Nutrition (2009)

Amid another recession and possibly the beginning of another new depression an under-active over-eating populace should being thinking about nutrition in this time of economical survival. I was born during the great depression of the 1930’s and 40’s living on a farm where we grew everything we ate. We didn’t encounter the problems of hunger like people in the inner city (90% of the population lived on the farm, today 90% of the population live in the city), although there were also hungry people in the countryside. I feel very sorry for this spoiled, overweight, obese generation who have gorged themselves with rich, high-calorie, worthless, expensive food which they have eat not because they are hungry, but simply because it tastes good.

Of all the people who have worked for me over the years, most have come from homes where the children, not the parents determine the diet. Perhaps the most disturbed example was a mother of three who said, “my children will not eat leftovers”. This writer has been around the world eight times, has had his passport stamped in 157 countries and has been in the world's most productive countries several times, such as in Europe and Asia. In the third world countries, places such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Ghana, I have seen hungry children, heard them with their begging bowls begging for food or anything that can ease the pain of hunger. God wanted me to see both the largess and distress of this world.

I’ve never been able to eat in a expensive restaurant. The thought of paying twenty dollars for a meal is repulsive to me. Food of any sort is NEVER thrown away in my house. I have heard of lobbyists who spend hundreds of dollars on meals for politicians, just to gain their vote for something. I have known people on airline flights (in the past, since they don’t serve food on airlines anymore) to say, “I don’t eat that type of food“. Like hospital food, it was always good to me. I have heard the children of relatives complain about the food that was served to them. In the home where I was raised, we were not allowed to say anything bad about the food on the table and, as my mother said many times, ”when you're hungry you will eat” and it would make me very happy to put my feet under my mother’s table again.

I have in my large collection of antiques, papers and maps showing that my ancestors came over and settled and founded Morristown, New Jersey. I have a cast iron fireplace cooking pot which was probably brought over from England, the fireplace cooking pot was the method used by the colonial settlers to cook food, since the cook's stove, as we know it, had not yet been invented in this country. Unlike my mother's ’’home comfort” stove the iron cooking pot was hung in the fire place where every meal was what is known today as “pot pies”: pieces of meat, veggies, potatoes, and boiled eggs were all stirred and cooked together. I still have a large wooden ladle which was used to take this mixture out the pot after being cooked and place it upon plates where my early ancestors ate and gave thanks to almighty God for his abundance. Today’s young people would not think of eating such food. Even in my youth, my folks still cooked in this manner, only using a large pan in the oven. It was not until I was a military army officer that I realized the people had large pieces of meat cooked for them a certain way: “medium, well done, etc”.

The most disgusting of the seven deadly sins is the sin of gluttony. I have encountered it on cruise ships, where there are many dining rooms all serving 5 meals each day catering to the whims of pampered, overweight, nauseating passengers. No human body has the needs or can utilize that much food. As one gets older, particularly past the age of 70, less and less food is required for the body. If an older person is to retain a decent body weight, size and desired health, eating from a saucer is desirable, yet in many geriatric groups I find that the older people only think of food. You can get easily knocked down at noon on Sunday morning at most churches, if you do not get out the way of the older people who are rushing to the buffets and restaurants in most cities.

Dr. R.G. Lee, great pastor of the Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, often said ”we spend the entire week working, teaching, visiting and I preach my heart out on Sunday morning all leading to the invitation at the end of service to find that most of the members are only interested in their belly. The scriptures say their belly is their God (Philippians 3:19), the sermon trying to give their souls the bread of life.” He further said, “most are worried about eating and that they will try to leave early running over people heading to the exit doors of the church.”

For your nutrition, the best thing you can do is to throw all the salt and sugar out of your house, limit your food intake. Billions of dollars are spent on worthless diets . The only way to lose weight is to limit what you put in your throat and get off your lazy behind and exercise. You have enough blood vessels, if in a straight line, it would go across the nation, 2,000 miles. You want that most important muscle, the heart, to keep pumping blood through those vessels. God put on the Earth all the chemicals “listed in the periodic table” that the most important blood supply needs, gained through the digestive system to nourish the cells of your body. But, you don’t need to clog your heart and vessels with JUNK (fructose, sodium glutenates, etc ) and, above all the most important item to keep out of your system is aspartame and other chemical sweeteners. Science, technology and greed, “another one of the seven deadly sins”, food manufacturers in an attempt to preserve food have concocted items which will put you in a early grave. As we face the dilemma involved in the economic purchase of food, along with everything else, buy food that will help you, not HARM you. Eating healthy will be expensive, but not as expensive as paying for not eating healthy. What you put in your body, determines your health, your immune system. We bring most sickness upon ourselves because of what we put in our body. Your body is the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19), treat your body with reverence.