A Healthy Diet

     
     Have you ever made the conscious decision to "go on a diet"? Maybe it would be better to ask have you ever "said" you were going to go on a diet? That one may fit a larger percentage of our reading audience, self included! If you have or plan to go on a diet, never fear, there are a baker's dozen out there and each of them touts results of pounds shed in just a week or two. Keto, Atkins, Weight Watchers, South Beach, the Zone, we could go on and on, but there is one common denominator related to every single diet known to man that classifies them as diets. Each diet promises its results of inches off the waist and pounds off the scale if you will only cut out their particular nemesis to a better, healthier you. Eat no proteins, cut out the carbs, vegetables only, meats only, no starches, or maybe no junk food, diets are designed to help you be a better you by cutting out something that the masterminds behind that particular diet believe to be the culprit in why you or I can't lose weight. Problem is that with most of these miracle diets as soon as you go off the diet, the weight you lost just seems to slither its way back into our bellies or booties.
     I suppose I should file my credibility on speaking about this topic, I have been involved in dieting, cutting weight for wrestling, since I was in high school. Back in the day it was nothing for me to cut five or six pounds in one day. Basically not eating, limiting water intake to a drip on the tongue or a slosh in the mouth before spitting it out, and relentless sweating from running or wrestling allowed me to make weight, but nevertheless as soon as I weighed in and loaded up some carbs and downed a quart of Gatorade my weight was about back where I started. Through this trial and error method I quickly realized that a more leveled approach might be a much more effective method that might allow me to still put some nutrition in just not as much. Not only in my years as a wrestler or even through my 30+ years of coaching, I found that the most effective diet out there is one where you limit the quantity of bad stuff going in and you monitor the amount of "good" stuff you intake so that you still don't over eat regardless of the quality of the nutritional value of the food. Funny, but this same principle is applicable for pretty much everything in life. Too much of something leads to an unhealthy impact on our lives. Which brings us to our topic for today's Flat Tire thought.
      I accepted a challenge this week and I want to propose the same to you. While I was listening to a sermon from Chip Ingram on my phone, Pastor Ingram issued a ten-day challenge about cutting back on screen time in the vein of social media, news updates, and other forms of media that can overtake our daily lifestyle diet. For me, social media is mainly a means to promote our Career & Technical Education programs, but I have to admit that I am constantly tapping that home button just checking in to see what has been said or who "liked" our latest post. Then I catch myself looking through an endless scroll of daily happenings or rantings. Then that usually leads me to check in on the news to see what is going on with the COVID-19 Virus or more recently the protests after the pointless death of a man by someone in a position where he was supposed to be protecting people from danger not invoking a death sentence. (Not going there, wrong is wrong and that is all I am going to say today on that topic) Next thing you know, I have spent approximately two hours per day doing something that really does not have any "nutritional" value to my life or what I need to get done in my life. So, the point of this is I have realized that I am "over eating" on social media and that is just as unhealthy as sitting around with a bag of Doritos and a box of oatmeal cakes. If you are taking in too many social media calories it may be time to consider going on a "diet" yourself, my ten-day challenge to you!
     Small snacks and an occasional treat are not going to hurt anyone. Problem is that most of the time what starts out as a treat, slips into a habit, which can eventually fall into the category of a lifestyle. That's what happens in the world of weight and it holds true for our topic today about social media or the internet in general. Too much of a good thing certainly holds true for our topic today. The problem with foods like chips is the mentality that Lays Chips offered in their popular promotional "Lays, you can't eat just one". The evidence that this same rule of thumb holds true in our social media topic can be seen pretty much everywhere you look. Go to a restaurant (when it is safe of course) and watch the people sitting around you with their family or friends. It is not uncommon to see a family of four all sitting quietly at a table waiting on their food each deeply engaged with their phones stuck in their faces. Really? Could it be it's time for a diet to intervene?
     The idea behind a diet is you cut back on the things that are causing you to be unhealthy and the results will be visible through the weight loss you accrue. So that you don't starve, you replace the bad foods with ample servings of good foods packed with the vitamins and nutrients needed for a healthy body. Same rule applies when we are talking cutting back on our screen time. The danger of taking in too much screen time is that it becomes who we are and how we live our lives. Back to our example of the family and their phones, do you think they see that as a problem? My guess is more than likely no. Paul had something to say about this topic back in Romans 12:2 when he shared this "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Don't be overtaken by this world, don't over indulge, go on a diet. The danger in taking in too much screen time is evident, you become what you take in your body, mind, or soul.
     So, what do you do if you are interested in going on a diet from your phone's screen? Well like I discussed earlier, if you just try to starve yourself and remove the item from your diet that probably won't last long term. I don't think you need to cut yourself off from the world, but I do believe that if you would take this challenge, you'll find you may have been spending all your time on line instead of in line with those you need to be spending your time. For the next ten days give yourself a break, go lean, cut out the internet carbs that are dragging you down. Mark 7:15 says it isn't necessarily what goes in that causes us a problem it is what comes out due to what we put in our minds and bodies that that creates the need for a diet. We can become obsessed with what the internet tells us, how we should look, what we should be doing, and where everyone else is going. We have to keep up or we must not be living life the way we should. Well if that is where you are at might I suggest spending the time you have been online with time spent with the One that made you for a specific purpose which is probably not a web surfing social media junkie. Paul once again sums it up for us with this piece of advice from Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." 
     Take the challenge, you will probably find that it is much more of a challenge than you imagined. You are what you eat and screen time has become a major item on many people's menu. Ten days, you can do it, and when those ten days are over you should be able to determine if a reduced caloric intake of social media, news, or whatever eats up your day is what needs to be prescribed for you! While you are slicing off your screen time, give some time to your faith walk. Dieting without exercising is only partially effective. Read an inspirational book, read "THE" inspirational book. Spend time with those you love, spend time with those that need to see love. Give of yourself, volunteer to do something for someone else that needs help more than you do. Meditate, journal, pray. I hope you will join me in this challenge, I'm on day four and not missing a thing!

Coach Carter