How to Change Your Body

I always want to know why, so I’m going to do my best to tell you, in brief, why certain choices matter. Knowledge is power, and I want to empower you to a healthier and happier life.

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I am so excited to dive into this topic with you! God is the master-craftsman of the human race, and when He made these walking, talking, breathing bodies, He created a very intricate and mysterious system.

At this very moment, there are trillions of elaborate processes all working together. Your heart is pumping which requires electricity and nerves to communicate to the brain. The oxygen in your lungs is being dispersed to your toes and nose. The water you drank earlier is helping your lymph system remove toxins and pathogens from your body, which keeps you strong and vibrant. Let’s not forget your eyes, which are miraculous in all their wonderful detail, that you are using right now to read these words. Isn’t it just breathtaking to think about the body God made!

We serve our bodies, and our bodies serve us. We are not our bodies, however, our bodies do not exist without us. The point of our physical body is to give us a functioning house while we are living in this reality (2 Corinthians 5:1). It is an honor to have one and an incredible privilege to maintain it.

Our bodies are designed to function within a certain paradigm. God, in all His wisdom, crafted these vessels to function optimally within specific ratios. We can live without knowing much, but the more we know, the better we can honor the design and the better we will feel. Personally, I want to live a healthy, happy, and long life. I don’t want to just survive; I want to thrive.

I don’t like doing things just because people tell me to. I always want to know why, so I’m going to do my best to tell you, in brief, why certain choices matter. We will just be scratching the surface here, but I’ll list a few well-chosen sources you can look into in order to go deeper at the end of this article. I’m going to break the maintaining of our bodies into a few basic categories. None of this is meant to feel burdensome. My goal here is to make you aware of some possible changes that will have great impact. Knowledge is power, and I want to empower you to a healthier and happier life.

 

Water

Every teeny tiny cell in your body is swimming in water. The water is what moves the nutrients around. It’s what allows your blood to have mobility. It allows your lymph system to remove sickness. It keeps your colon from being backed up. It powers your brain to think because all those neurons need water in order to fire their commands. It keeps your muscles plump and able to contract and release. Water is the most basic, essential ingredient for our bodies to function.

Without water, we have memory problems, mental and emotional fatigue, headaches, insomnia, anger, depression, joint pain, and a lot more. Often people think they have a certain physical sickness or issue when, if they would change a couple habits, it may correct itself. I’m not saying every issue in the body can be corrected by water and good nutrition, but a lot can, so we should try.

Each body is a little different when it comes to how much water you need. A good rule of thumb is a half to one ounce for every pound you weigh. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, then you should try to drink between 75 and 150 ounces of water a day.

 

Nutrition

This seems like an obvious one, right? Vegetables–we all need to eat vegetables! I think, when contemplating nutrition, it’s good to remember the very beginning of humanity. God created people and put them in a garden. I think it’s fairly easy to assume that this garden contained a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. It had everything within it that Adam and Eve needed to thrive.

The longer humanity has lived, the farther and farther we have gotten away from our gardens. Sadly, I have yet to make an actual garden in my backyard. It’s a lot of work! But I do desire to get reconnected to the earth through my food. If we had the most ideal situation we should be eating fresh organic fruits and veggies. I’ll get to the reason for organic soon, so hang tight.

I’ve learned recently that even if we were to eat the most organic fresh diet, we still may not be getting the nutrients we need. Our soil is overworked and underdeveloped. Leviticus 25:4 says, “But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards” (NIV). God knew that even the land needed to rest. The earth is designed to have a period of rejuvenation in order to continue to supply the needed nutrients for its people.

In Western civilization, this resting of the Earth is not abided by, and our soils are being more and more depleted. I’m not saying this to startle you but to inform you. Eating vegetables alone may not be enough. We need to seek out good sources (from natural ingredients) of supplementation in order to give our bodies what they need.

