Spiritual Spa #9 WWJE? - What Would Jesus Eat?

“Man shall not live from bread alone, but from every word that comes out from the mouth of God.” (Deut. 8,3/ Mt. 4,4)

Dear family in the Lord!

This blog is about listening to God’s wisdom and applying it in the more or less neglected yet vital area of our life: Food. Today’s post will be about revealing some thought patterns that determine how and what we eat. Displaying a very personal matter I will try to illustrate a problem I see many suffer from. This one might not make you laugh (that’s what my husband said), but I hope it gets you to think DEEP and PRAY.

For some reason this week I started thinking about what I would call the worst thing that ever happened to me in my whole life. In my mind I went through painful memories such as rejections, heartbreaks, failures, lack of purpose, fears, disappointments or victimizing. Hard to tell what dramatic story can top the other! At one point it hit me in the most freeing way:

The worst thing that ever happened to me in my whole life is that I allowed a few people to lie to me about who God is. Flowing from that place I made the most terrible choices.

Now, I’m not claiming that I am done exploring the complex nature of our Threefold God, since I know I believed a lie. I am stating that in a weak episode of my life (where I felt the consequence of all those not healed places combined) I dared to trust some people who seemed to have it all together (this was back in Germany). It all started very promising and listening to their advice and praying with them about my various wounding brought me closer to the place I knew I wanted to be: God’s heart. Well, I wouldn’t be who I am today if I had noticed and acted sooner upon the fact that my radical Christian group turned out to be a full grown version of a microcosmic cult and the invested trust was being used and abused until I believed the worst thing I have ever believed in my whole life: That God is upset with me and it is up to me to fix that.

How freeing it is to expose lies! It is a lie that God looks down unto human kind, moody like a spoiled adolescent, waiting for people to finally get their acts together and make him happy again. Being away from that group for some time I realized that this personality description fits better to the personality of the group’s leader…

Why, from all the lies that you could believe in, would it be the worst to believe in an angry God? Because it drives you away from God. One way or the other. It separates you from the source of life and that is the book definition of Sin. I was so driven by guilt and even fear that God would change his mind constantly about how He sees me and what He wants me to do that it almost drove me nuts. Mostly I would hear God say (through the mouth of one of the leaders of course) that what ever I attempted in terms of saving the world, submitting to leadership, “cutting the flesh,” praying for the lost, giving money, restricting my daily life choices to only the “holiest of the holiest” ones, leaving my non-believer friends behind, leaving my family behind who wouldn’t fall in line with the leaders commands and expectations, it still would not be good enough. Although sometimes it would be.

Even though I would get a "pat on the shoulder" once-in-a-while, it is bad, very very bad, to wait for someone’s absolution (having someone tell you that for what ever reason God is okay with you - for now)! Let me finish this excursion by sharing my faith with you: I came to believe that there is nothing that I can do to repair my relationship with God. He sent Jesus Christ to this world to be a living and dying and resurrecting testimony to the fact that God is not giving up on us and that HE is the solution to mankind’s problem: Sin (being separated from God). I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, I live to glorify this gift of God, himself.

And he didn’t just leave his followers as orphans, he sent his spirit, his character, to teach, guide and comfort us. Now I can know and rest that I am free from the task of making God happy, for he sees me through the eyes of his son Jesus. To say that I still need to work my way up to heaven and up to approval is a lie from the pit of hell. Hallelujah, who is set free by the Son is free indeed! Now I can be the disciple that gets so close to Jesus that I can hear his heart beat and I can know that it is a VERY GOOD thing that God is watching over us, with his eyes trembling with love and hope for us. For him it is all about us- now we need to learn to have our lives be all about him…

Why am I writing about this stuff today and how can I transfer it to be about nutrition? Because listening to a lot of people I realized that many have a problem that I want to compare to the lie that I have been terribly wounded and mightily freed from: They think that something is wrong with them, in a big time fashion, and they think they can fix themselves by enhancing their outward appearance. People feel guilty if they don’t come to the gym to work out, they make excuses why they didn’t show, or they are addicted to burning calories, they call it a “sin” to eat desert or French fries or they eat as if tomorrow was the end of the world, they knowingly choose to eat terrible foods and say they didn’t have anything else to eat, or they only live of a handful of nothing to eat or nourish them, they say they hate themselves for looking the way they do, they try to get absolution for their choices by referring to or blaming other people, their past wounding, or their lack of time, they mix up “treating themselves” with hurting themselves, legalism with discipline, they want me to admit that I “sin” too sometimes…, they truly believe that their lives will be somewhat okay if they only see that they did have the power to change or control themselves drastically enough, maybe so that they feel like they can control one thing in their life, or get others to love, respect, value, accept them more.

