Take care of the temple

1 Corinthians 6:19-20New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple[a] of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

I will venture to say most Christians desire to grow spiritually. We need to be changed from the inside out into the image of our Creator found in the person of Jesus Christ. With that said, part of growing spiritually is taking care of our bodies. 

The writer of 3 John says, "2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul". 

There are things we can do to help our health and overall well being. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle consists of exercising regularly, proper dieting, and rest. Many of the things that physically ail us in modern society can be managed better with proper nutrition and exercise.  Many studies support these statements. According to the Center for Disease Control, exercise had the following benefits:

Control your weight

Reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease

Reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome

Reduce your risk of some cancers

Strengthen your bones and muscles

Improve your mental health and mood

Improve your ability to do daily activities and prevent falls, if you're an older adult

Increase your chances of living longer

 And according to the World Health Organization

• Opting for a balanced, adequate and varied diet is an important step towards a happy and healthy lifestyle.
• Vitamins and minerals in the diet are vital to boost immunity and healthy development,
• A healthy diet can protect the human body against certain types of diseases, in particular noncommunicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, some types of cancer and skeletal conditions.
• Healthy diets can also contribute to an adequate body weight.
• Healthy eating is a good opportunity to enrich life by experimenting with different foods from different cultures, origins and with different ways to prepare food.
• The benefits of eating a wide variety of foods are also emotional, as variety and colour are important ingredients of a balance diet

After having congestive heart failure in 2003, I have tried to be more conscious of making healthy choices. Now don't get me wrong, I still enjoy my fair share of holiday foods and treating myself periodically to ice cream or donuts. Yet overall, I try to make sure to exercise regularly and eat a clean diet.

There are a few tools you can download on your smartphone or tablet to assist you in living a healthy life. My favorite apps are myfitnesspal and jetfit. Myfitnesspal allows you to track the foods you eat, count calories, manage macronutrients(fat, carbohydrates, protein) and micronutrients(vitamins, potassium, fiber,etc.). It is easy to to track and enter foods you eat. Jetfit is a workout tool that allows you to track your exercise. I am currently on a weightlifting program and the app monitors my lifts, rest time between sets, and progress. 

What is keeping you from the gym and eating a balanced diet?