God, Health and Happiness

I commend the book "God, Health and Happiness" by Dr Scott Morris of the Church Health Center in Memphis, TN.  I'm using it as the basis for a three week study on health and wellness at St Paul Lutheran in Melrose Park, IL. (A later edit: The title has been changed to Health Care You Can Live With. Same exact book, different title.)

Scott speaks from the medical pro side of things but also as a Pastor - because he is both, and has been from the beginning, more than 25 years ago. The book is very readable, with 33 very short chapters that walk you through the current state of our health care and how we got here, the church's history with health care, a biblical perspective on whole person health and suggestions for moving forward, personally and as a congregation.

Food banks giving healthier food - produce

So, we are worried about our diet and eating healthier foods.  Think about those who have to rely on handouts. They do get food but often it is very unhealthy. Here is an interesting article about Doctors "prescribing" fresh produce. They only way they can do it is with a partnership with the local food bank... and the local food bank needs help from others.

Or you can find a farmer who wants to farm in the inner city, no, really!  You can read about a 1.3 acres working farm in the middle of Indianapolis that helps people who live in a food desert. This farmer turned over half of his 36 acre farm over to his non-profit and raised 420,000 lbs of food for the people who are food insecure.  While I worked for Wheat Ridge Ministries (who has given grants to congregations to start community gardens) I visited various churches who provided produce for the local food bank.  One, St John Lutheran in Napa, CA is serious about the project and at 15,000 lbs per year is the #1 provider of fresh produce for the local food banks. 

See what is happening in your area and perhaps your church could help... Lots of churches are realizing how much grass they cut each week and turning some of it into gardens for local food needs.

Primary Food.

This post comes from a blog I watch regularly on my Twitter feed: Integrated Nutrition. The blog post is about "Primary Food".  It is a helpful look at keeping a whole person view of health.  As the post says, you can be eating all healthy foods and still not feel truly healthy if other key areas are out of whack.  Their key point is here (they are pretty weak on the source of Spiritual power but we know where that comes from):

The bottom line is: when you are nourished and happy in the ways that truly matter, food becomes secondary. 

Here are some of the things we consider to be Primary Foods:

• Regular physical movement
• Meaningful positive relationships
• Fulfilling work
• Some form of spiritual connection (whatever that means for you)
• Following your personal passions
• Non-dietary forms of self-care
• Playfulness, creativity, and fun

Some simple things to work on. May be good to start where you have strengths and are doing well and affirm your positives and then build off the strengths into the areas that are weaker.