It is bad, very very bad, to wait for someone’s absolution. In the cases described people make themselves or other people to God, whom they have to please, pretty much like how I fell for the worst lie. Their lack of motivation (honestly, how long will guilt be able to carry you?) they call their “little sin,” which will either lead to more guilt or to indifference. Or their zeal to control their weight and size leads to other health and soul issues. Either way, I came to believe, that moving (or not moving for that matter) out of such a motivation will only keep someone busy in their attempts to clean up their lives. It will not fix their lives. Or give them a lasting satisfaction about who they are. Or solve their problems. Or have them love themselves and other people.

The truth will set us free. The truth I am talking about is Jesus Christ. Have you tried everything to make yourself and/or others love you? How did that work out for you? Maybe it is time to realize that you hit rock bottom. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and savior and yet you can’t receive God’s love for you and believe his thoughts about you more than any other voice, go into your prayer closet and talk to HIM about it! Listen while you pour out your authentic heart! Pray with believers you trust. Just don’t ever fall for the lie that God needs you to make him happy. 

God is totally content with who he is and what he has. And if Jesus is your savior God sees you through the sacrifice of Jesus. You are his wonderful creation. 

In the same manner don’t make your attempts to bring your life in order into an idol. Yes, God wants you healthy and not under the law or lack of education and discipline. But he has set you free so that you may be free indeed! If it is on your heart to glorify God with your daily eating and exercising choices- go for it. Contend for divine discipline (brought to maturity this would be called a lifestyle) – who wants to be a 21^st century Pharisee who loves the law more than the God it is all about and needs to hide his shortcomings with masks and lies?  In other words, long for maturity so your motivation comes from an inner wanting, a desire to do what pleases the spirit in opposition to attempting to fulfill the law to make it up to heaven.

Now, what would Jesus eat? Well, we talked about the times back then in Spa #2, the food back then was probably pretty “wholesome” compared to America today. So to ask if Jesus ever had to pass down pop or popsicles, I don’t think that matters. Jesus as the second Adam lived in true relationship with God the Father. Food is for the nourishment of the body and I believe Jesus knew how to enjoy food and life to the fullest. Let me just sideline that Jesus made remarkable great wine for already intoxicated people, who couldn’t tell the taste anymore anyway.

But another remarkable Jesus fact: He knew “Man shall not live from bread alone, but from every word that comes out from the mouth of God.” (Deut. 8,3/ Mt. 4,4)

WOW what a wisdom! This is profound. What lies about God and yourself do you believe? 

This is where I hand the mic over to you and I urge you to take the time and ask yourself, why you eat the way you do, why you pursue to change your body and habits, etc. Let me invite you to seek and enter the heart of God to know every word HE speaks about you! Let THOSE words be the one guiding you to the grocery store, to the fridge, to the restaurant, to the bathroom, to the gym, all the way through your daily life. You are absolutely worth it, because Jesus earned you to live a life to the fullest.

If you need further support or wonder if I can refer you to prayer partners, write me an email!

I release you today with the hope that you wouldn't be scared to face the lies in your life, one at a time. You are not alone, you have a whole body with Jesus as head to come along side you in your journey to glorify God with every aspect of your life.

Be blessed abundantly!

Spiritual Spa #8 FDA vs. GOD approved

Everyone did what they saw fit in their own eyes. 
~ Book of Judges


Dear family in the Lord!

Today I quote a whole book of the Bible! The quoted sentence you will find multiple times. It expresses a state in the history of the people of Israel when they didn't have a King yet. Sometimes they would have Judges though. They were instituted by the Lord, because the people had caused themselves so much trouble and chaos by leading their lives in the ways they saw fit- that they would finally cry out to the Lord for help! And then it is recorded that history repeated it self over and over- people would be okay for a while, but as soon as the Judge is gone, they would go back to a lifestyle that glorified the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life. What a graphic way to understand why this world is in the mess that it is in. Human kind corporately lost the fear of God in every way and that shows. But this is not a blog about socio-economics, but socio-nutrition. Which is, as we know, just as messed up as the rest of areas of society.

I did a little research on the FDA, the US food and drug administration. In a healthy nutshell, they allow or restrict all sorts of products on the market to regulate and ensure quality. So the fact that you can read the nutritional value and ingredients in tiny letters somewhere on products is thanks to them guys. I read in their mission statement that their goal is to help with public's health. Well (imagine me clearing my throat), I read as well that they call a lot of things unlawful, amongst many: Misleading information. Let me show you in the following why I don't think they are the God sent Judges to listen to.

How can the front of a product say "All natural whole wheat tortilla wraps" and then in fine prints on the back you learn about enriched and bleached ingredients and only 51% whole wheat! If you have three little kids screaming their lungs out in your cart or rely on your magnifying glasses to read the paper, you will not be able to take the time and study each and every item you intend to purchase. I call that misleading.

How can big companies be allowed to call their artificial sweetener products "DIET" when artificial sweetener mess with your hormone household and can make or keep you fat and likely sick?

How can dairy and deli products en mass be on the market AT ALL that are produced from cows which convenient grass-diets have been exchanged with the inside of a chem lab, when we learned hundreds of years ago that a nursing mothers' milk is influenced by her diet, therefore she for example can't have alcohol or certain medications, likely no hormones!!

