“Diet is for women.” No guys, we’re all on a diet, we all have an eating habit. The only question is whether it’s a good one or a bad one, one that’s helping us steward our bodies for God’s glory or not. Try to keep in your mind the truth of you are not your own. Your body, not just your soul, but your body has been bought with the price of Christ’s blood. Your body, not just your soul is occupied by the Holy Spirit. Your body, not just your soul is a member of Christ. Your body, not just your soul is God’s.
Now think of what you pour into it every day. What junk are you feeding Christ’s body. What caffeinated drinks, what alcoholic drinks are you pouring down Christ’s throat. Diet is for women? No, diet is for men. Indeed, diet is for God.
I’m a theologian, not a dietician. That’s why “The Murray Diet” begins with theology: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10: 31). This profound Scripture verse tells us that there is a way to glorify God not just by what comes out of our mouths in praise and prayer, but by what goes into our mouths by eating and drinking. In other words, every choice we make about what to eat or drink either magnifies or minimizes God.
Our modern age has made this verse both easier and harder to obey. Easier, because we know so much more about the science of food and its impact on our bodies, minds, and moods. Harder, because there are so many more unhealthy foods and drinks to tempt us. That’s why we begin implementing this verse by gathering scientific knowledge to educate our consciences and strengthen our wills.
Now the impact of food upon our bodies is obvious. So, I want you to know how food also impacts our moods and our minds.
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- Skipping breakfast reduces cognitive performance because it deprives the brain of the nutrients, vitamins, and glucose that a normal breakfast supplies.
- Children who consumed lots of sugar and fizzy drinks in their breakfast diet performed at the same cognitive level as the average seventy-year-old in attention and memory tests.
- Salads are packed full of antioxidants that eliminate damaging materials from the brain.
- Blueberries and strawberries boost short-term memory, focus, and coordination.
- Avocados increase oxygen and blood supply to the brain.
- Eggs are rich in choline, which produces memory-boosting brain chemicals.
- Foods such as walnuts, salmon, and vitamin D-rich foods increase the number and efficiency of neurotransmitters.
- Junk food contains a type of fat that does not help mood but rather raises stress levels.
We cannot expect to have strong and stable physical, intellectual, and emotional health if we break basic nutritional rules that God has built into our world. We are what we eat.
Real Men Diet
Discussion Questions
1. What other verses and biblical principles are relevant to this topic of eating and drinking for God’s glory?
2. How can science help to educate our consciences and strengthen our wills?
3. What will you change to maximize God in your eating and drinking?
Further Reading
Soul and Stomach
9 Tips for Eating Christianly
My Struggle to Smash the Food Idol
4 Building Blocks of a Healthy Relationship with Food
What You Eat Affects Your Productivity
Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?