The Spiritual Option to Defeat Obesity

A life that expresses mind-body-spirit balance is so important because this balance allows people to find health and happiness. While many focus on the climbing rates of disease and other health problems, the key to finding a solution to these problems may lie in examining how this spiritual balance can be obtained. Take obesity. In many cases, the mental atmosphere directly corresponds to the physical body, and if the mental is unhealthy a physical problem is manifested.

What keeps someone from sliding into obesity? It’s pretty accurate to say that all of us encounter stresses, frustrations, and other emotions caused by changes in environment, location, relationships, economic conditions, etc., which current reasoning suggests may lead to obesity. But with spiritual balance and purpose that brings a strong sense of love and self-worth, the negative stresses that lead to unhealthy conditions in the body are reduced and replaced with healthy outcomes.

Mary Baker Eddy, author of Science and Health, brought forth a powerful idea about spiritual love when she wrote, “Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way.” Holding to the idea that God, or divine Love, is all encompassing and ever present combats feelings of purposelessness or powerlessness. This becomes the solution.

One way to become more aware of spiritual balance is to examine your lifestyle and decide if you should make changes to incorporate a more spiritual approach.

Many address the need for fulfillment and balance in terms of food, but this is a limited solution that doesn’t go to the bottom of the problem. Oprah has publicly battled weight issues, and her idea of a spiritual component to addressing this problem is helpful: “Being overweight is a spiritual issue. And spiritual growth is required to overcome it.” In many instances, good health starts mentally, and there is a growing body of research that suggests there are connections between spirituality/religion and both mental and physical health.

In the Bible, Jesus advises, “take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink. …Is not the life more than meat…?” As more people realize that the mental-spiritual aspects of health need to be addressed for a lasting health solution – instead of just looking to diet and exercise – obesity won’t seem to be an insurmountable problem. As thinking changes, the body will respond to deeper spiritual views.

Article first published in Blogcritics.

Photo © GLOW IMAGES. Models used for illustrative purposes.

Don lives in Laguna Beach with his wife and they are both Christian Science practitioners. He brings his years serving the public in education to his work as a liaison of Christian Science, where he maintains contacts with the media and legislative offices. Don blogs on health and spirituality and you can read more at www.csinsocal.com.