Let me add about the FDA that I got the impression that they really don't care what exactly is in a product ingredient wise, but they lay an emphasis on caloric value. Let me say it this way: If a huge company, let's say like Coca Cola, funds a FDA study on diet-soda you can pretty much guess what the outcome is going to be and if it is going to end up on the market. Think of this in many different scenarios and resist the creeping feeling of paranoia- like me!!

About hormones in dairy and deli. Yes, who ever paid for the study on acceptable hormones in animal diet (God will hold all of them accountable), made it happen that the FDA can call it "safe" and "no significant difference has been found between synthetic hormones and regular hormones". This is all CRAP. I will say it again: CRAP-CRAP-CRAP! There.

Why is it CRAP? Well, do you currently take hormones or ou are coming off? Did your Doctor inform you about the links to all sorts of cancer? Meno-pause, birth control, hormonal disorders are commonly treated with magical hormones, but did you know that there are natural ways to deal with these topics (that a medical Doctor would not like you to hear about...)? I mean, we made it up to 21st century somehow, and most of it without synthetic or real hormones added to our diet...

Besides that, the amount of hormone traces in 1 glass of milk might be fine, what if you have 2 glasses, 1 steak, 2 cheese strings, 1 yogurt, 4 slices of turkey deli and some butter a day? That all adds up and your body will be the garage for all of that (on top of the medication you might take and the chemicals in household products). So, anymore questions why we need education on making the right choices? 
   
Now let me talk about for a little why it is not enough to only care about the caloric intake per day: The common chips bag suggests that the consumer's caloric need is about 2000 calories per day. Granted, they do mention that it might be less or more than that. Let me make one thing clear: It is very likely less. Do you have a car? Does it matter what kind of fuel you put into your car? Does it matter what, if you like to keep track of your daily calories, you eat? Well, we wouldn't meet here to talk about nutrition if that wasn't the case. So, yes it matters your world what you put into your body. So, just knowing how much sugar is in a product won't matter if you only care to look at the calorie amount.

What am I suggesting after bringing up all these horrible facts about the products on the market? I am saying, realize that you are in charge. You choose what you purchase. The FDA is not interested in making bad choices obvious and they will allow companies to move in gray areas, to your disadvantage. I am suggesting to stop and think when you are in the grocery store and read all labels carefully. I mostly only shop at Trader Joe's. They still have some real bad stuff sitting between the treasures, but it is worth the ride over there, for they offer wonderful Ezekiel bread, whole wheat tortilla and pasta, meat and deli without any additives, natural yogurt, organic fruits and vegetables, sulfur free dried fruits, less harsh body care or household products, wine without any sulfites, organic frozen berries and pizza with whole wheat crust....and all of that cheaper than most other grocery stores. For me it is a treat to go to Trader Joe's and shop. I'm taking time, reading labels, talking to the staff (for some reason m husband never wants to go with me?!).

Here a rough list of words to look out for (I am always very attracted to buy the products with the least ingredients):

Stay far away from:

-enriched (unless it is shampoo)

-bleached

-MSG

-white flour (directly from hell)

-something other than "whole wheat" or "sprouted wheat"

-refined sugar (pretty much everything in America), if you have to have sugar go for 10g or less per serving products. This is VERY important for you and your kids or grand kids.

-deep fried or pre-fried foods (fries, patties, you name it). Make them your self!!!

-processed foods. Stay away from them. Cook your own meals. Buy good ingredients. 

-Get Jillian Michaels' book "Master your Metabolism" to get a grand overall idea on why we are fooled and how we can eat on our behalf again.

-artificial sweeteners (Splenda, Aspartame etc.)

Let me wrap this up: In the market place everyone does as they see fit. FDA tries to bring some regulations into the chaos, they mean very well, but they compromise and support the American people getting sicker and sicker with every time you deep fry-microwave-grill-or cook with most products purchased. FDA vs. GOD approved means a mindset of: Honoring the creation (animals and fruits and veggies= go as organic as you can afford) and taking care of the body's needs. And GOD approved food won't work against you either. That just doesn't make any sense! God created food for our body to his service and not to need the service of a Doctor immediately or down the road.

Do humans have a need for refined sugar? No, there is no nutritional value in refined sugar. In the doses consumed today it is actually very harmful.
Do humans need Vitamin C? Yes DAILY, they do, they need it in form of REAL FRUIT though, over the counter supplements are not able to perform the job. And I'm not talking about fruit in jam or cake either, go for one organic apple, orange and banana a day minimum, daily!

In the time of the Judges we would cry out to God since we realized we messed up big time and he would sent a Judge like Deborah, Gideon or Samson and they would clean up big time! Remember Jesus cleaning up the temple? That's what we need! How about we start praying corporately about this and expect God to help us?! As believers in Jesus Christ we have the Holy Spirit and can be led by him if we ask our father in heaven to fill us with him, and through being obedient to the leading of this divine councilor we can come to the right judgments.  Now who can afford to listen to the wrong council anymore??

