Whether You Eat or Drink, Do All To The Glory of God...

People close to me know that for the last 23 days I've been doing the Advocare 24-day challenge. According to their own website "AdvoCare is a premier health and wellness company offering world-class energy, weight-loss, nutrition, and sports performance products along with a rewarding business opportunity." In a nutshell, the 24-day challenge is a guide to eating right the kind of foods, along with taking some of the Advocare products (mainly supplements, vitamins, and shakes).

There are a few main reasons that I decided to take on the 24-day challenge. 1. My amazing wife recently just finished the same challenge, lost around 12 lbs, looks even more incredible, and she feels great. 2. Much to people's surprise (although I don't really see how), I was overweight. At my meager stature of 5'5", 150-155 lbs was not cool, and neither was that double chin I was getting either. 3. My family health history is horrible, it's full of high-blood pressure, high-cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. This guy (meaning myself) already has enough health problems to deal with, I really don't need to add things to my plate if I can do something to avoid them.

So, after some serious mental debating, I finally decided to take on the challenge. As a result of this challenge I've actually learned and witnessed a lot of truths about the human body. Also, as a result of learning these truths, my amazement of God our Father and Creator has flourished as well.

Here are a few truths that I've learned as a result of taking this challenge.

1. When you stop eating refined sugar, processed foods, and things not found natural in nature, your body will let go of unwanted fat even with minimal to no exercise. I sit a lot! I especially sit a lot everyday. =) Unlike my amazing wife, I'm not a runner, in fact I avoid walking when possible too (i.e. I try to find the closest parking spot everywhere). While being on the challenge, my physical activity has not changed (my wife can testify). One day I did walk our dog around the neighborhood, but that was literally only one time. Needless to say however, I still have lost "fat" in the places that it was showing the most (waist, tummy, and of course face).

2. When you stop eating refined sugar, processed foods, and things not found natural in nature, your pallet/taste buds are cleansed and change. I'm not sure how scientifically true this is (none of my truths are based on science, merely my own experience), but after eating mainly natural foods like raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts I find myself actually tasting food a lot better. My enjoyment with food has actually increased over the 23 days because my ability to distinguish flavors has vastly improved. Fruits have become sweeter than ever, and lean cuts of chicken and beef, and fish have become tastier than ever. On day 11, I had a steak from the leanest cut of beef I could find, and it was undoubtedly the best tasting steak I've ever had (and I cooked it myself, which means they usually don't turn out perfect).

3. When you stop eating refined sugar, processed foods, and things not found natural in nature, you just plain feel better and are more alert throughout the day. As mentioned earlier, part of this 24-day challenge includes using some of the Advocare products. One of these such products is called "Spark" which is a sugar-free energy drink that is composed of vitamins, minerals, amino-acids, and some caffeine. Although I take one of these drinks every morning, as suggested, I do not credit my full day alertness and energy to just the "Spark" drink. I'm confident that it does help, especially early in the morning, but I wholeheartedly believe that most of my energy comes from me eating healthy foods. I literally have energy all day long, literally, and I feel great too! Before the challenge, I would have the mid-afternoon drag about 2 or 3 o-clock, if not then, it would hit when I got home around 5. I would come home and feel like I needed to pass out, even when all I had been doing was sitting all day. No matter if I get 5-10 hrs of sleep I feel alert all day long, and that was just the opposite before. Another interesting example is that for the past two years around the months of March and April I usually find myself experiencing several migraines. These migraines would occur several times a week during these months, which the doctor believed was generally due to pollen/allergies. However, this year, with March over and April in full swing, I still have not had the slightest migraine this season. I truly believe that this is very well linked to my healthy eating habits.

4. Water, just water, is good enough for me, and it can do amazing things. I learned growing up in Georgia, the heart of the South, sweet tea (I'm talkin syrupy sweet) and Coke (in GA we just call all soda "Coke") is pretty much the only liquids I should go for, unless it's morning, then it's coffee full of sugar and creamer. I've literally stuck to this principle until the 24-day challenge came along. Since starting the challenge, not including Advocare's own "Spark" drink and "Meal-replacement Shake," I have had nothing to drink but water. I will admit that in the last week I have had 2 glasses of UNsweet tea, no sugar, splenda, equal, sweet n low, nada. That was only after discovering that the 24-day challenge didn't say to avoid tea. However, I've come to realize that I'm actually ok with water. I've come to enjoy drinking water (usually with a splash of lemon or lime, which is actually a healthy choice). On the challenge, you are encouraged to consume 1 gallon of water each day. Although I thought this was a bit overkill, drinking a lot of water is part of the reason the body is able to let go of the bad stuff in my body. I've come to realize, now that I can stand to drink water, and lots of water, not only is it better for me physically, it's a whole lot cheaper than "Coke", coffee, and other stuff.

5. When you stop eating refined sugar, processed foods, and things not found natural in nature, it's easier to eat and drink to the glory of God. You might think this seems a bit ridiculous, but hear me out for a second. When I'm eating foods that are found naturally in nature just the way God created them to be and I see the way my body reacts when I consume these foods, it actually makes me want to praise God even more. As I witnessed all these things happening to my body while on this challenge, I've found myself thinking how awesome is my God, my Creator. Our body is an amazing machine, and when we eat the foods that God created naturally for us here on the Earth our bodies work so well and efficiently. I've also thought about how Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 6:19, that as a Christ-follower, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. My former poor eating habits and gluttonous ways were not helping my body nor were they honoring to God. In fact, gluttony is a sin, it's the one sin that nobody really ever talks about because American culture has convinced us gluttony is the norm. Repentantly, it was something I found the norm. This might sound repetitive, but the 24-day challenge has really challenged me to think about what I should put in my body, on both a physical and spiritual level. Not only do I want to be healthy, but I want to glorify God when I'm eating, or drinking, or whatever I'm doing. I want my temple to be an example to others.


May we fight sin, and fight to glorify God in everything that we eat or drink.