What is Your Body Doing?
There is another aspect of the Traditional Diet that is missing from our own SAD one: physical movement and the lack thereof. No, that was not a typo… I did not intend to write or the lack thereof. They are two distinct issues and are both lacking in our modern lifestyle and are very much a part of the reason why we are so unhealthy. The first is lack of exercise and the second is lack of rest.
I know that sounds like a contradiction, but hear me out. One can be physically immobile and still not be resting. Another can be going all day long and not get the exercise they need. This is the paradigm of the modern lifestyle. We are busy people, always on the go, but not really going anywhere, working hard and living life to its fullest, but not really enjoying the ride. We live to work when we should be working to live.
The sedentary lifestyle of the office building has always been a concern ever since the advent of modern transportation and elevators. President Kennedy was so concerned about American children’s lack of activities that he started the Presidential Fitness Award as a way to inspire children to get plenty of exercise. Many schools had no gym classes until President Kennedy made the physical fitness of school children a priority.
Unfortunately our children are getting even less exercise than we did due to the proliferation of video games and computers as well as the good old boob tube. Add to that the amount of soda, candy, sweet treats like cupcakes and MSG-laden foods like Doritos, and we have a recipe for obesity like never before. And that is exactly what we’ve got; only add an epidemic of type II diabetes on top of the obesity (the two really do go hand-in-hand.)
Driving past the local elementary school, I was amazed at how many parents pick their children up from school each day. When I was a kid, the only time a parent picked up their child was if there was a doctor’s appointment or something similar. The rest of the time we were expected to take the bus or walk home, just like every other kid. Not today’s children. They are too busy to take the bus or walk home (and it is not always safe either.) They have band practice, or music lessons, or dance rehearsal, or football practice and are rushing from this activity to that activity but not really getting any true exercise.
How much time do we spend running around and how much actually running? It is not the same thing. We jump in the car and go to the store, then we jump in the car and pick up the kids, and then we run home, drop off some stuff and pick up others, take the kids to their scout meetings, stop to pick up a bite to eat (fast food) and then its off to a PTA meeting and home again just in time for our favorite show while the kids do their homework, and hopefully get into bed before midnight. We were going non-stop, but we got very little true exercise. The most many of us get is the walk around the store when we are shopping.
Years ago kids walked everywhere they went. So did many adults. The store is only four blocks away, but we drive our car there anyway. Years ago our neighbors would have laughed at us for being so silly. Why go through all of the trouble of getting the car when you could simply walk down the road? Why sit around the house on a warm summers eve when you could take a stroll with someone you love? Mom didn’t have time to sit around and gossip when there was a garden to tend and fruit to preserve and a chicken to prepare for dinner.
A little over a hundred years ago most new houses were built with no garage because most people did not own a car. Most new houses today have two and three car garages, which still aren’t big enough to hold all of our toys. We have ATVs and jet skis, 4x4’s and sports cars, go camping in our RV’s and ride around the neighborhood in our golf carts, and wonder why we continue to gain weight and have no energy. You have to use energy to gain energy.
Think about the last time you sat around the house and did nothing all day. Maybe you watched TV, or read a good book, or simply sat around watching the cat wash herself… did you notice that at the end of the day you were exhausted? You did no activity yet your body felt like it had worked the chain gang. Why is that? Some days it is all we can do to get ourselves up off the couch and go to bed.
One hundred years ago the average person walked to work, or the store, or to school (uphill, in the snow, both ways…) and we took our time and enjoyed the walk. Today we drive or ride everywhere (even across the street!) and are in a hurry and have no time or patience for anyone or anything. In this fast paced, dog-eat-dog world that we live in, we don’t have time to waste walking, or jogging, or even riding a bike, because we have places to go and people to see. Only this fast-pasted lifestyle is killing us.
