Tag: eating

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Let’s do lunch

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva on pexels.com

A “through the bible” devotion from Leviticus 3.

One of my favorite things to do with the church preschool was to eat lunch with the students. The table was short and the chairs were tiny but my lunch was much like theirs: a sandwich, some fruit, something sweet, and sometimes a little bag of chips. Sometimes I would wait to eat with the teachers, who had their lunch during nap time. Those were the best times to connect with everyone at the school.

The peace offering of Leviticus 3 is like having God show up for lunch. This sacrifice wasn’t about sin, but about the peace they already had with God. Paul wrote, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). People of faith, trusting God’s promises of salvation, can enjoy some food together with the Lord. As someone who enjoys eating, I like this chapter of Leviticus.

There are some important instructions to take note of. The fat around the entrails, the kidneys, and the long lobe of the liver are God’s. Apparently, those fatty parts were the best parts, and of course, God always gets our best. You like bacon, right? That’s fatty. (I know, they didn’t eat pork. But I do.) How about butter? Fatty. A ribeye steak is delicious because it’s nicely marbled with fat. Cheese? You get the idea.

Oh, and don’t eat the blood, either. Blood is about life in the bible, and life belongs to the Creator. So the blood is his, along with the fatty parts.

I wonder what God would think of school lunches?

  • Imagine the all-knowing God looking at his lunch tray and wondering, “What kind of meat is this?”
  • Do you think he would trade something in his lunch for something in yours?
  • If he brought his lunch to school, what kind of lunchbox do you think he would have? If he bought his lunch, would he be excited about pizza day?

God is great. God is good. Let’s do lunch! (I told you Leviticus would be fun!)

Posted in Food

Don’t eat the last one

Posted on by William Douthwaite

In our home, you will find

  • A container with nothing more than one jelly bean.
  • A bag containing one tortilla chip.
  • A single cookie in a box.
  • One slice of bread in a bag secured by a twist tie.
  • One Cheezit in the bag.

We have an unwritten rule: “Don’t eat the last one.”

That rule evolved over time, emerging from questions like, “Did you eat all the jellybeans… cookies… bread… Cheezits?”

Yes, it was me. Too often I ate the last of something, just moments before I heard the question, “Did you eat all of those?”

It took me a long time to learn the principle of “Don’t eat the last one.” It doesn’t matter how long it’s been in the refrigerator. It doesn’t matter if it’s past the expiration date. It doesn’t matter if the package is unopened. It doesn’t matter if it’s generic or a brand name. As soon as I eat the last one, someone will ask, “Did you eat that?”

Yes, it’s me. I ate all of them. I ate the last one. I finished the bag. I ate all the jellybeans. I finished off the box of cookies. And the banana bread. Ice cream. Cashews. Peanuts.

So I no longer eat the last one. Why is there one jellybean in the container? Why is there one cookie left in the bag? Why is there one slice of bread left? Why is there one segment of an orange in the fridge? Why is there one cashew in the jar?

I will not eat the last one in a plane or a train, in a house or with a mouse, in a box or with a fox.

I will not eat the last one!

Posted in eating, Ministry, paleo

A little paleo, anyone?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

paleo picAs we were joining CrossFit Hammock Beach my wife and I accepted the paleo-diet challenge offered by the owner/coaches. Six weeks of eating like an ancestral hunter-gatherer caveman. We ate healthy already, so how hard could it be?

The biggest adjustment was eliminating grain from our meals. I was used to making a sandwich, smearing peanut butter on a slice of bread, snacking on tortilla chips, cereal for breakfast, and preparing pasta and rice as side dishes. I cut all that out and switched from peanut butter to almond butter, too.

Another adjustment was not drinking alcohol. A beer a night, a little bourbon here and there, or a glass of wine with supper were part of our routine. We hopped on the wagon for six weeks.

We were already mostly dairy free. Just had to cut out cheese. I already drank my coffee black. We had already stopped buying food with added sugar, so that really wasn’t an adjustment. I hardly ever drank soda, so nothing changed there. We cut way back on oranges and bananas, easy to grab snacks but a little high on natural sugars.

To tell you the truth I didn’t think it was really that hard. I like to cook and I like to cook with fresh ingredients. Most of our suppers were already just a salad with a grilled piece of meat. My only cheat along the way, if you could call it that, was a bite of cake after my grandson’s baptism and a glass of red wine at a family birthday celebration.

The big question: did it make any difference? Did I feel different? Did I look different? Did I perform better, especially learning new skills at CrossFit?

Here’s what I noticed:

  • I pay much more attention to what I eat. I used to grab whatever, not really thinking about it. Now I think about everything I eat.
  • I need to eat more. Without any breads or chips to temporarily fill me up, I’ve increased all my portions of meats and veggies and nuts.
  • I’m not sure if I lost weight overall, but I know my pants all fit looser at the waist. My muscles seem more defined, but that may also be a result of the challenging workouts I’ve never done before.
  • I didn’t really have any health issues coming into this, so I can’t comment on any changes like that.
  • More energy? Maybe. That’s hard to say. I don’t remember feeling worn out before.
  • I might be sleeping a little bit better. Either that or the WOD wore me out and I was in bed earlier.

The biggest difference for me is probably psychological rather that physiological. I know I’m not eating as much junk and that alone makes me feel better about myself. Plus the fact that I was up for the challenge.

I’ll know more when I weigh in and get measured next week. I’ve saved room for desserts at Thanksgiving, of course, but I’ll continue this plan. I think that it takes more than just six weeks to feel the full effect of eating this way. I’ll let you know how things turn out. I’ll probably start writing about some of the recipes and products we’ve found along the way that work for us.