the perfect meal, the ideal food rotation plan, or the best elimination diet, we lose something much more fundamental, and arguably much more important: a heart of genuine gratitude.
Consider these verses from Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 10:
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
“If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thanked God for? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
We all come from different places, different families and traditions. We have different resources and education. Some people live extravagantly and some meagerly. Some can afford organic, free-range, non-GMO everything, and others don’t know how they will feed their families from day to day. There is such a wide spectrum of human experience. Through my faith walk, however, I’ve come to believe that God is a remarkable neutralizer. He has a keen way of cutting to the quick in all of us. He finds the common denominators that lie inside every human heart - no matter what their circumstances - and says, “never mind all of that other stuff for a moment, this is what really matters.” And thankfulness is just such an example.
So, this is my “Thanksgiving Day Diet Reminder” to you: whatever you eat or drink this holiday season, do so with a heart of thanksgiving. Pay less attention to the concerns that merely stress you out - those thoughts that heap on the fear and anxiety - and focus more on just being thankful. Whether you have a bountiful homemade banquet or a microwaved Banquet frozen meal, let’s just receive what we’ve been given with thankfulness. After all, it’s what really matters most in the end anyway.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Dr. Chris
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Welcome to the IHC Blog
11/17/11 10:50
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