Your Blood, Your Body, and the Holy Spirit’s Temple, Part 4

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

This short series actually began with the article titled, Something is Emotionally, Mentally, and/or Physiologically Wrong and It’s Not Spiritual, and the point of that article is that sometimes, Christians (because we are human beings), suffer the ill effects of emotional, mental, or physiological problems. When this happens for the Christian, it can often be very difficult to believe God’s promises because of how we feel.

Let’s face it, most of us know that as Christians, it is sometimes very difficult to live completely by faith. After all, we are fallen human beings, just like the rest of the world, though we are saved and the lost are not. It is faith that saves us – allows us to enter into a living relationship with Jesus – and faith is supposed to guide us throughout the remainder of our lives. But can we be honest about it please? Living by faith, moment-by-moment on a daily basis, is extremely difficult to do consistently.

Many things can interrupt the exercise of our faith.  The point of this series is that our health (or lack thereof) can be one of those things that disrupts our ability to believe God, to take Him at His Word. Because of this, it is extremely important that we come to grips with the fact that there are quite possibly many things that we eat or drink on a daily basis that could be the cause of bad health. That’s what I went over in general terms with this first article in this series (click on link above in the first paragraph).

From there, I began this series within the series – Your Blood, Your Body, and the Holy Spirit’s Temple, Part 1 – and I discussed the fact that I have a parathyroid gland that is not working correctly and because of it, is causing me some health problems. Hopefully, it will be fixed via an upcoming surgery to have the tumorous gland(s) removed.

In that same article, I spoke of the potential that all of us have regarding food allergies. I have some and now that I know what they are, I can choose to avoid them. I can still be stupid about it and continue to eat those things that cause gastric disturbances in my system, but that would truly be stupid, wouldn’t it? What is the point of knowing which foods I’m allergic to if I’m going to ignore that information? This ties in with Paul’s words to the Corinthian believers that all things are permissible for me (unless they are overtly sinful), but not all things are beneficial. Food is necessary, but foods that cause health problems for me are certainly not beneficial. Would you agree?

In Part 2 of this series, we introduced the subject of what is known as “leaky gut syndrome.” This is really where it all begins. If you have a healthy gut or what is called our “microbiome,” then you will be healthy in general. It is when our microbiome becomes polluted, for the lack of a better word, by eating/ingesting those things that cause an upset in the bacteria/flora of our guts.

Our intestines are always permeable. That is, they allow certain things that are necessary for digestion and proper food absorption (as well as getting rid of those things that are bad for us) to move between the intestinal lining and our blood stream. The problem is when bad things move between these two areas that we experience problems and what is ultimately known as leaky gut. Too many bad things are leaking into our blood stream, causing poor health and a myriad of unhealthy symptoms. It cannot be overstated that we need to do everything we can do gain and maintain our gut’s health. We cannot rely on either Big Food or Big Pharma to help us with either of those things.

In Part 3, we discussed the problem of today’s wheat (dwarf wheat), which, though it can grow easily and is drought, temperature, and even pesticide resistant, appears to have created a myriad of health issues for the average person, Christian or unsaved. All of us eat the same types of foods and we benefit or are harmed because of it.

We noted that today’s dwarf wheat is completely unlike the wheat that our ancestors ate and because of that, health problems began to appear on the horizon not long after this wheat was introduced into society at large. The incidences of Celiac disease, gluten sensitivities, and a host of other illnesses like dementia are now being connected back to this laboratory-created wheat. When all is said and done, today’s wheat is nothing more than a GMO, genetically modified organism, created to save money, and produce quickly, while resisting the things that might wipe out other crops.

With the space remaining in this article, we need to discuss High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). It’s not pretty at all and the facts tell the story, though if you listen to the sweetener industry (the people that make HFCS), they will tell you that our bodies doesn’t recognize the difference between sugar cane and HFCS. They are absolutely lying and there is no other way to say it.

The companies that make HFCS will tell you they are not lying and the reason they will tell you that is because they are comparing pharmacological doses of sugar cane to HFCS. A pharmacological dose of either is based on the amount of sugar/sweetener people eat/ingest today.

Generations ago, the average person ingested 20 teaspoons of sugar per year. Today’s sugar/sweetener consumption stands at 20 teaspoons per day. This alone is a huge difference. On one hand then, when comparing these amounts, there really is virtually no difference because both sugar cane and HFCS will create major health issues. The fact that the sweetener industry uses deceit to try to make us believe that sugar cane and HFCS react exactly the same way in our systems tells us what we need to know about the sweetener industry.

But, the key to understanding the problem here is at the molecular level. This is where the difference between the sugar cane and HFCS molecules is stark. The way our bodies respond to each of these molecules is also completely different.

High Fructose Corn Syrup contains 45 percent glucose and 55 percent fructose.

Sugar cane is split 50-50 between glucose and fructose.

So, what’s the problem? It has to do with the molecule that actually binds (or doesn’t) the glucose and fructose molecules together.

With natural sugar, there is a chemical bond between the two molecules, glucose and fructose. Because of this bond, our bodies actually have to work to break sugar down so that it can be absorbed into our system. This is done incrementally in our stomachs and then the intestinal track. Because of this, sugar does not go directly into our blood stream.

High Fructose Corn Syrup, though is is also made up of a glucose and fructose molecule, there is absolutely no chemical bond between these molecules. In fact, HFCS was created in the laboratory from corn stalks. Usually, the corn that is used is GMO corn. Moreover, there is really little to no government regulation. HFCS has been found to contain high percentages of mercury and other heavy metals. Natural sugar does not.

There is much that you may not know about HFCS. I would highly recommend this article by Dr. Mark Hyman, who spells it out very clearly and in layman’s terms: 5 Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Will Kill You

What I am trying to do here is educate you about how your body works and how it reacts to the things we ingest, whether those things are good for us or bad for us. You need to know. Do you want to know? Is your health important enough for you to be concerned about?

It is extremely difficult to find food products and ingredients that do not have HFCS in them. The best place to look is at natural food stores. More and more chain grocery stores are also increasing their “gluten-free” and health sections. Yes, you will probably spend more money on these items, but if you’re serious about your health, you will probably stop eating out so often.

Remember the adage, you are what you eat? It’s true. Christians who eat garbage (whether they know better or not) can end up dealing with health issues that seem to come from nowhere. Because of that, doctors don’t know where to look.

You can do your body a huge favor by no longer eating/ingesting those things that are proven to be harmful to you. We’ll be back next time to discuss unnecessary preservatives, food binders, and flavor enhancers that are absolutely not needed in our foods, yet are placed there by Big Food. They have trained us to alter our belief in what constitutes good-food. When you finally come away from all of it, you have to relearn about taste.

However, not only will your body physically benefit from these dietary changes, but I firmly believe you will find yourself experiencing far greater spiritual health as well!

Recommended Reading:

• Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis
• Grain Brain, by Dr. David Perlmutter
• Brain Maker, by Dr. David Perlmutter
• Dr. Mark Hyman – http://drhyman.com/

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective