{"id":315,"date":"2011-08-16T05:00:18","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T09:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eatwithjoy.wordpress.com\/?p=315"},"modified":"2011-08-16T05:00:18","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T09:00:18","slug":"should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/","title":{"rendered":"Should healthy living be a spiritual discipline?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

An essay<\/a> at RELEVANT<\/a> yesterday made some good points: first, that \u201cthe obesity battle isn\u2019t an individual responsibility; it\u2019s a community effort,\u201d and, second, that the church can (and should) play a role in shaping America\u2019s food culture for the better. Both of these are very, very true.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
this book gives a great history of American Christian diet books<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But to my mind, the rest of the essay exemplified a shallowness of thinking about food and eating that has surfaced again and again in the 100+ years since Christians first began linking healthy diets with spiritual health. The typical logic goes like this:<\/p>\n

The Bible teaches that your body is a temple <\/a>of the Holy Spirit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fat and\/or unhealthy bodies are not pleasing temples.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em>Therefore<\/em> to be a pleasing temple for the Holy Spirit you should not be fat or unhealthy. <\/strong><\/p>\n

And <\/strong><\/p>\n

Therefore<\/em> doing what you need to do to not be fat or unhealthy is something that you do for the Holy Spirit\u2019s benefit. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A few things irk me about this kind of thinking (to be clear, I am not singling out the RELEVANT piece; I just see it as representative of many Christian writings and utterances on diet and health). In no particular order:<\/p>\n

1. Fat is inevitably made to = SIN!<\/strong><\/p>\n

And it just isn\u2019t necessarily so. Further, even APART from Christian ethics, American culture already demonizes fat<\/a> and worships thinness<\/a>. Claiming that people who are overweight are therefore sinful isn\u2019t only unhelpful, it\u2019s also unfair. Body types vary greatly: some people are just plain bigger than others. Some people can\u2019t exercise due to disabilities. Some people have hormonal imbalances that keep them overweight despite their efforts to the contrary.<\/p>\n

[Besides, lots of things that Americans love are \u2018sins\u2019 that no one seems to get too enraged over. Like loving money! And gossiping. But getting upset over fatness? That\u2019s for people of every faith and no faith.<\/strong>]<\/p>\n

2. Eating + Health are not necessarily connected in the ways you might think.<\/strong><\/p>\n

French people eat triple creme cheese, drink loads of coffee with cream and lots of wine, eat tons of white bread baguettes and wouldn\u2019t dream of leaving off the butter\u2013and they are healthier, on the whole, than Americans. We\u2019re tempted to call this the \u201cFrench Paradox<\/a>,\u201d but as Michael Pollan points out, it\u2019s probably more accurate to speak of an \u201cAmerican Paradox<\/a>\u201c\u2013a notably unhealthy people obsessed with the idea of eating healthfully<\/strong>. All our fretting and our reduced-calorie products and skim milk and butter substitutes and egg substitutes and sugar free candies and cleansing diets and nutrition supplements and fitness regimens and food weighing and fad diets and \u2018sensible eating plans\u2019 and calorie free sodas have done us no measurable good<\/em>\u2013in fact, levels of obesity have RISEN along with the availability of diet foods and fitness obsession.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Further, as any good nutritionist will tell you, nutrition is a young science<\/strong>. We can\u2019t even know for sure what an ideally healthful diet looks like\u2013people live and thrive on diets that are as wildly different from one another as can be. Inuit<\/a> people have traditionally lived on mostly seal meat and fat; indigenous peoples in Guatemala on corn, squash, and beans. Some people<\/a> live on blood and meat; others on milk and cheese.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Inuit people eating a traditional food--Maktaaq (frozen whale skin and blubber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We can know this: the typical American diet<\/a> isn\u2019t it doing anyone much good. But that may be connected to things we don\u2019t usually consider, like WHEN to eat, WITH WHOM, and WHERE. <\/em>(We\u2019d do better to eat at the table, with others, and at reasonably regular intervals\u20133x each day.) Plus, \u201chealthy\u201d eating has as much to do with ATTITUDE as anything else\u2013see this<\/a> post about dietician and therapist Ellyn Satter.<\/a> I don\u2019t know if she is a person of faith or not, but her way of eating aligns beautifully with the heart of a Biblical theology of food: that we should eat with gratitude and JOY. (It makes you healthier, for real!) which leads me to\u2026<\/p>\n

3. The Bible has so much more to say about food BEYOND \u201ceating for health.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually, the Bible says almost nothing about eating for health. (Yes, that includes Daniel\u2019s vegetarian experiment, but that\u2019s a post for another day.)<\/p>\n