Be blessed abundantly,   
Christina

Spiritual Spa #7: Eater's Digest!

“Are you so dull?” Jesus asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) Mark 7, 18-19

Dear family in the Lord!

Today I will let you in on a very personal issue of the last week! Guess what I'm going to talk about? Exactly, food (eventhough it's not gonna be very appetizing...)!

Let me list, starting with last Saturday, what I ate out of the ordinary (and there were always reasons (including craving, convenience, courtesy) why I made the choices that I did):

Saturday night, eating out in a restaurant: Fried Shrimp with sweet potato fries + mayo.

Sunday staying at my in-laws: Deep fried french fries and chicken fat nuggets + mayo.

Monday, my friend shared her order with me: 4 slices of cheese Pizza with extra garlic sauce + extra garlic sauce (the artificial one!).

Tuesday: Left overs of cheese Pizza with extra garlic sauce. 


So, by Wednesday I ended up feeling bloated and unhappy.

By Friday I thought I have an appendix bursting within me and need to go to a clinic. 

Fortunately I saw my Chiropractor Friday night, because I was suffering a pain in my back moving to the stomach and back that I had NEVER known before. My Chiropractor is a wise man, knowing the relationship of nutrition and the overall physical well being. He tested my organs and told me that I have rotting food in my intestines. Well great, I thought, here I go telling my gentle readers to do all about as I say but not as I DO!! The Chiropractor gave my organic supplements eating the indigestible leftovers for the peace of my body.

I choose to share this with you. Us authors about nutritional advice are still human. Struggling  just like you to make the good choices. And subject to bad consequences just like you. That last week I ate like a "real American". And it made me sadly aware of the kids of America that have to get used to this kind of food THE HARD WAY because their parents or guardians might just not know better (or don't care enough).

Let's go back to Mark 7 and Jesus describing accurately what food is supposed to do. It is supposed to go into the stomach and then leave the body. In the spiritual sense Jesus expresses a truth that I admire and that changed my life. He responds to the law-loving pharisees and teachers of the law that a law cannot change the heart. And God is all about the heart of a person. You can go through all the motions you think make you a "christian", but without a surrendered heart it is all in vain. Jesus compares the effect the fallen world should have on us to the intake of food: We receive, we deal with it, we don't allow it to become a part of us, we get rid of it. Jesus was truly the master of not being defiled by anything that came at him, even though he was human like us.

What did he do differently than all the rest of man-kind? Well, let me give you an example, someone treats you badly, how do you naturally react? You're upset and might curse the person back or judge them harshly in your mind. If someone sins against us, it never justifies a sinful reaction. It makes it "understandable", but it doesn't make it right in God's eyes. That is why nothing from the outside can defile us. It will only defile us, if we allow it to enter our heart, stay in our system. Jesus said to turn the other cheek. Outwardly and inwardly. Forgive right away and love in return. Ask God to fill you with that love, you need to, because this kind of a lifestyle is truly supernatural. Don't let what Satan throws at you stick. Expose his schemes and clean yourself asap with the blood of Jesus. We are truly made righteous and daily more and more holy for the purpose of a life that would be a testimony to everyone around us.

Now let's talk food again, what if the food we eat lost it's natural composition and it won't leave you anymore? Three main meals per day are meant to mean: three times per day food leaving the body. HOW MESSED UP IS TODAY'S FOOD!! You eat it and it does not want to leave you naturally. That's what I was delighted to experience on your behalf (or alongside you) so that we can all learn :)

Did you actually know that a healthy, well eating human goes to the bathroom 1/2 hour -3 hours after eating a meal? If that isn't you, do you have a clue why not?

As always it comes back to nutrition. Let me introduce you to a really, really great friend on our journey to more understanding and health. FIBER! Fiber is an indigestible carbohydrate. But in this case it is a very good thing. Fiber will fill you up in a healthy way, keep you saturated longer, exhilarate the digestive process, is connected to weight loss and counted to help prevent you from all sorts of sicknesses. Do you know when God created fiber? Well, it was on the day he created the plants of the ground, the trees with the fruits and the grains on the fields. God loves us! Praise the Lord!

There is no significant amount of fiber in any of the foods I consumed out of the ordinary that significant last week. And it didn't help that I still had vegetables or fruits during that week. I was occupied. It was like being terribly sinned against and instead of forgiving and leaving it behind, I held on to it as if I was able to change anything about it. Now, can you envision better, who is behind all the processed foods (enriched or white flours, sugary drinks or juices, prepared meals etc.) that lack life preserving nutrients like fiber? I think of "him" as a "Joker" (from Batman the Dark Knight) type of a guy. He presents you the world as he sees it, deceives you into his perspective of despair and has you choose his way of dealing with it. In a microcosm example I could see the CEO of a food company go through some kind of a thought process like:
"We want to make food. We want people to buy it. We want to make a lot of money. Money will feed our families and keep us going. We need to find ways to make the process of creating dishes cheaper. Everyone would do this. FDA approved those cheap ingredients. Granted, we funded some FDA programs. So people might get sick. We have to get lawyers to protect us from getting sued. Oh well. I HATE HUMANS!!!"

