The Law of Health

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:

marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

- Psalm 139:14

know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,

....ye are bought with a price:

therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
 

We know that the world was created by God's Word. Since the creation, the heaven and earth exist by abiding by His Word. Everything is thus governed by His Word, which are the laws of the universe, which if we neglect or trespass, we will be punished, so are our bodies. Many people get diseased, because they disobey the laws God ordained in our bodies.

The law of health, if we summarize can be stated as follows:

1. Nutrition

We need to obtain sufficient and balanced nutrition to maintain our life and health. Nutrition comes from the food we eat. But many people do not eat the right food or eat in a wrong way, which is the cause of most deceases.

What is the right food and what is the right way to eat then? We will discuss this in details later.

2. Exercise

Our bodies need exercise to stimulate respiration and blood circulation, our brains need exercise to be clever and useful. So we need a balanced combination of mental and manual exercises every day. The best manual exercises probably are growing plants in the fields, which give us complete relaxation and peace, and will lead our mind to dwell upon God and His wonderful work in nature. Sports, though also a way of exercise, do not have all these benefits.

3. Water

What do you drink when you feel thirsty? Coca cola or beer? No, you must not drink these things, for they are not good for your health. The right drink for our bodies is just clean water, we do not need to add anything else in it. Clean water is the best drink God gives to us.

We need to drink 1500-3000ml water every day to maintain health. It's not a good habit to drink water only when we feel thirsty. A good habit is to drink 500ml(about two glasses of) water in the morning after getting up, another 500ml at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and another 500ml in the evening. During the day whenever we feel thirsty we should drink water, during hot days or after exercises we should drink more too to supplement the water lost in sweating. But be sure not to drink water 30 minutes before meals or 2 hours after meals, in order not to dilute gastric fluid. And do not drink iced water.

Also we need to take bath everyday to get rid of the dirty things our bodies excrete through the skin. It would be very good for health if we can take a cold bath after getting up in the morning, and a warm bath before sleep in the evening.

4. Sunlight

I have known many children who had been pale and sick grew healthier after their parents permitted them to take more time running about in the outdoors. Sunlight has the power of healing as it is said in Malachi 4:2, "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings."  So take a walk in the outdoors , or do some gardening in the field every day, it will greatly benefit your health. The best time to get sunlight is before 10 o'clock in the morning and after 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

5. Temperance

Temperance, on one hand, means to abstain from any harmful indulgence, such as smoking, alcoholic drinks, drugs, coffee, tea (except herbal tea)  and other unhealthy drinks; on the other hand, it means to have moderation of everything that is good by itself, avoid overeating, overplaying, overworking, overindulgence of marriage privilege, etc.

6. Air

Pure and fresh air is important to our health. It can help purify our blood, increase brain vitality, stimulate appetite, relax nerves, etc etc. So better live in the countryside instead of the air-polluted cities. Do deep breathing exercises daily, in the morning and evening.

7. Rest

Rest means getting enough sleep. Our bodies do a lot reparation work during sleep, so getting enough sleep can heal many deceases. Sleep can also restore our energy, make us work with more efficiency. To get enough sleep and sleep at regular time is very important to maintain the right beat of our biological clock. The best time to sleep during the evening is between 9 and 10 o'clock, if you often sleep later than 11 o'clock, your health will not be good for sure.

Rest also means to obey the fourth Commandment of keeping Sabbath. For God created the world in six days, but on the seventh day He rested. God knew that we human being whom He created, also need rest, so He set apart this day for us to rest from our work and worries, and to enjoy His fellowship and the beautiful things He loving surrounded us with. So let us worship Him and turn our thoughts to Him on this holy day, let us fellowship with each other in brotherly love on this special day, and let us take our children and go out enjoy the beauty of nature on this delightful day.

8. Trust in God

We need to trust in God to live a healthy, happy and full life. Without God in our heart, we won't feel confidence, or security, or happy, or fulfilled, or enough loved. God is the source of our life, health and happiness. To trust in God means to have complete faith in Him, to do those things as He commanded and to live in the way as is pleasing in His sight.


Now Let us go back to discuss about Nutrition.