We join health clubs only we can’t seem to find the time to get there. We’d walk around the block, only we no longer feel safe there. We purchase exercise equipment only to use them as coat racks. We have all the good intentions, and none of the motivation we need to get up off of our lazy backsides and get a move on. Life has become too easy, too comfortable. Why plant a garden when the local supermarket has all the produce we need? Why take the time to make this or that when we can buy the very same food already made? Why walk to school when we can drive and sleep in 10 extra minutes? Why should we bother to do all of these things when there are easier ways of doing them?
Why? I’ll tell you why: because they are good for us. Each and every one of those old fashioned things listed above will cause our health to improve dramatically if we will only take the time needed to perform these acts. We are either too lazy or too busy, but the truth of the matter is that we simply just don’t care. We have been enveloped in a spirit of apathy and we must break free or else we will be victims of our own lifestyles.
Adonai gave us good, strong legs that can walk long and far. Think of Forrest Gump, jogging across America simply because he felt like it and then remember how healthy he was. He was sickly until he started running; it made him strong, both physically and emotionally, to outrun his tormentors. Today’s child usually can’t outrun his or her tormentor and, instead, turns to more violent means of self-preservation, as demonstrated on television.
I’m sorry to say that this is all going according to the plan… “their” plan. How can a weak populous fight back? They can’t. The weaker we are, whether through foods that lack nutritional value or through our lack of exercise, the easier we are to control. This was one of the lessons learned in the concentration camps back in World War II.
They also learned that if you work a man constantly, and only give him just enough food to survive, then he would do whatever it takes to get a little extra food and a moment’s rest. We must realize that what was learned back then will be used against us today and in the future. There is evidence of this fact all around us, if we will only open our eyes and look.
There is a video available on YouTube (what isn’t available there?) that shows a little experiment in subliminal messaging that I found very interesting. The premise was this: Can we use subliminal messaging to cause even advertising executives (who should know better) to follow someone else’s will? The video shows these two ad men being taken, in a taxi, to their meeting. Once at the meeting they were given an assignment: come up with a name for a new pet store and come up with its slogan. Before leaving, the boss leaves a sealed envelope with his own ideas on the table to be viewed later.
When he returns and the ad executives show him their results, he smiles and then shows them the contents of the envelope. The two are almost identical! How did he do that? Well, at the end of the video, we are shown the taxi ride again, only this time certain features are revealed. These features are the very same as the ideas the executives presented (for instance, they passed a zoo and the ad showed zoo gates).
This is just one example of how we are constantly bombarded with subliminal messages through advertising and the media. We constantly have noise in the background, whether the weather channel or one of the many news channels, the TV seems to be a constant companion these days. Did you ever notice how quiet it becomes when the electricity goes out? No humming from the TV, computer, radios, or anything else. Have you ever noticed the electric humming made by every piece of electronic equipment? Some people can hear them all too well; it gives them a headache.
How often do we turn all of these things off and just listen to the quiet? I guarantee we don’t do it as often as we should. For some people, quiet can be frightening. We use these things as a diversion, in an effort to keep our minds off whatever it is that is troubling us. That is not the healthy way to live our lives. Burying our worries and concerns will not make them go away any more than worrying about them will. What we need to do is to take them to Yeshua and ask Him to take them. Then we can let Him worry about them and we won’t have the burden.
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
Do you have any idea how often Adonai mentions rest in His Word? There are at least eight Hebrew words and six Greek words that are translated into the English word “rest”. Resting is something that HaShem Himself does (Genesis 2:2) and is included within the Ten Commandments (number four – honor the Sabbath). This is obviously something that is very important to Him. So what’s our problem? Why do we have such a hard time with the concept of resting?
When I say we, I specifically mean those of us who live with the American mindset of nose to the grindstone and all that. The average American doesn’t take nearly the amount of time off from work that the rest of the civilized world does. We work longer hours than our parents did and we’re not really making that much more than they did. In fact, when you figure in the cost of living, inflation, and the devaluation of the dollar, today’s two-income home is actually bringing in less money than our grandfathers did on their own. And we have less time with our children than they did. What is going on here?
