Did you know that approximately 65% of people are overweight? Not only that, recent data show that 31% of people now suffer from Obesity, as compared to only 23% in 1994. And, the proportion of children in America who are overweight has tripled since 1980. Ironically, obesity in America is dramatically increasing, in spite of the equally dramatic increase in nutrition awareness, diets, nutritional supplements, and other related products that promote and marry weight management and health.
Perhaps the weight management campaigns are actually undermining their own messages. Food was once seen as something to be enjoyed and was received in gratitude. Today, in large part because of the emphasis on weight management, food is seen as the enemy at worst, and as a math calculation at best. People now count calories, the number of carbs, how much protein, and the level of salt content. In the not too distant past, meals began with a prayer of gratitude for the food that was about to be eaten. Today, meals often begin with the mantra: I should NOT be eating this.
If every cell of our body has intelligence and can hear our thoughts and words, how can our food intake nurture us, when we mix it with such toxic thoughts? Could the words, thoughts, and emotions we feed our body be the primary cause of obesity, rather than the food we eat? Could it be that our prayers from our recent past actually transformed those things we now declare as ‘bad for us’ into energy that sustained our health? After all, it hasn’t been that long ago when we drank whole milk without reducing its fat content, ate real butter, and enjoyed bacon cured in salt. While these foods were staples in the American diet, we were not a nation struggling with obesity.
The Foundation for Living Medicine proposes to conduct a one-year comparative study exploring the use of prayer as a weight management tool. There are now numerous studies showing prayer’s efficacy in contributing to better health outcomes. To date, it has not been studied to determine if those who pray in gratitude before eating nutritious meals have better health outcomes, including appropriate weight, cholesterol levels, blood pressure rates, and normal blood sugar levels.
For more information, and if you are interested in participating, please contact RoseWinters@gmail.com