I have discovered that medical doctors have their favorite diets or considerations concerning food. You can discover a vast array of approaches. It is hard to sift through and come up with something I can also live with and be committed enough to actually follow.
My initial doctor wanted to cover up my symptoms with medicine so I did not feel the symptoms. I decided I needed to take other avenues than the cover-up method.
The first doctor that used food to address my chronic fatigue (and multitude of other symptoms) thought I had food allergies. It was only many visits later that I discovered this was her default answer to health issues. It is what goes into a man that causes his problems. So, instead of working on healing what was wrong with my body, we avoided the symptoms by removing foods from my diet. This was a vain attempt and I had to abandon this approach.
The next doctor was concerned with healing my body. In order to do this, she placed me a strict anti-inflammatory diet. There are certain foods that can aggravate any inflammation and you can pretty much guess what foods these are. The hardest part was that it eliminated all uncooked foods. Everything had to be cooked. I really missed fresh fruits and vegetables. Though I felt somewhat better, I could tell that I was not better and I was just giving my body easier to digest foods. The doctor said this would be a lifelong diet for me.
Finally, I am on the Marshall Protocol diet. In someways it is the most restrictive because I have to make sure certain additives are not in foods and it takes out the favorite new health foods: flax and soy. In other ways, it is the least restrictive: dairy and wheat are fine. What this diet admits is that my flesh is the issue. My body is not handling the bacteria correctly and this is what we need to address. The goal is to be able to return to an unrestricted diet once my body does heal.
When God began transforming my attitude towards food--He showed me that it is not the food that is the issue; it is my flesh. As I ponder this, I am amazed to see that medical answers regarding food follow those of man's attempts to deal with sin: Cover it up, focus on those who are causing your problems or control stressful situations so your sin is not revealed.
The problem is that my flesh is the issue. Just as my physical body is not responding correctly and I have developed a chronic illness; my heart does not respond correctly to God and I am a sinner--by nature. It is that nature that must be dealt with and Christ is the only One Who can transform it.
Hmmm, I wonder if we would see the same patterns of man trying to solve problems in education, parenting, politics, government, as well as in medicine? Just cover it up; blame someone else; or take control?
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