Hippocrates back in 400 B.C. said, “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” Today, good nutrition is more important than ever. Four out of ten leading causes of death in the United States – heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes – are directly related to the way we eat. Diet is also implicated in scores of other health problems.
Many people think a balanced diet is to have a king-sized hamburger in each hand. This kind of thinking leads to obesity. One hotdog manufacturer stages a hotdog eating contest annually. At the most recent hotdog guzzling fiasco the winner downed 61 hotdogs with all the trimmings. I don’t remember what prize he won, but the ultimate price he could pay for such inane gluttony could be to have a heart attack years before he is old enough to enjoy his grandchildren.
Obesity has even become a problem among America’s children. To address this situation the federal government now requires all school lunch menus to have balanced nutrition. Eating a balanced diet, of course, is only part of an overall healthy lifestyle, which should include regular exercise plus taking care of your body in other ways.
The book of Genesis tells us that God created Adam and Eve in His spiritual image. Since they had both a spiritual and physical nature, God knew they needed both physical and spiritual nourishment. This is why Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
The apostle Paul said to the Corinthian Christians: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body?” (I Corinthians 6:19). Eat well to have a healthy body, and feed on God’s Word to be nourished spiritually. Those who fail to take care of their body often do not live to become senior adults. The anonymous author of the poem, Methuselah, humorouslydescribes a man who was a senior adult for several centuries:
“Methuselah ate what he found on his plate
And never, as people do now,
Did he note the amount of the calorie count;
He ate it because it was chow.
He wasn’t disturbed as at dinner he sat,
Devouring a roast or a pie,
To think it was lacking in granular fat
Or a couple of vitamins shy.
He cheerfully chewed each species of food,
Unmindful of troubles or fears
Lest his health might be hurt
By some fancy dessert,
And lived almost a thousand years.”
If he had paid more attention to healthy nutrition, there is no way of knowing how long he might have lived.
The Paper Pulpit 
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