I am sitting down pondering what to write for the New Year, New You post and scrolling through all the crowded gym jokes and reading friends New Years fitness goals and watching thru hike announcements for the AT. This got me to really thinking, what is the Judeo/Christian response to all of this? When I searched “a Christian view on caring for our bodies”, I only came up with a list of bible verses, usually taken out of context and justifying an unrealistic expectation. So, I did what I usually do, asked the age-old question, “What Would Jesus Do?” and I came up with better answers.
Jesus Was Jewish
As I have written before, Jesus was Jewish. To clarify what this means, Judaism is as much as an ethnic identity as it is a religious tradition. Jewish people have a different orientation to their bodies.
In American and other Western countries, we are obsessed with our bodies and treat them like they are own possessions. But in an article by Rabbi Elliot Dorff, PhD, our bodies are the result of three partners, our father, our mother and God. Dorff, offers, “The third partner, God, not only created us but literally owns our bodies throughout our lives and even in death. It is as if we were renting an apartment: we have fair use of the apartment during the time of its lease, but the owner can and usually does demand that we take reasonable care of the apartment and certainly that we not damage it. So, too, God, according to the Jewish tradition, demands that we take care of ourselves. This is not an option in the Jewish way of thinking of things; it is a duty we owe to God so that we can serve God in everything we do.”
Jews also affirms as Christians do that we are created in the image of God. “Judaism strongly affirms that all members of society possess value and dignity. Jews are required to preserve the dignity of self and others. Taking care of oneself and healing others is a way to fulfill this obligation. Because poverty is an affront to the dignity inherent in us as God’s creations, all those who can are obliged to help.”
Current Guidelines for Health
I have spent a good amount of time the last two days getting ready for a mature adult procedure and have spent the time working on continuing education for my personal training certification. Working on understanding brain health and how physical movement and exercise improves brain health, I have acquired a greater understanding of the importance of physical movement and exercise across the lifespan.
What follows are some current guidelines for food intake and physical movement.
Food intake
I catch a lot of flak sometimes because of my eating habits. I am an ingredient person; I make and prepare all my own meals ahead on Sundays and have been doing so for the last fifteen years. I eat clean as best I as I can with alcohol in moderation. I recently had my first mature adult “procedure” and walked away with a clean bill of health. All my other biomarkers are within the healthy/ normal range.
Knowing that our food system and the guidelines that dictate our food intake are heavily influenced by the food industry, we must consider some suggestions with a grain of salt. For example, we are told that cereal is a healthy breakfast option, it is not. We are beginning to see a generational health concern with certain cancers and mental health concerns, believed to be caused by ultra processed foods.
Eat real food. The Mediterranean Eating Plan is a well-studied and well documented eating plan that includes:
- Plenty of fruits, vegetables, bread and other grains, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds;
- Olive oil as a primary fat source; and
- Dairy products, eggs, fish and poultry in low to moderate amounts.
95% of my diet consists of elements of this diet plan. Prior to COVID and my mid-forties, I primarily ate a Paleo/Keto plan but switched after I became intolerant of some of the foods I was eating in this plan.
Alcohol is toxic, may cause cancer. In a scandalous new report by the current Surgeon General, he recommended that alcoholic beverages carry a warning label about the link between alcohol consumption and cancer, as it is a significant preventable cause of cancer in the U.S. He reports that current labels primarily warn about risks during pregnancy and impaired driving, but these have not been updated since 1988.
Eat more beans. In recent addition to the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, we are now advised to eat more beans and legumes. Some health outcomes to including these foods into your diet include reduced risk for metabolic diseases, decreased risk for colorectal cancers and other cancers and decreased risk for cardiovascular disease.
Dieting is a four-letter word. Finally, stop dieting. I work with quite a few people who have experienced failure with dieting and even have ended up yo-yo dieting over the years. The idea of changing your food intake patterns is not a single word experience, it is a behavioral change that takes months to years to grow into, perfect and change. It took me a full two years to integrate into a more carb heavy dietary plan and then adjust mentally to increase in weight I was gaining from increased weightlifting and less cardio.
Exercise and Movement
Exercise is not only good for your body, but also great for your brain. For older adults, it has been shown that 52 hours of exercise leads to improvements in executive functioning and processing speed. In general, all adults need at minimum of 150 minutes to 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity a week of aerobic or equivalent exercise.
Start with a walk, I usually challenge my clients to go for a 10-minute walk to start with, maybe 2 –3 times a day. Add some mindfulness and awareness and you have the makings for a very deep and prayerful experience that will benefit not only your body, but also your mind.
The Spiritual Practice of You
You are a spiritual being having a human experience. God created you out of love and you are God’s beloved. God created a world of beauty for you to enjoy. Taking care of you is a practice of caring for the gift the divine has gifted us.
We are all a work in progress. The extra 10, 25, 50 or 100 pounds you are carrying today can come off with a little work and discipline. While the world may want to sell you drug to take it off easily, nothing beats hard work and persistence. You deserve it. You are loved.
May 2025 bringing you a blessing on your health recovery journey.
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