Dig the love of God! Eat the fiber foods! Choose 100% whole wheat (NOT ENRICHED, please read labels!!!!), brown rice, beans! Add pears and prunes to your daily diet. Consume all sorts of vegetables with every meal. You can google high fiber foods and will be astound how easy it would be to have the recommended 20-35grams of fiber and give your digestion and health a boost!
Now go forth and think of the Garden Eden! Claim back the lost grounds in the name of Jesus!

Be blessed abundantly!

Spiritual Spa #6 OMG: MSG!

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book: If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.

Revelations 22, 18

Okay, I have had my fair share of people telling me what to do using bible verses not only out of context, but stretching the meaning of the words to an unhealthy level. Forgive me when you think this is one of these times! Believe me, my motives are noble and I mean to equip you on your journey to more health!

Let's look at the warning that Jesus Christ gives to John. He bestowed revelations about the times  (prophecy) unto John and urges every hearer of John's testimony to not add anything. Well, isn't this neat ? Do you ever feel you need to add something to what you want to share, in order to make it more interesting, funnier, wittier, more sad etc.? Jesus tells us to listen carefully. What he says is enough. Stay true to the facts you received.

How do you feel when you learn that what you heared/read/saw was more than everything there was to it? I'd say it becomes a lie by definition.

How does it make you feel to be made aware that our every day food is LOADED with additions that don't belong there. LIES. We already talked about evil-minded enriched foods, perverted preservatives, high alarming high fructose corn syrup or atrocious artificial sweeteners and colors. We haven't reached the bottom yet of what there is to know about our daily bread that we are so thankful for.

Come on a little journey with me for a moment: Think of Southern France. Imagine the salty sea smell in the clean air. Can you see the vineyards on the one side of the quiet sunny and sandy street and the strawberry fields on the other? There is a tomato field right down the street. Can you sense the sweetness in the air? Now follow your taste buds and go into the strawberry field, pick one sun-riped dark red fruit, undust it with your hands and bite into it. How does it taste like? Can you imagine the tangy sweetness of pure fruit sugar and Vitamin C rising through your body, reviving every cell there is to you? Do you feel like praising the Lord for his goodness?

Now come back to America, the land of the possible impossibilities, see yourself sitting in your little office or classroom opening that bag of fast food at lunch time, inhaling a mixture of fat, fake nutrients and fake tastes and therefore fake smells. Bite into that enriched white flour bun burger and deep fried french fries, feel the excitement in your brain, the satisfaction on your tongue to bathe it in the tastes it craved ever since you got first introduced to processed food, eat it up, only to regret that you didn't buy a second burger and more french fries with it, and kick yourself for the thought "it was a good idea to go without the medium chocolate shake"!! The feeling of excitement by now has developed into heartburn and every cell there is to you is still waiting for the sensation of true nourishment/ being truly filled- waiting for Godot or Guffman- waiting in vain. So after a little while you're hungry again, and guess what you are going to crave on your way home? You're lucky, there is another drive thru on your way home! Do you feel like praising the Lord for that?

Now let's come back to you reading this Spa. If you read the other Postings you know by now what to look out for. Let me add one more LIE to your list (by now you want to read again what Jesus says WILL HAPPEN to the ones that add something to the truth he has given): GLUTAMATES. Those are flavor enhancers and in a nutshell the guests directly from your worst nightmare you would have never let into your house if only you had known their true nature before.

Glutamates are a form of excitotoxin and guess what they do? They get you really excited. Quick test, judging by your flesh, do you crave french fries or steamed broccoli? Well, let me give you a hint... Drop that, I think we got the point.

MSG stands for Monosodium glutamate. It can be in anything and everything. It can be in seasoning, any kind of can, any kind of dish you buy, snacks, desserts, dressing. It's everywhere. It will make you go for seconds, and thirds, and fourths. (Envision you and that chips bag/ ice cream box the other night).

Now besides making us eat and crave more than we need (= making us overweight), in what other ways do these lusting liars, added on top of God's provision, bring our bodies under the curse again ( our bodies = the temples of the holy spirit)?

Let me quote from Jillian Michaels book "Master your metabolism" (very, very highly recommended to get and read thoroughly):

"Excitotoxins dive into the brain with relative ease, excite brain cells, and can rapidly cause permanent brain damage and eventual cell death."

Almost like a drug this white powder changes your brain every time you consume it in it's various forms. Unfortunate is that obesity is only the immediate cause, the ways in that it will affect your whole metabolism in the long run are harder to foresee. Remember that I started this Blog because so many of us in the body of Christ have all sorts of sicknesses and issues? MSG is a lead to explaining how that can be.