As the old saying goes, “Stress kills.” It has been proven that stress disrupts proper thyroid functions, especially in women. Thyroid problems are increasing yearly in this country, most notibly in women. In fact, heart disease, lung cancer, breast cancer and many other diseases are on the increase in women and one can’t help but wonder if stress has anything to do with this increase. Apparently “Super-mom” isn’t all she’s cracked up to be.
In this day and age, most countries mandate vacation time for their citizens. All companies must comply and provide vacation time for both their full and part time employees. The United States is the exception. Even Japan mandates a minimum of ten vacations days per year for all of their workers, and has developed a Leisure Department to help workers to realize that it is okay to take a break from work. We could use something like that here in the States. Although the average American worker has two weeks of paid vacation time, this does not apply to part time workers. The average British employee receives 24 days of vacation time.
The London-based HSBC Group starts their British employees off with 26 vacation days as well as eight holidays. An American employed by a subsidiary of HSBC would have to work for ten years to acquire that kind of benefit package. What’s up with that? The British seem to be more productive as well. In fact, the most productive group of people is the French, and they also happen to be the ones with the most vacation time. The government mandates a minimum of five weeks of paid vacation and a maximum of 35 hours of work per week. And when they go on vacation, they don’t call the office and check in… neither are they expected to do so.
In comparison, the average American doesn’t even take all of their vacation days, and the days they do take tend to be in bits and pieces, taking long weekends here and there throughout the year, never getting a full week off and often not taking all of their days. According to Expedia.com 35% of the workforce (translates into roughly 51 million people) do not take all of their vacation days.
I remember years ago hearing how in the future we would have four-day workweeks and more free time than ever before. What ever happened to that? It has never materialized. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average American worker (let’s call him Joe) is working 100 hours more per year than he did back in 1970, which averages out to be an added 2 ½ weeks every year. The average Jane (female employee) is working a whopping 200 hours more now than then, for a total of five added weeks. It seems that the average Jane is working right through the average Frenchman’s vacation. Something is not right here.
Not only are we working longer hours, we are also sleeping less. Our parents slept an average of one to two hours more, every night, than Joe and Jane. This lack of sleep is taking a large toll on our health. Sleep is the time when our bodies digest food, grow and heal. Children especially do not get the amount of sleep necessary for them either. Most kids stay up past 10 o’clock in the evening and have to be ready for their bus around 7 o’clock in the morning. Sure, that may be eight hours of sleep, but children need more than eight hours. My grandmother used to say, “In bed by eight, up by seven; the hours we sleep are eleven.” Her teacher taught her that.
Management Recruiters International surveyed 730 U.S. executives in 2003. When asked about vacations, 45% stated that they do not use their vacation time. Of those, 58% cited job pressure as the main reason. Of those, 17% replied that their boss was not supportive of vacation time and 35% stated that there simply is too much work to do. It seems to me that these folks are afraid of losing their jobs if they take the vacations given to them.
When we don’t rest, we tend to get sicker, easier. Circadian Technologies did a study in 2004 that showed high overtime rates had a direct effect on absenteeism. Overtime rates in this country went from 12.6% in 2003 to 16.2% in 2004. That amounts to almost one extra workday per week. At the same time absentee rates jumped from 5.8% (2003) to a whopping 12.4% in 2004.
All of this information has caused the Braun Consulting Group to recommend to their clients to give their employees more flexible time off, including both vacation and sick days and to limit overtime so that they will have a reduction in their absenteeism and an increase in their productivity. But even if big business finally begins to listen and gives us the time off that we need and deserve, will we take it?
The average American does not know how to rest. Many of us would have a hard time defining rest. Wikipedia defines rest as, “to relax or take time off (leisure); period of inactivity to allow recovery and growth.” I especially like the second part of the definition, because that is exactly what we need to understand; resting allows recovery and growth and is, in fact, vital for both. Without rest, and good sleep, we cannot maintain good health and cannot recover from poor health. Why do you think hospitals are always telling their patients to rest?
