A few items as far as health.
When it comes to weight loss and what we should or shouldn’t eat, we have a perfect prescription from Scripture (1 Corinthians 8:7):
“Not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.
“But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?
“For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
“And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.”
If eating something goes against your spirit, your “conscience”—if you know it’s fattening or otherwise unhealthy—simply don’t eat it!
Second, an item (from Fox News): “An excess of sugary drinks can specifically lead to a higher risk of anxiety among teens, a new study shows. In a meta-analysis published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, U.K. researchers reviewed various studies from 2000 to 2025. [scroll for more:]
“They explored the link between drinking sugar-sweetened beverages — like sodas, energy drinks, sweetened juices, teas and coffee — and anxiety disorders in adolescents between 10 and 19 years old.” [For Full Story]
From Quora:
Mark Cubekiln
Your Arteries Are Clogging Right Now. These Foods Are Fighting Back.
Cardiovascular disease kills a human every 33 seconds.
The emergency room is expensive. The produce aisle isn’t.
First, know what you’re actually fighting.
Your arteries aren’t just clogged with fat. They’re inflamed tubes filled with oxidized cholesterol, calcium, and dead cells, built up over decades. It’s called atherosclerosis. It’s also known as “your arteries are turning into concrete.” The bright side? Some foods not only slow this down, they reverse it.
1. Berries – The Inflammation Assassins.
Blueberries, strawberries, pomegranate. These aren’t just “super foods.” These are foods that, by the laws of biology, are actually super. Their anthocyanins, the pigments that give these foods their dark colors, directly combat inflammation in your arteries and increase nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide is what opens up your blood vessels, loosens your fist, and lets more blood flow. A Harvard study found people who ate berries three times a week had 32% fewer heart attacks. Three times a week. Not every day. Three times a week.
2. Fatty Fish – Nature’s Roto-Rooter.
Salmon. Sardines. Mackerel. These fish are full of omega-3 fatty acids. These acids have an architectural effect on your body. They not only lower triglycerides and inflammation markers but literally keep plaque from bursting. It is the bursting of the plaque, not the plaque itself, that causes heart attacks. Omega-3 fatty acids keep the plaque from bursting. Eating fatty fish twice a week is like having your cardiovascular system perform routine maintenance.
3. Garlic – The Ancient Miracle With Embarrassing Side Effects.
Garlic has an ingredient called allicin. This ingredient is so powerful on the cardiovascular system that in 2016, scientists discovered that aged garlic extract reduced the buildup of soft plaque in arteries after just one year. It not only slows down plaque buildup but reduces it. It also lowers your LDL cholesterol, your blood pressure, and prevents blood platelet clumping. The benefits of garlic on the cardiovascular system are nothing short of miraculous. The side effects on your personal life, however, are equally miraculous.
4. Avocado — The Fat That Fights Fat.
This counterintuitive superfood is packed with monounsaturated fats, which have been proven to actively work at reducing your levels of bad cholesterol while at the same time increasing your levels of good cholesterol. Avocados are also packed with potassium, which directly works at lowering your blood pressure. Eating an avocado a day, as was proven in research done at Penn State, can have your levels of oxidized LDL, the worst cholesterol clogger, reduced dramatically. Your arteries want the fat that fights the wrong fat. This is the fat.
5. Green Tea — The Quiet Cardiovascular Bodyguard.
Just two cups a day. That’s it. That’s all. Green tea is packed with catechins, especially EGCG, which directly works at reducing cholesterol absorption, lowering blood pressure, and reducing artery stiffness. Populations in Japan who drink green tea have dramatically lower rates of cardiovascular disease. It’s not coincidence. It’s been proven through decades of research. It’s real. Two cups. Daily. No drama needed.
6. Olive Oil — Liquid Cardiovascular Insurance.
Extra virgin olive oil, to be precise. The polyphenols in real extra virgin olive oil cut inflammatory markers, stop LDL cholesterol from oxidizing, and increase artery flexibility. The Mediterranean diet, based on olive oil, is the most studied and validated cardiovascular-protective dietary pattern in the history of medicine. Use it to replace all other cooking oils in your possession. Tonight.
7. Leafy Greens — The Nitrate Powerhouse.
Spinach, kale, arugula, and other leafy greens contain dietary nitrates that are converted to nitric oxide in the blood, which in turn relaxes arteries, lowers blood pressure, and reduces artery stiffness in as little as hours after consumption. That’s hours, not weeks or months. This is one of the most rapid cardiovascular effects of anything we know of in nutrition science. Your arteries will react to a spinach salad faster than most medications will.
The uncomfortable truth about food and arteries: There is no single food that can unclog arteries overnight. Anyone who says there is, is selling something. What these foods can do, when eaten consistently over months, is reduce inflammation, improve cholesterol ratios, increase arterial flexibility, and slow down or reverse plaque buildup. It takes the cardiovascular system a long time to respond. It takes the cardiovascular system a long time to respond. But it does respond faithfully. Every meal is either helping the problem, or it is helping the solution. There are no exceptions. There are no neutral meals.
Your arteries don’t care about your resolutions.
They don’t care about your good intentions.
They care about your Tuesday lunch.
They care about your Thursday dinner.
They care about your unglamorous, everyday habits.
The best cardiologist you’ll ever meet lives in your kitchen. Go meet him.”
Or better yet, read the Bible and stay tuned to your Creator.
[resources: The God of Healing]