People continually ask me about steps to stay healthy and free from chronic sickness and disease. I have come up with a few things that should always be at the top of your checklist.
1. Always look to God first as the Almighty physician.
And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians. II Chronicles 16:12
How many times do we go to the doctor first before even consulting our number one healer? I am not discounting doctors by any sense of the word. I am one and am grateful for his gifting me with this ability! Let us remember God’s healing power in all situations including sickness and disease!
2. Find a physician or practitioner that is passionate about “well care” not “sick care.”
One that does not just give a pill for every ill. Find a doctor that lives a healthy lifestyle themselves. Ask them if they live it. If they don’t, how do you know what they tell you is true?
Have a complete work up including all of your vital signs, body composition, blood chemistries, and inflammatory markers, including hormones. Once you have this complete evaluation get on the road to a health revolution. Aim to optimize all of these markers.
3. Educate your mind.
The Bible tells us to renew our mind. Romans 12:2. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” We need to renew our mind with healthy habits and move our households away from diets and habits that perpetuate disease.
4. Understand your relationship with food.
When you sit down to eat with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you; And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to gluttony. Do not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food. Proverbs 23:1-3
We must eradicate foods’ stronghold in our lives. Come to an understanding about your relationship to food.
Does it have you? Does it emotionally control you? Is it physically making you sick? Food is very deceptive. We need to get away from diets. Diets don’t work. The first three letters of the word diet is “DIE.” No one wants to feel like they are going to die when they eat a certain way!
We need to create the new American lifestyle. If we live a lifestyle that provides healthy nourishment from fresh raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, adequate amounts of clean protein, we will avoid being riddled with inflammatory disease. Give your household a detox. Go to your cabinets and throw out anything in them that has health destroying ingredients.
You might also enjoy: How to Overcome Emotional Eating Habits
5. Establish a healthy exercise routine.
Too much exercise can be just as toxic and inflammatory as not enough. Establish a healthy exercise program in your life to include both aerobic and anaerobic types. The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes a week. Logging your exercise routine, setting a friendly reminder in your phone, getting an exercise partner are all things that may help you stick to a healthy exercise regimen!
Check out our online, at-home workout programs.
6. Get adequate rest.
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Luke 9:23
Sometimes this passage can be misconstrued into the plague of working all the time. Even Jesus took a rest on the Sabbath day.
Sometimes saying that one extra yes to someone else means saying no to oneself and that ends up creating a pitfall in personal wellness. We become over committed and exhausted. We may even end up in bitterness and despair.
Rest does not mean being selfish. Rest is a random act of self kindness ad self LOVE. Rest fills up the tank. When we are well rested we have much more to give and look forward to giving.
7. Find an accountability partner.
You may want to be the one that starts a wellness community in your church. Make wellness a regular part of your Bible study where you close the group with 10 minutes of wellness concepts. Begin to participate in each others lives and share how wellness is in your family! Share healthy recipes. Discuss how you’ve put limits on the quantities of food consumed. Discuss how Satan tries to get in there and sabotage you and how you over come temptation.
We’ve got to come to grips with the fact that we must take steps to live completely and totally well. Stop the rebellion, stop the disobedience! If we are not awake and aware of all the ways that our health can be sabotaged we will find ourselves sick and living with chronic disease.
