People wonder why in the world do I want to eat and live in a healthful way. Especially since it is so much easier to buy prepared food that tastes great, why would I go through all this trouble? Is it so I can add a few more years to my life?
Think about it this way: If you live to be elderly, would you rather live on a farm or in a nursing home? Would you rather have a mind that thinks clearly, or would you rather be sleeping all day, not even knowing or caring where you were?
Perhaps you are not willing to give up your Big Macs or Oreos. You might be thinking, living clean only adds a few years to one's life. I would rather keep my junk food and lifestyle and live a few years less. That is your choice, and I will not interfere with that.
But perhaps you don't understand the deeper issues. It's not so much about quantity of life as much as it is about quality of life. If you ever see someone dying of cancer, you should be thinking, what can I do to help? What can I do to prevent this horrible disease from taking over my loved ones? If you don't see the correlation between our modern, western lifestyles, and the rise of disease such as cancer, diabetes, and allergies, then take a moment to look at some statistics.
In 1985, my father died of cancer. No one expected it. It came suddenly and he died a terrible death. Back then, the statistics for cancer were about 1 in every 4 persons. Today, cancer is even greater than heart disease. Now the statistics for cancer are 1 in every 2 people. That means 50% of the population in America will probably succumb to cancer, sometime during their lifetimes.
The problem is, most people today did not see the slow change in our environment and food industry. Americans today assume that we always had grocery stores and food that came in boxes. But that is not true. In the early to mid 1900s, most of the food eaten was grown on local farms, without the use of modern pesticides and herbicides. By the mid 1900s, supermarkets were becoming more and more popular. But they probably were not as lacking in nutrients as they are today. Today, people prize convenience. People love what is easy to make. It is a lot easier to open a box, put the ingredients in a bowl and add water, then put it in a pan and bake it for 25 minutes, than to collect the ingredients and prepare them yourself and do whatever baking or cooking is necessary. Believe me, cooking food that has nutrition is by far harder than just opening a box and adding water. But food on the shelves of grocery stores is full of additives. Some are preservatives. Some are coloring and flavoring. Agricultural farms give antibiotic shots to their animals to help prevent them from getting sick. What they don't seem to know is that, in turn, we are consuming antibiotics and they are getting into our systems as well. Growth hormones are given to the animals as well. Could this be a reason why girls go through puberty much earlier than their grandmothers did?
Think of household cleaners. There are many toxic ones out there. They are not only toxic if taken internally, but they are toxic to breathe in the fumes and when they have contact with our skin, our skin absorbs the toxins and they get into our bloodstream. Did you know that chlorine is carcinogenic? Fluoride is another carcinogen. The FDA approves it in very small amounts, but, we don't get small amounts. Think about how many times you have to brush your teeth? Every time you brush your teeth, a little fluoride gets into your mouth. Several tooth brushing experiences will cause the amount of fluoride to add up. Plus, fluoride is mandatory to be in our drinking water. Of course, this is only in America. Europe doesn't allow fluoride in the water over there. Fluoride has ended up in our soil, and many plants are now contaminated that are growing in these places where the soil has taken up fluoride.
So, the question is not, how much longer will one live if they eat right and live right. The question is, what kind of quality of life do you want? Perhaps you don't have any motivation for living. Maybe you are depressed or see no reason for living. The Bible says, 'Where there is no vision, the people perish'. Those who have no vision for their lives will wander aimlessly, without purpose.
So, do you want to live in a nursing home one day? Do you want to die of a horrible disease that could have been prevented? Or, do you want to live out all your days in good health, with your memory intact?
If you are one of those who are depressed or lacking vision for your life, God has a different idea about why you are here. God didn't create you to mope around and be depressed all your life. God created you for something much higher. He made you so that you could worship Him. You could live a life designed by God, instead of a self-centered, self-seeking life, which goes nowhere but to the grave. If you would like more info on this, please go to http://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com or http://test4gp.wordpress.com
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