Now, FDA says Glutamates are fine in tiny portions, but as we said earlier, it is in EVERYTHING you might be used to consume on a daily basis (and every book keeper knows: a little here- a little there sums up to A LOT).

Don't risk it. Stay away from MSG and it's various glutamate siblings. Read labels carefully in the grocery store and never ever blindly trust "all natural/ natural flavors" phrases. The easy way of not having any fellowship with these dirty dozens means staying away from processed foods as good as you can. Don't bluntly trust other chefs. Ask what's in it. If you don't watch what passes the threshold of your mouth, who will?? My mother-in-law still loves me sort of (thanks to the fruit of the holy spirit), even though I can be a pain in the ear.

Check your seasoning salts also! If salt isn't there to salt anymore, Jesus said during the sermon on the mount (Mt. 5-7) to TOSS IT OUT!! No kidding.

Need I remind you of the bible verse we started out with today? There are consequences to adding to the truth. So treat the topic with respect, I'd say. Let's be wise as doves and mature as steak eating children of God, exposing the schemes and tearing down the strongholds of the enemy! (Wow, I just managed to put at least 4 bible references together in this one sentence...)

Fall in love with the real thing. Does a salad need marshmallows/ and or tons of dressing? Does a naturally sweet sauce need added sugar? Does a french fry need to be killed of it's last little nourishing aspects in a deep fryer?

Answers: No, a salad does not need marshmallows. Teach your kids by example to eat vegetables, because your body is created to live off of them. Keep the dessert in the dessert corner. Try out a splash of virgin olive oil, a little salt and pepper over a salad bowl and get excited of the feeling of Southern France that comes with this simple way.

No, naturally sweet sauce does not need added sugar. Think of Southern France.

French Fries, onion rings, chicken fat nuggets or anything breaded, or fish, meat, vegetables, you name it, will be just fine in the oven. Deep frying is without a justifiable cause. Try to become a baker! There are so many wonderful and super simple ways to bake vegetables... Especially with some garlic and olive oil.

And now, the ball is in your court! Ignorance is bliss, but pain, obesity and sickness isn't. Again I leave you with reminding you that if you lack ability, passion or even conviction to change your habits, to go to the Lord himself and chat with him about that... Go with what ever he tells you to do.

Be blessed abundantly!

Spiritual Spa #5 Great= great?

"He must become greater; I must become less." John 3, 30

Dear family in the Lord!

Who is "he" and who is "I"? John the Baptist ("I") is talking about Jesus Christ ("he") in this frequently quoted verse.  As soon as we get the slightest idea of the breath taking beauty  and power of our Lord Jesus we enter right in and with the hope of a desperate man agree: LESS OF ME OH LORD AND MORE OF YOU!!!

Praise the Lord! Let's agree with HIS plans for our lives!

Today I want to share some facts on obesity (I must become less...). What is going on there? Chew on this:

Your body needs X calories per day. As soon as your body receives X + calories per day it will start to store those "++". Where? Right under your skin, in your organs, your blood. That shows on your scale, your physical appearance, your energy level and your health.

How many calories does the body need to add one pound of pure squishy body fat? 3500 calories more than you burn a day (or a week- the body has the memory of an elephant!).
That is about one meal at a restaurant with appetizer, main course, desert and beverages.
Now, how many calories does the average person need? Roughly most people with a desk job burn no more calories per day than 1600-1700. Are you shocked now? You should. Run, run fast, run for about 1 hour to burn about 500-600 calories!!!

Now let's look at the X as mentioned above. How do you know how many calories your body needs per day? http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php Put in your information and be surprised how many (or how few) calories your body actually needs to maintain itself, if you can handle truth.

Guess how many calories your body needs to miss out on to lose a pound of pure squishy body fat? 3500 calories! Yeah, it's easy! I have mentioned this before in another Spa, but if you want to lose 1 pound of body fat a week, cut out dessert and any sweet beverages for a week and be amazed! Live 3 months like that and maybe find a friend to work out with and you will see a new you.

Let me give you a recommendation for a food journal + exercise counter: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/. To track calories for a while is very fruitful, since we COMPLETELY lost understanding of what our body really needs, versus what our flesh craves. We are obese because we consume too much. We consume too much for we are eating bad food (and we have a strong habit). Myfitnesspal will give you a good idea of the calorie amount of what you want to eat. If you have an I-phone, consider getting the app or if you have an internet phone, have this page be a quick link, to access it to your convenience.

Ever heard of "empty calories"? We call them empty because they are just like empty promises, they smell great, get your brain in the mood to eat, contain a TON of calories to keep you still hungry and craving the same bad stuff. That's what most of us eat and have eaten for most of our lives. And the food industry has gotten more efficient every decade since about the '60s when it is about creating "Frankenfood" for us.

