What is healthy?

My current library books

Last weekend, Jason asked me, 'Have you been reading any good books lately?"

I looked at the stack of library books on my nightstand and said, "I seem to have taken an interest in the genre of cooking books... I like them because they have short chapters and most of them have pictures :-)"

I have started a collection of recipes from cookbooks I get from the library.  Flipping through actual pages is a nice break from surfing through webpage after webpage.

My goal is to choose recipes that:
- sound good
- ones that I already have all of the ingredients for
- and ones that are healthy.

And yet, what does 'healthy' mean these days?

I typically look up books on the library's website, reserve them, and then I can easily stop in, grab the books with my name on them and check-out.

But recently, I stopped in and checked out the health/food section in the library to see if there were any pertinent titles that didn't come up in the online search.

Just "SOME" of the health food books
or cookbooks at my local library!

I discovered there were hundred of books on the topic of eating healthy.

Talk about overwhelming!

High-fiber, gluten free, vegan, low fat, cancer fighting, glycemic index, whole grain, flour-free...

The options are endless.

How can one figure out which food is right to eat?

I'm currently on Round 2, Day 10 of this Whole30 lifestyle.

It's been a bit easier this time around.

I know more about what's allowed and what's not.

I don't have as much to overcome in terms of saying 'no' to sugar.

I eat sweet potatoes and avocados on purpose (I still don't like avocados).

And I know how to cook a spaghetti squash.

But is Whole30 the best choice when it comes to eating healthy?  It is the best choice for me?  I can't say for sure.

The things I've hoped it would have a positive effect on haven't much changed.  And there have been some negative side-effects like feeling hungry, constantly thinking about food, and being overall more grouchy.

So, it's definitely not been easy, and I'm not sure I'll continue after this round.

But, I have another 20 days to go on this round, and I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person, so I'm sticking it out for the rest of this one.

So what is healthy?  Is it Whole30?  Is it not?

All I know is that every diet or healthy lifestyle book or website I've read seems to have pros and cons.

Each one seems to have a bit of awesome-ness mixed in with something that just doesn't work well.

Could this be because God created food for our benefit, and yet it too has suffered the consequences of the curse?

What I mean is that while something may have immense nutritional value, it might be insanely difficult to eat it (i.e. spaghetti squash).

While something might actually burn calories just by chewing it, it really just tastes disgusting (i.e. celery).

While something might taste absolutely delicious, it's just not good for us in any way (peanut butter pie...or, dare I say, the dearly cherished and sorely missed flavored coffee cream)

I believe that everything God created is good, including food!

But it has all been tainted or tarnished by the Fall.

I'm guessing that Adam and Eve's spaghetti squash was not as hard to cut.  I bet their celery tasted like a Snicker's bar.  And anything that tasted good was actually good for them.

So what hope is there for us now, in terms of food, post-curse?

The hope is in the longing for Heaven.  Even the best food we can cook up here won't compare to the food we will eat at the marriage supper of the lamb (that is the feast we will have in Heaven).

We will all like all the food there.  It will all be so good.  We will even be able to eat from the tree of life (Revelation 2:7).  Can you just imagine what that will taste like?

So for now, I will press on into the spaghetti squash (literally), and will be thankful for healthy things that are easy (spinach leaves in a salad).

And while I continue to cut, slice, fry and bake here on earth, I will think about the heavenly food we will one day eat.  I will think about how it will not cause injury to eat it (another blog post on that later), it will all be good for us, and it will all taste delicious.

Every. Single. Bite.