Legislating Our Eating

Yesterday was such a full and busy day that I was up until midnight but still didn't find the time to post.  I was very tired and actually fell asleep when I came home for lunch.  Please pray that my energy level rebounds.

Some students from a town very near the small town in which we used to live produced a video and song in response to the changes that took place this year in school lunches because of the "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act" of 2010.

I have listened to my own kids talk about the small portion sizes and the complaints that they hear often from their classmates.  (And, by the way, the cost that I pay for my kids meals certainly didn't go down!)  What have the kids learned from this?  Candy bars can be easily stored in a locker for later consumption.  The plan is backfiring folks.

Just a few days ago, New York City's Board of Health approved Mayor Bloomberg's ban on soda that is served in a cup larger than 16 oz.

In the paper this morning, there was a chart showing current and predicted obesity levels in every US state.  The 2011 BMI rates are based on a recent report by the Center for Disease Control (chart on left).  I did a little more research and found that the predicted BMIs for 2030 were estimated by the "Trust for America's Health" (chart on right).



Oh, the health issues of the rich and spoiled.  (Yes, that's us.)

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.  --Philippians 3:17-21 (emphasis mine)

Can we really legislate healthier lifestyles?  Do we want to be told what we can and cannot eat?  What will come next...required amounts of exercise?

One of the things I appreciate about the democratic and capitalistic forms of our government and economy is the people's ability to live out their God-given right to free will.  We have the freedom to exercise this!  In many countries, they do not.

We get to choose where and how we work.
We get to choose if we will help others financially.
We get to choose what we will put in our mouths.
We get to choose our religion, our leaders, our lifestyle, our words.

We are so fortunate that we get to make those choices for ourselves!  Sometimes we make great choices and other times we choose very poorly.  Free will!  We suffer the consequences of our own actions.

Do we really want to start taking away our ability to make these decision for ourselves?  Do we want to take away the free will that was a gift from God?  Apparently those who passed the restrictions for our school lunches and those who think they should decide how much others should drink think this is a good idea.

Oh...but the bottom line is that we are truly worried about the COST of obesity. Hmmm...maybe different rates based on BMI for health insurance makes more sense.  This is a reasonable natural consequence that doesn't restrict one's freedom.

What must those who live in countries full of starving people think about such a problem?

Remember, our bodies are God's temple.  We have a responsibility to take care of them.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. --1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Remember

Food wasn't on my mind today.  Memories of a more innocent time were.

I was fortunate that I stood on top of one of the World Trade Center towers as a child.  I have those memories.  And I have pictures.  My younger sister said it very well in her facebook post this morning...

I had to share this picture. My sister took it in 1983 when we were on top of the World Trade Center South. I was only 9 years old at the time, and I will never forget being on top of the world. I'm sad that my children will never know the NY skyline with those twin towers, sad they will not see the freedoms we lost that day and sad at the loss of life that was taken in just a few short hours and the feeling of loss that we felt as a nation. I am blessed to have parents who shared this great nation with us and made sure we saw as much of it as they could afford to share. God Bless the USA!

I took that picture at the age of 13 not knowing that in eighteen more years those towers would no longer exist.   It's a horrific reminder of the evil in this world and the temporary status of all earthly things.

We all have memories of that day 11 years ago.  I was home preparing for a workshop that I was presenting the next day out of town.  The kids were at school and I had the Today show on as part of my normal daily routine.

The story drew me out of my office and to the couch where I watched in horror as my brain tried to process what had just happened.  Was it a crazy accident that took that plane into the building?  And then...the second plane hit.

Even watching it now, I am crying and shaking.  It is still so unreal.

I had never felt so helpless, scared, and unsafe.  Of course, I called mom.  In fact, each one of us four girls called mom that day.  We needed to hear our parents and be comforted by them.  We needed them to make us feel secure.

And many, if not most of us, talked to God that day.  For some it was probably the first time in a long time.  Our prayers came in anguished cries, and tearful pleads, and soft wordless moans.  Each was heard.

Don't wait for another tragedy to reach out to Him again.