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The Healthy (Mental) Diet April 16, 2007 By Josh Lewis
Unless you have been in a cave for the past decade you have heard about the growing obesity of the U.S. population, especially among youth, and have certainly seen the many diets that claim to solve this problem. Despite the hype surrounding these diet plans, nutritionists assert that the best plan for attaining and maintaining your ideal body weight is to simply eat balanced meals that focus on fresh ingredients, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
I believe them and try my best to put this advice into practice for my family and me, as I want my son to develop good eating habits at an early age. We have a problem, however: the so-called “bad” foods taste good, they’re usually cheaper, and they are available everywhere. The healthy choices are often an acquired taste, more expensive, and not as easy to find. Sometimes I struggle to do what is best for the long term instead of what is convenient and immediately gratifying.
Today’s entertainment media is similar to our food. Much of it corrodes our minds like saturated fats clog our arteries, yet it is relatively cheap and available on every physical and virtual corner of our society. If what goes in our mouths is important, what goes in our mind is even more so.
Here are a few suggestions:
Fill up on the good stuff--The Word should be the foundation of our diet. Encouraging and inspiring music, movies, and books supplement it. Anything else should be treated like the USDA Food Pyramid handles fats, oils and sweets: “Use sparingly.”
Get a coach--If a professional athlete needs a nutritionist to keep him or her on a good diet, even good kids need guidance and motivation to stay away from mental junk food. Parents and youth leaders help young people make edifying, age-appropriate choices, while pastors and Sunday school teachers challenge all of us to watch our diet.
Exercise discernment--There is no list that will work. No one can give you an all-inclusive catalog of entertainment don’ts and trying to enforce one on others is a recipe for disaster. Not only does it risk creating a more tempting forbidden fruit, it does not teach them to exercise discernment. If someone has not developed their critical thinking skills based on biblical values, what happens when they go to their friend’s house and what choices will a teen make when they leave home? Learning now, instead of later, is always the wisest route.
Ensuring you and your family get a proper diet takes work, but the health benefits, physically and spiritually, are well worth it.
ninetyandnine.com
© 2007, Josh Lewis -------
Josh Lewis lives healthy in Texas.
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