Do any of you ever feel like eating is a chore? I definitely used to feel like this when I was young and in college. I could go through my entire day, attend classes, study, and work my shift at the restaurant in the evenings without hardly eating a bite. It was hard to remember to eat, and when I did, it often wasn’t the most healthy. A slice of coffee cake (or if I was feeling healthy, a Starbucks Protein Box) and a soy chai latte was my meal of choice.
Thanks to lots of growth and knowledge and a hefty paradigm shift, I have come to view food as much more of a blessing or a privilege, especially when it is natural, organic, GMO-free and fresh. I believe humans should come to view their relationship with food as much more of a blessing than a begrudged necessity.
The other day I had a conversation with my MIL, a wonderful, generous woman who works in the missionary and ministry department at their church. Every fall, the church puts together a number of baskets of food that they give away to the needy in the community. In the past, these baskets have consisted of mostly canned goods, processed foods, and other items that fill the grocery store shelves yet, as we have learned, possess many more dangers than benefits. Given the knowledge about food that we have been able to share with our parents, as well as the opinions of several other women she works with, my MIL began to consider what ought to be put in the baskets this year to make them more “healthy” and beneficial.
Our casual discussion played around with various options, and I mentioned that, with our current budget and subsequent diet, we make most of our meals out of the staples of brown rice, carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, dried beans, and meat. (It absolutely amazes me how many meals you can create with these few ingredients! I’m sure I could write an entire post on it!) For Ben and I, each of these elements are also organic and GMO-free.
My MIL then brought up the important question: What if the recipients of these baskets have children who are picky eaters? What if they do not appreciate the fresh food and are used to “conventional,” processed food? What if they do not know how to cook? What if? What if?
Our conversation ended with no real conclusion, though my MIL said she would be participating in a committee the following day where they would be asking these exact questions. Though I do not yet know the outcome of their meetings, I have since come to a few conclusions of my own.
Initially, I retorted to the first question of, “What if the recipients’ children are picky eaters?” by saying that my children will eat what they are given, and alternatives simply won’t be an option. (Disclaimer: I know many of you may recognize that I do not yet have kids, and think that I’m certainly one to talk! Though Ben and I have no children of our own, I have nannied over half of my life and have dealt with this issue numerous times, as well as seen my sisters raise well-rounded eaters who not only are willing to try new things, but have a conscious understanding of health and nutrition when it comes to food. I know it can be done!)
However, if I were to dive into each minute point of the argument and pick it apart, I doubt any real decisions could be made that would result in the baskets actually being a blessing. We cannot go into these homes, however laden with food, and tell these families how to parent their children! Nor can we offer cooking classes for them to be able to prepare the food offered (though that would be fun and probably not a bad ministry idea!).
I believe the best decision regarding how to bless others with food can be answered by this: is the food contained in these “Blessing Baskets” honoring to God?
Here is what I mean: when God made the world and all that was in it, He said that it was good. Forgive me if I sound sarcastic, but if God intended us to have Pop Tarts or sugar cereals, don’t you think He would have made them grow on trees? Would it take a leap of faith to believe that the food God created to sustain our bodies and asked us to have dominion over could be complete in its nutritional value without man’s intervention?
I realize this might sound super far-out, so let me bring it back a little. I am not saying that people should only eat foods in their raw state (though if you are aiming at returning to a natural food diet, that might not be a bad place to start as far as vegetables go!). I’m not condemning man’s inventions and progress and ways of preparing food or saying that creating new foods out of others is bad. I’m especially not advocating a complete return to the hunter-gatherer lifestlyle!
What I am saying is that foods, when left mostly in their natural state, have an amazing way of being healthy. God designed and created our bodies to need a complex array of vitamins and minerals, commonly known as nutrients. When man has broken food down into its individual nutrients, and given them labels and daily values, they lose their ability to work as God intended.
Did you know that milk and honey, mentioned by God in the Old Testament as a description of the land promised to the Israelites, when eaten together, actually contain complete nutritional values? It’s not just a metaphor. God was onto something…
Similarly, many other foods, when eaten in their whole state, can offer complete nutritional value that processed foods simply cannot attain. Nutrients, when reduced to their parts, do not equal the whole. If we are to honor God with what comes out of our bodies (our thoughts, words, and actions), shouldn’t we also honor God with what goes into our bodies?
This is why I have shifted my thinking from seeing food as a begrudged necessity to a blessing. I am enamored at how I can achieve nutritional balances without needing to consume a bowl of “whole-grained cereal, containing a complete daily value of fiber” per day or taking a multi-vitamin.
That is why I ask, when the issue of what to include in baskets of blessing to give to the needy, whether or not the food is honoring to God. Is the food you eat honoring to God? Is it recognizing His sovereign hand in creating sustenance for us without it needing to be fortified and modified? If you are able to honestly answer that question with a “yes,” then you have done your duty! To become bogged down in whether or not someone likes the food is not necessary. If it is God-honoring food, then it is good food, and it can be a blessing.
Recently Ben and I went through our cabinets and rid ourselves of the rest of the processed, canned, MSG- and preservative-laden foods we have, and I almost felt bad donating them. Since, we have striven to give to the needy the best of what we have, not the worst, acknowledging that what you do unto the least of these, you have done unto me. (Matthew 25:40)
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:34-40)