The right food to eat and the right way to eat

. The right food is whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts. These are the things that God gave men to eat in the beginning. They provide all the nutrition our bodies need to grow up and function healthily.

. Meat is not necessary. Although because of men's depravation, God permitted men to eat meat after the Flood, meat-eating took price. Before the Flood, the average life span of man was about 909 years, but after the Flood, within ten generations, man lived no longer than 200 years (Abraham lived to 175, and Isaac 180). So eating meat is not good for our health.

In the Bible God divided animals into clean and unclean. He commanded the Israelites, if their desire to eat meat got so strong, they must only eat the meat of clean animals. And God also commanded them to abstain from animal fat and blood. Modern health science has proved the wisdom of these rules.

In recent years, because of increasing animal diseases, it becomes more and more dangerous to eat meat, even of clean animals. And the time has come that it's not even safe to eat eggs and animal milk, because of the unhealthy way they are raised and the stimulating drugs mixed in their food to make them mature more quickly and grow bigger.

. Refined food is not good for health. Because during the process of refining, either poisonous substance is used, or the way of refining will produce harmful substance, or the food will be rid of much important nutrition that our body need. For example, refined plant oil, contains cancerogenic substance; refined grains lost most of the vitamins and minerals that are contained in the husk; and sugar contains a poisonous substance that is used for its crystallization.

. Condiments are not necessary and even injurious. To a natural and unspoiled appetite, food prepared without condiments tastes the best. For while God has already given each kind of food a special and pleasant taste for man to enjoy, condiments only serve to spoil these tastes and make all food taste the same. Moreover, mustard, pepper, spices, vinegar, pickles, and other condiments irritate the stomach and make the blood feverish and impure. They injure our sensitive digestive organs and deprave our taste.

. All we need are whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts prepared in simple and healthy ways. To grow up and function healthily, our bodies need carbonhydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fibers and fat. While whole grains provide us with carbonhydrates, vitamins and minerals, fruits and vegetables can supply proteins (mostly from legumes), vitamins, minerals and fibers, as for nuts, they are the best source of fat. The right proportion we need of each kind of food daily can be illustrated in a pyramid, with vegetables at the bottom, and nuts at the top, in the middle are fruits, whole grains, legumes in upward order.

. The best way to prepare our food is to raw eat, and steam or boil in water. We can eat all fruits raw. A lot of kinds of vegetables we can also eat raw, not speaking cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuces, carrots, we can also eat cabbages, potatoes raw. But we need to cook grains and legumes for our digestive system to absorb them better. If we must cook vegetables, we better steam or boil them in water, then add a little or without salt, and to improve taste, sprinkle some ground nuts on them. Oil is not necessary, for we already get enough fat from nuts.

. The time and amount to eat are also important for our health. It's a good habit to always eat at regular time. Let breakfast be the best and biggest meal in a day, supper the lightest. If possible eat only two meals (without supper) a day is the best for our health, for when we lie down at night to rest, our stomach needs rest too. Eating too much at supper or eating before sleep will give extra burden to the stomach, which will make us feel tired and no appetite the next morning when we get up. We need to practice temperance at table, do not overeat, which will make our brain feverish and our mind dull. And do not eat between meals, so as not to overtax the stomach.

. When eating, chew food thoroughly for better digestion. Chew more than 30 times each mouthful of food. Talk about interesting and pleasant things at table, it will be good for digestion, at the same time prevent us from overeating. It's not good to eat silently, focusing on  the food and thus indulging in palate pleasure.

. Do not eat fruits and vegetables at the same meal. For fruits are digested more quickly than other food, if blocked by other food  and staying in  the stomach too long, it will ferment and produce alcohol. You can eat fruits with grains, so you may eat fruits and grains for breakfast,  vegetables and grains for lunch.

. Lastly a few words about fasting: fasting is good for our physical health as well as our spiritual health. It can help the body dispose of the waste and poisons; it can improve the function of immune system; it can give the organs rest, it can stimulate reparative faculty of the body, it can give deeper perception and clearer thought to the mind, it can rejuvenate the cells and tissues. Fasting had been widely used as a method of healing in ancient times. However fasting is not good for people who are already too weak from illness or malnutrition.

If We abide by the law of health, we can live long and healthy life.