In the first chapter of the Book of Daniel in the Bible there is an interesting account of how 4 young men vowed to stay true to healthy living and how this commitment affected a powerful kingdom of their day.
King Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon decided he wanted to implement an equal opportunity program for a minority group within his Kingdom. This he did with the Israelites. He picked the 4 young boys noted above, Daniel,Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego to be in the program. As part of his program the king ordered that they be fed well with royal rations of food and wine. There must be an account somewhere of what this food was made up of but for sure it was probably a lot of meat and potatoes covered in spice and grease. The young boys decided this would not be good for them so they asked their direct boss to let them eat what they were used to eating. But the direct boss hesitated because he was afraid the King would put him to death if the boys were not up to par physically as the rest of the young people groomed to be part of operation of the Kings palace. Daniel convinced him put him and the 3 others to a ten day test of eating nothing but vegetables and water. The "boss" reluctantly agreed. Well after the 10 day test "...it was observed that they appeared better and fatter than all the young men who had been eating the royal rations." (Daniel 1:15). Verse 17 continues to say that God gave these young men knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and wisdom: Daniel himself was especially gifted in understanding visions and dreams. The king was so impressed with these young men that he had them stationed in his court. They were 10 times better than "all the magicians and enchanters in his whole Kingdon".
This story shows that when one is disciplined in looking after themselves in all aspects of their person, intellect, spiritual, and physically your influence to those around you can be profound in a very positive way. When you have a healthy body you will have a clear mind to think about things and have the ability to figure out ways to improve things. As a result, you will be more cognizant of the fact that there is much more than what the physical world shows.
Your influence may not encompass kings and queens but there are people who look to you for things, these could be your family, your kids and grand kids. You want to be be able to be around to see them grow into adulthood and you want to be able to pass on to them wisdom that will keep their worldly loads light. Most of all you want to be able to pass on to them knowledge of a greater power that holds all things together and one that can be trusted through all things. To help them in this, you need to keep yourself fit physically and to keep yourself healthy. To keep healthy you need to eat right. The knowledge to do all this is so profoundly easily available today. You can get this education just by turning on your computer and looking up the required information about good eating. I know that in the remote north or any other remote place for that matter this can be a challenge but nothing is impossible where there is a will. My late mother survived diabetes until she was in her mid-70's and she lived in a challenging environment where proper nutritious food was not so easily available.
So think about it. There are people around you who are counting on you give them that sense that everything will be alright, they will follow your example to attain that sense of security for themselves.
Cheers,
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