In my journey toward rest and life balance I have made both internal and external changes along the way. Physically I made a permanent lifestyle change to adopt healthy eating habits. I did a ton of research and the first decision I made was that my purpose for healthy eating was not to lose weight but to achieve health. Health is my goal; the weight loss would be one of the benefits. I decided I would not go on a diet to lose weight but instead would change my eating habits to gain optimum health and physical well-being. In doing so I made the commitment that I would not make any changes that I wasn’t willing to make a permanent part of my overall diet.

In other words, I wasn’t going to stop eating certain foods for a period of time to drop weight and then start eating those foods again only to “yo yo” up and down and gain the lost weight back and then some.  I wasn’t interested in the latest weight loss fad.  I was committed to a lifestyle change. After months of research, I landed on a plan that has worked extremely well for me.

For the most part I dropped all added sugar from my menu. (I will admit my weakness is ice cream :)) I eliminated grains, as well as nearly all packaged and processed foods, seed oils, and adopted a moderate protein, high fat and very low carbohydrate way of eating. My hero when it comes to the role of macro nutrients is Dr. Ben Bikman. He is an incredible scientist and communicator on insulin resistance, inflammation and the role of diet in our overall health.

He encourages us to prioritize protein, fuel with fats and control carbohydrates. Quite frankly, in my mind, I simply made the decision to eat “real food” In adopting this eating style I can be in a consistent state of what is referred to as “nutritional ketosis.”  I’ll share more about this in later posts. Instead of burning sugar as my main energy source, I actually burn a cleaner more desirable source of energy called ketones. I have benefitted greatly from nutritional ketosis. By the way don’t swallow or even entertain the lie that so many spout that eating fat makes you fat.

But recently I started thinking about the idea of “spiritual ketosis.” When it comes to my diet and the intake of God’s Word to maintain optimum spiritual health, what am I eating? Does my diet consist of sugar-coated messages devoid of any nutritional value? Do I only consume pre-packaged processed teachings that are slickly put together, appealing to my senses and appetite, instead of feasting on the “meat” of God’s Word? Don’t get me wrong I appreciate a well thought out, prepared and delivered message.   

But let’s face it just like in the world of nutrition there are some quacks out there trying to make a buck at your expense, the same thing happens in the religious world where instead of providing good solid spiritual food, some so called teachers offer “half baked” truthes devoid of any nutrional value, robbing you of money, and spiritual well-being.  When it comes to your spiritual diet and health, let’s aim for “spiritual ketosis”. Commit to prioritize with protein and fuel with fat, the clean burning fuel of the pure undiluted and undefiled, word of God, and cut out the junk food and empty calories that try to pass themselves off as food for our souls.

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