I was in the gym again this morning at around 4:00 AM. Not unusual, am there five days a week and normally arrive four to four-thirty. But Mondays are the toughest day for me. After a two-day layoff getting back on the treadmill and working the machines takes more effort than any other day.
When I was active in construction, I used to laugh at folks who went to the gym to stay in shape. Paying money to do what companies paid me to do for a living, lifting weight and walking all day long. If I would have had one of those ‘Fitbit’ things back in the day, I am sure I would have racked up huge amounts of steps. Not that I ever cared to count them. I think it would have made me tired just knowing.
Now I am being told by our insurance company that we must keep a record of all this health stuff or they will penalize us. I guess I understand, there is no doubt that we have become a nation of big eaters and exercise is something we do while looking for the remote! Foods we eat the most come prepared in boxes or from a fast food restaurant. And sitting in front of our favorite device is our national sport.
I am not excluding myself from this. When I decided to move from field work into an office as a manager, both my diet and my physical condition suffered greatly. From the years 2002 through 2014 I struggled with health problems that could be traced to my lifestyle. But strangely enough the positive changes in both diet and exercise came about when I was diagnosed with advanced Prostate Cancer in 2006.
At that time, I was a carnivore first and vegetable eater second. There was nothing I loved more than a couple of well cooked pork chops and potatoes fried up in the dripping from the chops. If I had to eat a vegetable maybe a salad or a small side of green beans. It was my daughter sending me a cook book explicitly for prostate cancer survivors that began the change.
The book was entitled, “The Taste for Living”. It came about because financer Mike Milken was diagnosed with advanced Prostate Cancer in 1993. On the advice of dieticians, he went from a diet based on meats to becoming a vegetarian. He struggled with the foods until he hired Beth Ginsburg who showed him that a diet without meat could be nutritious, provide the protein needed and be yummy too. They compiled her recipes into the cook book and in 2007 my daughter sent me a copy. I found it interesting. Some of it I agreed with, I wasn’t going for the idea you could get all the protein needed without meat. But I did cut out all red meats.
But it was not until I began to study the Bible that I could see that all the recommendation in that cook book aligned with what God had wanted for us from the beginning. It was obvious that when we were created that living with and walking with God there was no need to eat flesh. In the first book Genesis and the first chapter, here is what it says, “And God said, behold I have given you every plant yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” (Genesis 1:29) Yet I struggled because in later chapters and through out the Bible it seemed God blessed the idea of eating certain meats.
For sure there were unclean meats listed in Leviticus, such as pork and fish without scales that when I examined closely were still the flesh which cause problems if not cooked or cleaned properly. I could see that eliminating them was for sure a good thing. But what about the others, especially chicken? I really loved chicken! Could I find any good reason to stop eating it? And could I really have all the protein I needed if I did?
The ‘Daniel Diet’, was the next convincer for me. In the first chapter of the book of Daniel, he (Daniel) and his three friends had been princes in Israel and when captured by Nebuchadnezzar were first made eunuchs and then given a place with the other captured royalty to be educated by the Chaldeans. This also meant he and his friends could eat the king’s food, Daniel had another plan, “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with wine that he drank. Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8) The chief of the eunuchs couldn’t believe anyone would turn down the food a king eats, and he was responsible for them. He was not going to allow them to eat as they wished but Daniel said this, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see. (Daniel 1:12-13) After ten days Daniel and his friends were healthier than anyone eating the king’s food. I wanted to test this.
But it took me until my birthday in January of 2015, after much prayer and study. Taking in the health message my church espouses and truly believing, “Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) That I accepted becoming a vegetarian.
It has been a long journey and I know I am stronger and healthier today than I have ever been. I know that is a strange thing for a guy with cancer to say. But I believe if I would have changed my diet and exercise plan sooner I might still be cancer free today. So, I leave you with a proposition. Why not do a little research. Find a good vegetarian cookbook and try the Daniel challenge. Ten days with just vegetables and healthy drink. Get out and walk for a half hour. I bet you will feel like a new person. The person God wants you to be.
Blessings John
5/7/18
