(Photo by Selma Komisky)

What Are You Feeding Yourself?

By Michelle Ochen

It is only the second month of 2021, meaning most of us who started off the new year with high goals of eating well and going to the gym are probably still living up to our goals. However, the next couple months tend to bring the challenges of full schedules and emotional cravings that often speak louder than our goals. Going back to basics commonly brings us back to ideas about our health. What am I feeding myself? It is vital that we think about this question because it affects many areas of our life.

When we are eating well and giving our bodies the nutrients we need, it will not only cause us to feel better but it will have effects upon our mental health as well. We are able to think more clearly and choose more wisely when we give our bodies the nutrients it needs, not just what the tastebuds want. With time, we will also see an improvement in the way we look, which will again encourage our self-outlook.

We know that most things that are good for us are green and begin with the letter “V,” right? Yet, if your schedule looks anything like mine, we rarely have fresh veggies in our fridge or the time to prepare them daily. Fortunately, there are a large variety of products on the market that can help you to get the veggies your body needs on a daily basis when you are unable to put the time into shopping, chopping, and cooking. I personally use a protein powder that includes a variety of super foods and veggies that my body needs, I simply add the scoops to a morning smoothie and head off for the day. Giving your body the nutrients it needs is feeding yourself well, which is a way that we can show God appreciation for the life and health He has given to us.

It would be simple to leave this at the physical level, but let’s take it deeper. I want to ask you, “What are you feeding yourself beyond the belly?” What are you feeding your thought life with? What are you feeding your mind? As important as it is to feed ourselves well with nutrition, it is equally, if not more important that we be feeding ourselves with edifying material in our thought life. While we may eat 3-5 times a day, our thought life never stops, even while sleeping we commonly find our mind dreaming. Therefore, what we put into our minds and how we discipline the way we think will affect every moment of our day.

Going back to the basics, do you think a majority of positive thoughts, or negative? God’s Word encourages us to set our mind on things above and to think on things that are pure and true and praiseworthy (Colossians 3:2, Philippians 4:8 ). Deeper still, do the majority of your thoughts stay in the present, or go back to past hurts you have not let go of––bitterness you may be holding onto that is keeping you from enjoying the present moments of your life? Learning to take our thoughts captive and giving them to the Lord is vital if we desire to be healthy people (2 Corinthians 10:5). What we allow to circulate in our minds each day will eventually come out of our mouths or be shown by the choices we make. Let us not be people content to keep only the physical healthy, but let’s be women who go deeper in considering the mind and what thoughts we are feeding it. Let’s set our mind on good things, and fix our eyes upon the goodness of God in the midst of life’s messy things. Let’s be women who give the thoughts of the past to the Lord, receive the present, and trust God with our future hopes and plans.