Food, in the Bible\u2013and in our lives\u2013represents God\u2019s gracious gift. In the beginning, in Eden, God delights to feed the people he has made. A Biblical understanding of food recognizes that food doesn\u2019t come from the store, or from money\u2013it comes from the soil, the sun, and the sustaining, gracious hand of God<\/strong>. Eating it together binds people together in unity and love (see yesterday\u2019s post<\/a>) and making sure that everyone has enough\u2013feeding the hungry, in other words\u2013is a crucial aspect of \u201clove thy neighbor\u201d and an aspect of what James\u2019 epistle<\/a> calls \u201ctrue religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s complicated, globalized world, eating with love for God and love for neighbor means seeking food that is raised in ways that build up and enrich rather than destroy and break down the soil, animals, and people involved in its production, remembering\u2013and seeking to help\u2013those who do not have enough to eat<\/strong>. And it means eating mindfully, with awareness that food is NOT fuel but a gift from God.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
James Tissot, French (1836-1902) The Gathering of the Manna<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We DON\u2019T need \u201cspiritual\u201d reasons to pursue a \u201chealthy\u201d diet.<\/p>\n

We DO<\/em> need a new food culture, and there\u2019s plenty of wisdom\u2013in the Bible and elsewhere\u2013that\u2019s ready to help us shape one.<\/p>\n

Of course, it has to begin where all change begins\u2013with us.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An essay at RELEVANT yesterday made some good points: first, that \u201cthe obesity battle isn\u2019t an individual responsibility; it\u2019s a community effort,\u201d and, second, that the church can (and should) play a role in shaping America\u2019s food culture for the better. Both of these are very, very true. But to my mind, the rest of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2070,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,6,12,17,26,29,39,44,97,57,59,77,86],"tags":[297,491,944,985,1125,1486,1552],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-anticipating","category-bible","category-bread-of-life","category-connecting","category-creation-care","category-faith","category-food","category-gratitude","category-joy","category-justice","category-real-food","category-table-talk","tag-biblical-diet","tag-christian-diets","tag-food-culture","tag-french-paradox","tag-healthy-eating","tag-marcus-thompson","tag-michael-pollan"],"yoast_head":"\nShould healthy living be a spiritual discipline?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An essay at RELEVANT yesterday made some good points: first, that "the obesity battle isn\u2019t an individual responsibility; it\u2019s a community effort," and,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should healthy living be a spiritual discipline?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An essay at RELEVANT yesterday made some good points: first, that "the obesity battle isn\u2019t an individual responsibility; it\u2019s a community effort," and,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rachel Marie Stone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-16T09:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/files\/2011\/08\/images2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel Marie Stone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rachel Marie Stone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/\",\"name\":\"Should healthy living be a spiritual discipline?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-16T09:00:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-08-16T09:00:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#\/schema\/person\/c46cec1db7f3461f4f3d5289c79a2a8c\"},\"description\":\"An essay at RELEVANT yesterday made some good points: first, that \\\"the obesity battle isn\u2019t an individual responsibility; it\u2019s a community effort,\\\" and,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Should healthy living be a spiritual discipline?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/\",\"name\":\"Rachel Marie Stone\",\"description\":\"Faith, Family, Food; Justice & Joy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#\/schema\/person\/c46cec1db7f3461f4f3d5289c79a2a8c\",\"name\":\"Rachel Marie Stone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f7954612ad2a50609d3ed20d73a790f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f7954612ad2a50609d3ed20d73a790f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rachel Marie Stone\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/author\/rstone\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Should healthy living be a spiritual discipline?","description":"An essay at RELEVANT yesterday made some good points: first, that \"the obesity battle isn\u2019t an individual responsibility; it\u2019s a community effort,\" and,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Should healthy living be a spiritual discipline?","og_description":"An essay at RELEVANT yesterday made some good points: first, that \"the obesity battle isn\u2019t an individual responsibility; it\u2019s a community effort,\" and,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/","og_site_name":"Rachel Marie Stone","article_published_time":"2011-08-16T09:00:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/files\/2011\/08\/images2.jpg"}],"author":"Rachel Marie Stone","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rachel Marie Stone","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/","name":"Should healthy living be a spiritual discipline?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-08-16T09:00:18+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-16T09:00:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#\/schema\/person\/c46cec1db7f3461f4f3d5289c79a2a8c"},"description":"An essay at RELEVANT yesterday made some good points: first, that \"the obesity battle isn\u2019t an individual responsibility; it\u2019s a community effort,\" and,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/2011\/08\/16\/should-healthy-living-be-a-spiritual-discipline\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Should healthy living be a spiritual discipline?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/","name":"Rachel Marie Stone","description":"Faith, Family, Food; Justice & Joy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#\/schema\/person\/c46cec1db7f3461f4f3d5289c79a2a8c","name":"Rachel Marie Stone","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f7954612ad2a50609d3ed20d73a790f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f7954612ad2a50609d3ed20d73a790f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rachel Marie Stone"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/author\/rstone\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2070"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rachelmariestone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}