It is so easy to lie to your self, and others, (Oh, this butter burger has a salad leaf on it! or The name of my mayonnaise bomb-dish is "dip" or "salad"). You will not see the promised land of optimal weight and the benefits that come from a well nourished body if you don't learn to overcome your deceived  flesh with the spirit of Jesus Christ.

(Did you know that you can easily substitute mayonnaise with greek (no or low fat) yoghurt and save tons of calories and add many nutritional benefits?
 http://www.linda-rd.com/blog/what-is-greek-yogurt-brands-nutrition-facts-recipes/)

If this Spa speaks to you, go to the Father in Heaven and tell him something like this:

"Lord Jesus, my body is a temple created to your glory and I have been and am abusing it to glorify my own flesh. I am almost not even sorry. I have received the reward of bad Nutrition willingly. I know that I use food as a source of cheap and empty satisfaction and hardly let you interfere with my attitudes and choices. I just don't want to think about bad consequences. But I know aswell that the reward of sin is (eventually) death. Today, oh good Father in heaven, I ask you to convict me. Let me feel and see the ugliness of the burden of my sin for a moment so that I can realize and confess that I am under the law of the devil who wants me to follow my dull senses into my own, and my family's, destruction. Jesus, claim your right over this your temple and open my spiritual eyes and ears so I can see and hear you leading me into a lifestyle that honors you, right by the fountain of abundant life. Thank you Jesus!"

I wish this Spa would have turned out more witty and funny. But the bottom line is, to lose ourselves and give room to God goes hand in hand with the cutting of our flesh (outch!).

I chatted with Ashley, the owner of the gym I work at, and we agreed that in a way it is unfair that the WIDE SPREAD sin of gluttany in the body of Christ can be so obvious, when other sins can be performed in secret. Let's not waste our lives treading around in a desert for 40 years! Let's choose obedience and wisdom= follow the Holy Ghost! Greatness on earth does not equal greatness in the kingdom of Jesus. Lord become greater in me, I must become less.

Okay, let me end on a funny note: Imagine my german father told me this one and I try to keep it as literal as possible: What is a monkeys' Schnitzel? ....a banana!

Be blessed abundantly!

Spiritual Spa # 4

God’s Manner: Manna!

Read: Exodus 16

Dear family in the Lord!

What, you might wonder, can the post-modern society today learn from basically ancient folks wandering around in a small desert for 4 decades about 3000 years ago looking for a promised land they ended up sharing with the wrong people anyway?? Good point! Can we all agree though that the sin that was in those people's hearts back then is the same sin that still tries to dominate us today? How often do we read for example through the story of Moses with his people and recognize ourselves in the different characters described? How sweet is the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin! We read about something that happened 1000s of years ago, start to think “those jerks!!”, until we feel the “wait a moment…”. Lets look at Exodus 16 and see what we can learn about our own and the Lord’s manners!

The context in a nutshell; The Israelites have just escaped their exile in slavery with Moses and Aaron leading them in the wisdom and power of the Lord himself. They started to wander about in the desert and experience the Lord's supernatural provision. The people begin with the infamous murmuring (“those jerks!!”…”wait a moment…”), thinking, they complain against their "irresponsible" leaders. Turns out those leaders where acting in God’s authority and appointing, so to be upset with their decisions meant to doubt God. By the way, I don’t think this means we cannot pose questions to our leaders! Let’s keep track of the motives in our hearts though when we do question others or get questioned ourselves.

Now, how does being scared of starving, like we find it in Exodus 16, relate to us today, keeping in mind that these people where just released from slavery? A known interpretation of the story of the Exodus (the “taking off”) is to relate it to us being under the reign of sin until Jesus Christ sets us free. The Israelites were set free in the physical realm, but in their minds they were still bound to Egypt. How do I know that? Ever heard of the Stockholm Syndrome? (No worries, I will end up talking about nutrition :) ). In simple words: it's a psychological reaction of a hostage towards their rulers, partnering with and interpreting their abuses and criminal actions as desirable and not questionable. That explains why often after we get freed from sinful habits e.g., we tend to feel like we want to go back to it if something unexpected occurs. In our minds we may have partnered with a sin and being freed from it needs to include an exposure and clean cut with all benefits we might have received. That includes breaking with bad food choices, just because it's tasty and everybody eats it, doesn't make it God's plan for your life!

Let me interpret the Exodus story on a different level: Nutrition. The first Spa was about facing the ugly truth: We are in captivity. We think we are on top of things, we enjoy (some sort of a) provision. Too bad that the side effects of our cheap and irresponsible (not knowing what we’re doing) lifestyle costs us our and our kids' health. Do you want to be free? Ask Jesus to free you from the reign of the spirit of modern provision. Hey, I’m not against recipes from grannys’ cookbook. I am against attitudes (strongholds) that raise themselves up against the knowledge of God. AKA in this Spa: Preservatives. We already talked about enriched foods and artificial sweeteners being vicious, let me add preservatives to the picture.

