Self-Reflection Sundays: All I Do is EAT EAT EAT No Matter What!

It is officially September 2020 which means it's my birthday month!

As I approach 35, I've been noticing how paramount it is that I change my eating habits; not just for myself, but for others, including my family.

I have always been pretty up and down about healthy eating; sometimes I go hard, making sure to log absolutely everything into MyFitnessPal, loading up on veggies and decreasing sweets and drinks other than water. Other times, I have no filter as to what I feed myself. As a child, I exercised all the time, and although working out has been sort of consistent into adulthood, I didn't always have a handle on coupling it with making the correct nutritional choices. Also, since my first born, I've used pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever I want, when I want, and blamed it on "cravings". I gave birth over a month ago to my second child and although my appetite has increased tremendously due to breastfeeding, I haven't always gone for the healthier options in order to satisfy my cravings. It's easy to know what you need to do but still choose not to do it, especially if you're the only one it's directly affecting. When your goals also impact the wellbeing of others, it's all the more disappointing when you don't do what you're supposed to do. This week I've decided that it's not enough to just know that my health doesn't only affect me...I have to go past head-knowledge and actually put things into action to be better for the sake of myself and others.

My youngest son was born in July and he has had a lot of problems with gas buildup since coming home. It's so hard to watch him struggle and grunt sometimes. The doctor mentioned how mommy's food is what feeds the baby. I heard her, but I didn't quite make immediate changes to my diet. As time went on, my husband noticed specifically that the dairy and coffee could be the culprit of our son's problems. This was very helpful because now I knew exactly what I needed to stay away from.

Did I stay away from it? Yes, and we noticed a change in the baby. But I have to admit that sometimes I still crave it and feel like it should be okay to have. How often do we know what we need to stay away from, but make all the excuses in the world about how it's our right to have it and no one can tell us that we can't have it? God didn't really say that? That's for old testament. Everybody does it. It's my body. You can't judge me...all the excuses!

Earlier this week, my husband was sharing his thoughts while reading about Joseph in the Bible. Joseph was given instructions by the angel to take Mary as his wife, he was told she would birth Jesus, he was told to leave places, and he was told when to return. What if he didn't listen and obey each and every time? How would it have impacted the world today? Would the savior have been born? There are so many stories about people who had to do things, not just for them, but for the fate of the future. This was just a reminder that what I do and don't do has an impact on the others, on the future. 

Currently, it is a fact that what I eat directly affects my baby. As long as I intake the wrong things, not only will my health be compromised, but he's going to suffer because of it also. It doesn't matter who else can eat dairy and drink coffee, it's not beneficial for me right now to do so. Drinking coffee and eating dairy is by no means a sin, there's no scripture written telling me not to do it, and it tastes sooooo good. But because I've seen the negative effects of it on my baby, I can't do it. I have been disobedient occasionally, which ends with him struggling and grunting, which breaks my heart so bad. Then I have the nerve to start praying that God would help him and make him feel better. But you know what, it's not enough to see the aftermath of wrong choices, and then try to pray that the aftermath would subside. I have to always listen, be obedient, and stay away from things that aren't beneficial for me or my family or future. That is how the aftermath is avoided altogether. This means that regardless of things that everybody else says is okay, things that I can't find a scripture forbidding, things that I see everybody doing, things that are logically my right to do, but I know that for me, it isn't beneficial - why in the world would I indulge in those things? Why is it more important for me to try to justify me feeding my unbeneficial desires instead of simply being obedient to God and avoid having negative impacts on myself and others?

This month, rather let's just start today, I would encourage you to think about your diet - not just physically, but spiritually. At the end of the day, your choices should be what's beneficial and pleasing to God, not what "people" want to justify. Remember, obedience is not just about you; your actions impact others.