Enjoy Good Health

"Enjoy Good Health: A Faith-Based Approach to Personal Wellness" is a companion guide to the author's popular wellness book, "Mind Over Fork." This book uses Bible verses to highlight her positions on dieting, food selection, and overall wellness.

While the world provides us with an ideal standard of health and happiness, Christians have a secret wellness weapon that doesn't come from pills, powders, food pyramids, or supplements. The difference between believers and nonbelievers is Christians have a guidebook to living a life of purpose, filled to the brim with practical advice for everyday life. It's called the Bible. The problem is that rarely do believers turn to the pages of God's Word for nutrition and fitness advice. The author is trying to change that. Christians should strive to live a life that brings glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and that includes what they choose to eat, why they want to eat it, and how they care for their bodies.

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn't provide us with a detailed diet plan, or a food pyramid, or even instructions on proper exercise. However, food is not excluded entirely from the Bible. As you'll learn, certain foods, feast, and even fasting had biblical significance. In the Old Testament, God performed miracles to supply humans with food. Humans used food to show reverence to God. In the New Testament, Jesus performed miracles using food, fellowshipped over meals, and even used food as a metaphor for His sacrificial body. These are invaluable life lessons that shouldn't be overlooked but viewed from a broader perspective. These same Biblical principles can be applied today.

While food often appears in the Bible, there is nowhere in the Scripture that says you must have abs, a thigh gap, or completed a marathon to get into heaven. There is not one definitive Bible verse, in the New Testament that says Christians must eat only vegetables, or only non-starchy plants, or forgo food groups or added sugars. Equally so, there is nowhere in the Bible that says you can't pursue a fit physique, achieve athletic greatness, or only eat foods from certain food groups, or grown in a particular manner. That is where the water gets muddy, and people's personal opinions creep in to sway you one way or another.

This book is inspired by Scripture, the stories, people, and parables throughout the pages, along with the author's reflections. She encourages you to avoid simply reading over the verses mentioned in this book, but pause and take time to look them up in your Bible. Throughout, you will find opportunities to go deeper into your thoughts and feelings with journaling style questions labeled "explore." Avoid the urge to skip over these. Start a journal to allow God to use these questions as a catalyst for uncovering your truth. Integrate the "explore" exercises and the provided Bible verses into your daily prayer life and devotional time. Make this book more than another book to read. Make it a personal excavation to better understand your relationship with food and self-image.