A really fun side note about food is that certain foods can help with certain ailments! When I was working to get my blood pressure under control, I ate a lot of celery and drank dandelion tea. To help with the liver and detox, I made a green smoothie every morning with lemon, cilantro, romaine, and apples or berries. Every time I would go to the Naturopath, she would tell me how to eat based on what problems my body was facing. For the entire year of going to the Naturopath, all my medicine was food! I saw real and lasting change. God made medicine that grows in the ground. It’s just amazing to me! If you want to learn more about this, here is a wonderful article by Dr. Axe.

 

Digestion

This one is the one that kicked me in the rear. I had no idea my digestion wasn’t working right. I knew there were a few hiccups here or there, but overall, I thought that if I ate a carrot then the nutrients from that carrot were going into my body. It’s a pretty basic assumption, but it was completely false.

Our digestive system is a large and grueling process that our body uses to extract nutrients from what we eat. Even if we ate the perfect diet, if our digestion couldn’t get the nutrition from it, then it would be pointless. Your body could think it was starving no matter how much or what you ate. That’s what happened to me. Sadly, the food you eat is only as good as the system it goes into.

My biggest problem was a lack of stomach acid, that and I was eating too fast in my busy life. Your colon needs the food particles to be broken down by your chewing and by your stomach. If you eat too fast, then the stomach acid isn’t strong enough to break apart the chunks you put there. Even if you did chew well, if you had low stomach acid, then your food would enter into your colon, but it would not process optimally. If we are going to take the time to eat the best food for our bodies, then we should make sure our digestive systems are working well enough to get those nutrients out of the food and into our cells.

I’m not going to diagnose you, but I will say a few things you can look into. The first thing is stress. Stress causes low stomach acid as well as heightened levels of cortisol which leads to an inflamed digestive tract and very little productive digestion. This is why, if people are nervous, they sometimes have to run to the restroom or throw up. Stress jacks up the digestive system. Learning how to cope with stress is one of the most powerful tools you will have during your lifetime. The second thing is chewing your food! Learn to take your time and enjoy the food you eat. If you don’t have much time, it’s better to make a smoothie or juice some vegetables; just don’t scarf down a big meal in a hurry.

My biggest tip for digestion is to go see a trained naturopath if you think something isn’t working right. They have the skills and knowledge to know exactly what’s going on in you, and they can help guide you in healing your body.

 

Avoid Toxins

I know a lot of people think it’s a new “crunchy” fad to go organic and stop using deodorant, to rub essential oils all over our bodies and munch beets and celery. As much of a shock as it may be, there’s a lot of wisdom in these supposedly new movements. Science advanced to give us plastic and margarine, synthetic forms of folate and chemical binders to make our bread more fluffy, it’s true. However, the more that science has advanced, the more we are seeing that our food and other products are not a place for science experiments, especially when we are the test group and often don’t even know it!

Remember when I talked about our bodies being really complicated? Well, everything that goes on inside your skin is one giant chemical reaction. Elements are bonding and rebonding, complex amino acid chains are being broken down, and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum is working to synthesize lipids in the cell (source), along with thousands of other tiny little reactions that keep your body working. All of these intricate functions depend on having the correct ingredients to work. Sometimes science makes a breakthrough, and sometimes science makes an almost breakthrough. Think of it like a baking recipe. A cup of sugar and a cup of salt may look very similar sitting on your countertop, but once they are baked into a cake, they will create two VERY different tastes.

I would love to take the time to go into why synthetic versions of natural substances is really not a good idea, but seriously, it’s a meticulous subject. From my own research, I’ve come to realize that methylfolate is better than folic acid (just as an example)(source), and using more natural products helps my body run more smoothly. There are a lot of beauty products, soaps, and cleaners out there that are made of chemical compounds that are very close in molecular makeup to certain needed natural molecules in our bodies (source). The problem is that our bodies don’t know the difference until it is too late (remember the salt and sugar?). The chemical reaction begins to take place because our bodies start to use the synthetic substance (either from processed food we eat, a vitamin we take, pesticides sprayed on our nonorganic food, or a cleaning product we touch with our skin, etc.) and our bodies don’t realize it’s not a fit until after it’s trying to force the puzzle pieces to work.

