whatever & all you got

Last night I was researching a topic on-line, and kept finding a mantra running through every article I read.

Healthy heating + exercise = good mental health.

Granted, it didn't break it down in such a simplistic equation.  But exercise can trick the brain into creating more serotonin, the chemical that depressed people are often low or missing, and that sleep-deprived Moms deplete (specifically those who are suffering post-partem).  Maintaining a healthy diet can also prohibit it from disappearing all together.

So then this morning on the news they're blabbering on about lack of daylight and its repercussions on people (don't you just love the optimism?) and get this: exercising 20 minutes a day and eating certain foods (ESPECIALLY for women) like fish, bananas, fiber, etc. will help eliminate the winter blahs.

I used to tease my parents about the Bible verses that said "Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men" included my junk food eating and "Bodily exercise profits a little..." meant that it really wasn't worth my time.

But I'm slowly being reminded (rebuked might be a better word) that WHATEVER I do, including eating and moving around in non-comfortable positions, has a purpose, and should be done for HIM.  I would not be pleased if a restaurant chef only half-way prepared and cooked my food.  Yet how I cook and what I stick in my body is a reflection of what I'm doing for God.  It's all or nothing.  That's a scary thought.

The sad thing is my headaches may not go away in the next day or two if I stop the caffeine flow again. It'll take a few more weeks of cleansing my body again.  My face will probably not stop breaking out since I've had so many of my favorite soft drinks in the last month.   And my energy and emotional level?  It'll even out again once I get the rest of me in line. Whatever I eat; all the time.  An easy mantra, just a harder practice.