Rest is also defined as the cessation of work, exertion or activity, and the peace, ease or refreshment resulting from sleep or the cessation of an activity. Rest is like quiet relaxation, a mental or emotional tranquility. It is also the relief or freedom from disquiet or disturbance. It is a quieting of the mind, body and spirit and is truly the only way for one to hear the word of God.
How often does He tell us to be still? Do we listen? Do we listen as well as we should? Do we know how to be still? This is something that many of us struggle with. We understand the value of resting, but there is just so much to do and so little time. We literally live to work. We should be working to live. I don’t know of any good man who, on his deathbed, declared, “Oh, I wish I would have spent more time at the office!”
There are at least eight Hebrew words that are translated as rest. Noah’s name even has connotations of resting because it means, “repose; consolation; to comfort.” Nacham literally means, “To sigh, to regret; to be sorry; to console oneself.” Have you ever thought of confessing and resting as being hand-in-hand? They should be. One cannot fully rest until one has confessed their sins to Adonai. Only after receiving His forgiveness can we truly rest in Him.
“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:15-17)
The word Sabbath itself means to rest. Shabbath shabbatone is translated as Sabbath of complete rest. It can also be defined as an intermission of rest or even a special holiday. God intended us to have one of these every single week. He says so in His book (see above). Adonai loves us so much that He wants to take care of us, like any good husband would take care of his wife. He knows that our bodies need to rest regularly in order to maintain good health. He designed us that way.
Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, "My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant." And they said, "So do, as you have said." (Genesis 18:1-5)
Abraham was a man known for his hospitality. He would do whatever it took to make his guests comfortable. The first thing he did for his guests were to wash their feet, as the road was quite dirty and they would only have been wearing sandals. This was not something that one did unless they expected their guests to stay awhile. This is also evident in the word he used for rest: shaan, which means to lean, or to support oneself. The Brown-Driver-Briggs defines it this way: to lean on, trust in, support; to lean, lean upon, support oneself; of trust in God (figuratively).
Ultimately, that is what it all comes down to, isn’t it? Trusting in God. To truly lean upon Him to provide for our every need is what we need to learn. To be so totally reliant upon Him that we don’t even think about what our needs are should be our goal. Abraham wanted his visitors to know that they need not worry about a thing, because every little thing would be provided. We would greatly reduce our stress if we could learn to depend on Adonai like this at least one day per week.
Notice that Abraham wants his guests to feel refreshed. Saad, translated as refresh, also means to support, comfort, establish, hold up, refresh self, strengthen, and to be upholden. One can almost hear a bit of a southern twang… “Set a spell; kick your shoes off… ya’ll come back now, ya hear?” The Lord was so impressed with this display of hospitality that He decided to discuss His plans with Abraham. Truly this man understood God’s heart.
It is within God’s heart that we should rest. It is so very important to Him that the word Sabbath literally means to rest. The fourth command is to, “Remember the Sabbath day.” That means, “Remember to take a day of rest.” This was so important to Adonai that not only did He make it one of the Ten Commands, but He also made it one of the longest.
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
Were we made in Adonai’s image? He took a break at the end of a long workweek, why shouldn’t we? Do we really think that the world cannot go on without us? Or are we afraid that it actually will? Well, it will go on without us if we don’t take the time to rest and refresh ourselves for the long journey ahead.
Look, it’s as simple as this: if we want to stay healthy, we have to stay both fit and rested. We cannot have one without the other. They truly must go hand-in-hand. We can eat all the right foods, get plenty of exercise and still be sick simply because we didn’t rest. It is during our times of inactivity, and especially our times of sound sleep, that allow our bodies to maintain proper balance and health.
Most importantly, HaShem said that Sabbath, resting, at the end of the week is a sign between He and the children of Israel forever. This is how we show Him that we are the children of Abraham. This is how we demonstrate our love for Him, by following His command to rest. Are we truly Israelites, or are we just playing around? Is it a religion or a relationship? Do we trust Him? Truly? In all things… even our time?