Sadly, most of us continue to eat the processed food, take the cheap vitamin, and bathe with the body wash full of chemicals, thinking it’s not doing anything harmful. The harm is seemingly so small that we don’t even notice it until it builds and builds to a point where our endocrine system isn’t working, or our thyroid is shot, or our digestive system is malfunctioning. The complicated matter about toxins is that if we slowly add more and more, we are often unaware of how it is affecting us because the change happens so slowly. A lot of the time, people think they are just aging, that it’s the natural rhythm of life. Who knows, though! They could have a completely different quality of life if they’d change some things and get those toxins out.

Again, I am in no way saying that all issues within the body are caused by chemicals and endocrine disruptive agents, but I am saying it’s not helping the matter. I’d much rather know that what I’m eating and using is helping my body rather than hurting it. I urge you to please take the time to think about the things you are putting on and in your body. Investigate the ingredients in the products you buy, and look into natural and easy ways of detoxing. For a few easy tips please visit Self-Care: Some Practical Tips.

 

Movement

I wish with all my heart I could write this section from a place of massive transformation, but it’s such a work-in-progress for me! I titled this section “movement” because the health of our muscles and cardiovascular system is built outside of a gym as well as in it.

The more a muscle is used the stronger it gets. The stronger a muscle is, the more capable it is of holding our bones in correct alignment. When our bones are correctly aligned, then the nervous system can function optimally and the signals get to where they need to go. For this reason, I see my chiropractor every two weeks. I’ve been going since I was about 8 and love it! She talked to me just this morning about strengthening my core so that my lower spine won’t give me as much trouble.

Our muscles won’t become strong if we aren’t flexing them. Weight training is a great way to keep your body strong. Muscle mass also increases your overall metabolism. The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism and the less likely you are to retain weight. My main goal at the gym now is lifting weights at least once a week.

Every cell in your body needs blood. It’s the carrier of all the nutrition and oxygen your body needs. Your heart is the only muscle in your body that pushes that blood to where it needs to go. If we aren’t working out our heart muscle (with cardio) then it can be weak and not move the blood the way it should. This can affect cognitive function as well as range of motion among other things.

It’s wise to work out multiple times a week. Most people pursue it for weight loss, but it has so many other benefits.

 

If you’ve stuck with me this long, I applaud you. I tried not to make it too complicated, but these subjects are often hard to digest (haha, pun totally intended). At the root of the matter, our bodies are masterpieces, and we should seek to honor them and their Creator by making wise and healthy choices. This isn’t easy, I know, but it is worth it.

Here are a few teachers I have found who are knowledgeable and reliable. They are believers in Jesus and seek to live well-balanced, insightful lives that bring vibrancy and health to themselves and the generations to follow. The Wellness Mama and Dr. Axe are the two teachers I’d recommend reading. I have sought their wisdom for everything from detoxing, healing leaky gut, how to make baby food, and ways to cut toxins out of my life. They are game-changers.

 

I’m so pumped that you are joining me on this journey! Taking care of ourselves is such a massive way to honor the Lord. Not only are our bodies important, but the health of our inner life can play a massive role in our relationships and witness. Our inner world can also affect our bodies in negative ways. Let’s talk more about how our emotions and mind shape our lives and the ways we can take care of ourselves in Overcome Your Hang-Ups.

 

Other articles in this series are: You’ve Been Doing Life All Wrong, Relax Like Jesus, How to Exercise Your Spirit, 19 Tips for a Balanced Life

 

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The views and opinions expressed by Kingdom Winds Collective Members, authors, and contributors are their own and do not represent the views of Kingdom Winds LLC.

About the Author

Dawn King is a Carolina native with a Neverland heart. She's an Enneagram 4 that believes beauty can be found even in the darkest of places, light is always bright enough to outshine darkness, and love is stronger than any madness or evil. She values kindness and honesty more than most anything else. She will always believe that to change the world you must first change yourself.

  1. […] I want you to know that although this may seem daunting, it doesn’t have to be. Our God walks with you. He loves you so much and wants to see you succeed in this. The Holy Spirit is your Helper, and He will be with you as you begin to flesh this out. Step by step, He’ll show you the way. With His hand in yours, let’s move forward by reading How to Change Your Body. […]