Let’s go back to Exodus, God lets it rain bread (they called it Manna) to bestow his supernatural provision on his people. With it comes the rule to not store it. God says, this is to test the hearts of the individuals in the whole people (4). Everybody gets a certain amount for every head in his family for every day. No one has too much, no one has to little (verse 18). Now read this:

 ¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”
 ²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

Ring a bell? Hello!! God’s provision is enough for one day for each member of our family!! The food he has created for us is good the way it is! It is meant to perish if we don’t need it! (I’m not demonizing freezers or natural ways of preservation! I am talking about the preservatives that make us sick. See below!) One critical side track question, did the Bison die out when America was only populated by the Natives or when the white men took over...  Let's face it, we lost the ability to honor God's creation.   

Today’s preservatives in processed foods are so bad that they not only make food taste artificial (you start to realize that when you eat the real thing!!), but way worse: they literally make us sick. Can you see the pattern by now? There is a godly way of everything leading to “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!” and then there is the opposite. The opposite is MS, diabetes, various forms of cancer, obesity, hormonal disorders, heart issues, depression,  and so forth!

Still want to blame the devil? Well, yeah, but we buy his schemes and products- literally.

What do I mean when I talk about processed foods? Basically everything you can think of in the grocery store that just needs to be tossed together and warmed up. For example: Soup, refried beans, bread, sauces, pasta meals, meats, rice meals, snacks, chips, tacos, nachos, dehydrated foods, you name it. How in the world can it stay good in that climate for years and years? Even if it is “only” weeks, most real and fresh foods have a fridge lifetime of about 3-6 days max. And that is God’s manner! Are you surprised about bad consequences for messing with his system?

As a child I used to think that food stays good for a loooong time in cans for the lack of oxygen. Now that I am an adult I left that fairytale idea behind and learned the truth: The reason are all sorts of different and complicated to spell and pronounce additives. Do you really need certain words to look for? BHA is one word to look for and avoid to get close to. There are many, many other chemicals worthy to be mentioned, making this a long and hard to read spa. Look for the foods with the least ingredients, that's a good thumb rule. If you can't pronounce it, it's likely harmful.

Let me pose this: Are you really too busy to gather the provision of the Lord together and cook your own meal? If you cook your own meals (maybe even have some bonding time preparing it with your kids), you know pretty much what’s in it and I bet you and your family enjoy it the more. 

For example, instead of opening a can of Pasta with meatballs to warm up, buy whole wheat pasta, make your own sauce from fresh organic tomatoes, fresh garlic, onions and fresh herbs, look for (best: organic, Trader Joes) beef without nitrates and without nitrites (good luck with that one!). To buy regular meet, well, just think about what the cows, chicken and turkey are fed today. Not only is it cheap bad food, unlike what they were created to eat, they get fed growth hormones to add quantity, lacking quality. A must (according to Jillian Michaels book "Master your Metabolism") is to at least find meats without nitrites, those are the most harmful preservatives in meat. This is a controvercial topic though! Following Jillians advice though has proven it self to me. Your call!

Needless to say that we don't live in a desert anymore, so usually appropriate cooling of foods keep them good as long as they are supposed to, without chemical preservatives.

Be blessed abundantly!  

Spiritual Spa #3

Jesus Christ says: Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

Dear family in the Lord!

Reading this I get goose bumps. When we open the door to Jesus he will come inside and eat with us and we with him. He will come in when we hear his voice! Are some of us too busy chewing on chips and crackers so they can't hear his voice? Is this spa about making you feel guilty for craving chips? No, it's not!

Today I want to bring to our attention that Jesus is either going to move  deeper into "us" or is about to for the first time, when we invite him. But how huge is one heart! Has he been given permission to enter into every room of our hearts yet? And if he does have permission, what are we going to serve him to eat? What does this even mean??

Jesus calls himself the bread of life. I think in the spiritual sense of this statement he doesn't rely on us grabing our fancy cook book from the shelf and start preparing a 4 course meal (hoping he wouldn't smell in the fridge for what we usually eat). I think Jesus is for dinner. And for breakfast and lunch. All about us (will, emotions, memories, drives, craves, etc.) is stored in a deep place, maybe even too deep for us to have on our radar. The bibel calls this place "the heart". Out of this heart flows who we are, showing in our thoughts, actions or interactions with one another. In this heart of hearts he wants to enter, he wants us to show him what's brooding on our own stoves, warming up in our microwaves (when we don't expect him as a guest), he will toss it out with a loving smile (with our permission) and serve us himself as the dish that brings forth life, life to the fullest. The best meal ever.  The effect is great joy and new life!

Can we transfer this into the physical realm? YES WE CAN! I have seen and heared people's health improving significantly when they started allowing Jesus to come in to one dark room after the other of their heart. People receiving forgiveness or choosing to release others by forgiving them and then being set free from diffrent physical issues. Let's not harden our hearts when we are confronted with our own sin or by holding on to unforgiveness and bitterness! Let's choose to trust Jesus to be the best chef there is.


Be blessed abundantly!