Affecting Obesity with Spiritual Truths (A Four Part Series)
Truth #1: It Starts with Inside Attention with Your Soul
by: Shannon McKeown, MS, LDN
“You are what you eat.”
– American Proverb
I am going to start each truth segment with these three startling statistics on obesity in order to set the stage for what is happening to the consciousness of Americans and the world. It is my passion and desire to turn back time to the age of the Norman Rockwell pictorials – a time when obesity never looked as if it would ever become an epidemic. What happened to us????
The Norman Rockwell picture of 1950’s America has certainly changed. According to the American Dietetic Association, Americans consume more than 500 more calories a day than a quarter century ago, which has 3 out of 4 Americans overweight or obese.
According to the CDC, the evidence of an epidemic is everywhere:
More than 190 million Americans are overweight or obese.
Obesity related diseases are a $147 billion medical burden on the healthcare system.
Childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years.
According to a forecast analysis from Marketdata Enterprises, Inc., “the U.S. weight loss market is worth 60.9 billion dollars. Out of the estimated 75 million dieters in America, the typical dieter now makes 4 weight loss attempts per year to lose weight – the highest number in 15 years.”
According to a study by Dr. H. Koenig, Duke University Professor, “a growing body of scientific research suggests connections between spirituality, and both mental and physical health.” If you are overweight or obese, your weight loss journey starts from the inside – out. Just as Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz, always had the “magic Ruby Red slippers” to get her home, you too, have always had the answers to sustainable weight loss and vibrant health once you discover or re-discover your God-Self.
The discovery process of your God-Self is critical, and you need to embrace with every cell of your body and every fabric of your being this very important shift or elevation in consciousness. You need to recognize your body as a temple whose structure is not only sacred, but houses the Holy Spirit Itself (1 Corinthians 3:16).
This simple, but profound bible scripture is the quintessential formula of connecting to your soul (God’s Essence) and releasing you from your food struggles. When you awaken to this new understanding that your relationship with God and your God-Self is alive and well….you view yourself, your body, and your health as operating from a strong spiritual well-being that desires nothing but wholeness, a strong body temple, and vibrant health. This alignment becomes so strong that, as you connect more strongly, your food choices are made from your Higher Self to support this deep inner desire to be well.
Food is something we MUST HAVE in order to sustain life; it is not a choice, but rather, the choice comes out of how our relationship with food is going to operate. The obesity epidemic is as much about fundamental nutrition like balance, variety, food choice, and portion control as it is about spirituality, psychology, and behavior. When one of these components is NOT actively in consciousness, food will always be a struggle and create dis-ease.
Once you connect to your soul and your God consciousness, you will start asking yourself, “Would God choose this kind of eating for me, knowing it creates obesity and disease? Is it OK to treat my body temple so recklessly through the food choices of a typical Western diet and commercialized diet programs and books?” When this alignment and connection with your soul has clarity and becomes clear as a bell. Your body will ask for you to adopt food from God, Mother Nature, and the Earths soil….your body will want a mostly whole food/plant based eating plan and you will have a spiritual desire for your health and from your Higher Self – to do so!
About the author:
Shannon has both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in foods and nutrition. She holds a state license as a professionally credentialed dietitian and nutritionist. Shannon utilizes a more natural and holistic nutritional model inspired from her employment with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, where she was drawn to the stories told by the medicine man about how the Seminoles were in tune with nature as their physician.
This experience re-awakened her to a very old truth by Hippocrates: “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Armed with this new inspiration, Shannon did extensive research during her graduate studies regarding heart disease and the many natural, therapeutic benefits of foods, such as: citrus for cholesterol management; plants like aloe vera and spices like cinnamon that improve glucose control; and super fruits that reduce inflammation and build immunity – just to name a few.
(At the time of this publication, Shannon lived in Austin, Texas, but she has since moved our of our area. We wish her well!)
