Real God in an Artifically Flavored World
Today, (contrary to everything I’ve been trying to do all year) I purposefully gave my child high fructose corn syrup, artificially flavored, red dye #40 (or whatever is causing cancer this week) on a stick.
Yep, all the rules of how we’re trying to eat clean – broke ’em. Nobody died. I don’t even think I gave her cancer.
I have been learning a lot about our food this past year, and frankly, it’s terrifying. It is hard to find anything the experts can agree on.
So today the rubber met the road, and I cried UNCLE.
My daughter gets ferociously carsick on her best days. Every trip past 15 minutes is a game of Russian Roulette with the puke bucket.
This morning, she woke with a 101.6 temperature, sore throat, and screamed every time I even touched her tummy. After spending the morning trying to schedule and get to our doctor’s appointment with a kid wearing pants, I decided we were buying whatever the tiny (scary Deliverance style) grocery store next door to the clinic had on hand.
We bought cheap-o popsicles and Jell-o. My child was in heaven, she slurped a red popsicle after some broth for lunch and an orange one after dinner.
I will have a plan in the future to make homemade popsicles, but today, when I am not feeling great and my child is miserable, it just didn’t make sense to add another 90 minutes of travel/shopping time when the 10 minute car ride to the clinic made her queasy.
I decided that I have a big, REAL God. He is big enough to save people from cancer and car wrecks. There are people starving in Africa, and I get to be choosy about what I eat (even on one salary in a recession).
God asks me to trust Him, not sacrifice myself on the altar of mommy perfection. Click To TweetI think He would rather I put serving Him by loving my family and friends and being Godly before crucifying myself on the cross of modern mommy perfection. I have a sick daughter. I am not an actual superhero even though my iPhone refers to me as ‘Supermom.’
Sacrificing my sanity over perfect nutrition wouldn’t have been the best service to my daughter or self today.
She slurped her popsicle and smiled. She curled up and fell asleep. I was able to catch up on my bible study with a friend, get some time with my spiritual mentor, and talk with my dad while she napped.
God has to be my real God. Listening to what He calls me to be is way more important than letting food choices dictate how I feel about myself.
Exodus 20:3 ESV “You shall have no other gods before me.
I have really tried not to let my newly discovered food phobias get out of hand, but I have been proud of myself for refusing to give my daughter the “wrong” kinds of juices, and equally guilty when we run through McDonald’s.
Making healthy choices is supposed to be part of a better lifestyle, not a knife dividing good parents or people from bad.
Healthy choices are supposed to be part of a better lifestyle, not a knife dividing parents. Click To TweetI’ve been struggling with giving into the nutritional fear mafia, but today, I learned to let God be my real God. I will try to keep my nutrition on the right track, limiting artificial stuff, increasing organic options in our pantry, but keep the food where it belongs, in the kitchen instead of on the throne of my heart.
Romans 8:38-39 ESV “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I’m sure that if God is bigger than all those things, He has GMOs, BPA, high fructose corn syrup, and MSG under control.
In a fallen world, the lesser evil is mostly what we can offer our children, which is why we have to point them to HIM because He literally is the BEST we have to offer them.
And my REAL God tells me not to let fear control me. The Bible makes over 365 references about fear, not nearly that many about what we should/shouldn’t eat.
God’s word tells me how to trust Him way more than He’s worried about what we’re eating. Treating my body like a temple has to include being real in my humanity by just doing what I can, the best today will allow, and following Him in every area of my heart.
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3 Comments
wrfields
bill fields
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Michelle
A few things about this article. I agree with you in not letting fear rule us when it comes to our food supply. However, we are also to use wisdom and judgment about what we put into our bodies. Unfortunately, it is very difficult and expensive to avoid all GMO food. I myself, used to only eat organic meat, organic veggies, organic fruits, organic crackers, organic EVERYTHING. However, in doing so, I was also missing out on some essential foods we needed because I couldn’t always get organic – for instance with veggies – if there were no organic ones, I wouldn’t buy them. And then I began reasoning that our bodies need the vegetables so to go without them is probably less healthy than eating non organic ones. That being said, it IS ABSOLUTELY possible and ESSENTIAL for children to avoid ALL artificial colors and dyes. These are toxic and studies have been done recently which show that they do, in fact, alter a child’s brain chemistry, causing hyperactivity, ADD, outbursts of anger and so on. I, myself, discovered this with my own daughter a few years ago after she was fed (without my knowledge) fruit loops at preschool one day. She was an absolute horrific monster that evening. Once I discovered that she had been given a food she didn’t usually eat, I knew immediately that was the cause. She NEVER eats artificial colors and is a well behaved, attentive, bright child. There are certain ingredients in our food that must be avoided at all costs, and artificial colors is at the top of the list. My reasoning is that in the same way you would not ingest cleaning fluid since it is toxic, so should you not put certain ingredients into your body.
Jennifer
I agree wisdom is key. I am not sure if my daughter has any effects from dyes or not because they generally accompany foods with large doses of extra sugar, but we have eliminated most dyes from our diet. I’m of the belief that most chemicals are probably better off not in our bodies, but am with you in my tendency to go so extreme that it gets destructive. We will make different choices today when we aren’t in crisis mode. But keeping some perspective that God is her God too. He has a plan for her life, to give her hope and a future, and I need to equip her to face that without turning into a crazy person if she has a chicken nugget.