Have you ever considered how many things we do in the interest of prevention? We wear seatbelts to prevent injury if we’re in an accident. We install security alarms to prevent burglaries and we have our cars tuned up to prevent breakdowns. We wear sunscreen to prevent sunburn and purchase certain toothpastes to prevent tooth decay. We wear deodorant to prevent losing friends and we back up our computers to prevent losing data. We put certain oils on our pets to prevent fleas. And we purchase all types of insurance – including health, life, home, and auto - to prevent financial loss in case of just about anything.
Where we are sadly lacking in this wide arena of prevention is in what we choose to consume every day. We may be willing to spend a ton of money on supplements because we’re erroneously led to believe they prevent disease, but we often give little thought to the role nutrition truly plays in the prevention, halting and reversal of disease. Here are a few of what I call ‘The Big Disconnects’ between nutrition and health:
Big Disconnect 1: Not Understanding the Cause and Effect of Food
We can all relate to the immediate pain that results from touching a hot stove or stepping on a sliver. It’s quite easy in those instances to identify the current cause of pain as the stove or the sliver. My job would sure be easier if that same identifier were true of the three to five pounds of food we consume every day. When it comes to diet, the more time that elapses between food intake and the resulting effect, the more difficult it is to make the connection between the two; and the more unlikely we are to change our behavior or take any required action.
There are certain health conditions for which the cause of pain is easily identifiable; for example, people with acid reflux, migraines or hangovers may be very able to trace their ailments to what they’ve recently consumed. For the most part though, so much time elapses between the consumption of bad foods and the resulting injury that people are not connecting the dots….. especially when they pour fuel on the fire at least three times a day. The Big Disconnect between wrong food choices and the resulting ailments would be greatly eliminated if we were to experience chest pain immediately after consuming a cheeseburger and fries (or any high-fat meal for that matter). Or if our joints began to ache immediately after eating a breakfast of glazed donuts. Or if we could feel our blood pressure spike after consuming a fried chicken dinner. Or if we could feel a colon polyp developing after consuming a sausage pizza. Only then might people connect the dots and realize the true risks of the Standard American Diet.
Before we embarked on our plant-based journey, my husband would order up a fish dinner and a milkshake at a popular fast food chain, and shortly thereafter would develop a mucousy cough which would last about an hour. It was only after we studied the cause-and-effects of food – including the irritants of dairy and fat – that we made the connection.
Have you connected the dots between your food choices and your health? If not, it's never too late to educate yourself on the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet. It's the only diet shown to not only prevent, halt and reverse disease, but to also reverse clogged arteries which lead to our number one killer, heart disease. God's "Plan A" diet - the food He originally prescribed to keep man thriving and in optimal health - is readily available, easy to prepare in a wide variety of recipes, and absolutely delicious.
Stay tuned for the next blog: Big Disconnect #2.
“Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge.”
(Proverbs 18:15, NLT)
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Photo credit: jpalinsad360 via Visualhunt / CC BY-SA