It has been quite some time since I saw this 2004 documentary about Morgan Spurlock who directed and starred in the film. He ate only McDonald’s food for 30 days in the previous year and lived to tell about it. I thought it a slightly more appealing title than “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” another documentary I watched last year about an Australian who recounts his 60 day journey across the United States while on a juice fast.
These films bubbled up after listening to an episode of “The People’s Pharmacy” on NPR. It’s odd that I’m drawn to talk about the topic of health and wellness at this juncture in my column writing, but maybe not. I have been a diligent student of this topic since my four children were born or more accurately, in utero.
I subscribed to the low fat – and by default, high carb – craze of the 90’s; I have been a gym rat and runner (sort of); and I have read numerous books from immunity building to cooking “primally.” It has only been in the last year, however, that I have noticed the biggest boon to my physical health by “merely” practicing yoga and adopting a low wheat, low sugar, low dairy approach to eating, a term I much prefer over “diet.”
It all “came together” after seeing Joel Fuhrman, MD speak at a TEDx event in Charlottesville last November. He never wanted to become a doctor actually, as it repelled him to think of reacting to and managing disease pharmaceutically – until he discovered the body’s innate capacity to not only heal itself but also to reverse disease. It has become his life’s mission to promote superior nutrition through a largely plant based diet. His proactive approach – directly with his patients and indirectly with thousands of others through his published books as well as speaking engagements – has achieved life-altering results.
I am reminded of Brene Brown, PhD’s wildly popular TED Talk entitled “The Power of Vulnerability” and her conclusion that we numb ourselves, as well as our vulnerability, in countless ways, including pharmaceuticals. After years of research, she offers this sobering but oh-so-true statement, “We are the most in-debt, obese, addicted and medicated adult cohort in U.S. history.”
By the way Brown defines vulnerability as the courage to be imperfect and to be deeply seen both of which foster connection with others – our reason for being, she argues. To feel truly vulnerable means you’re alive. Interestingly, two dear friends gave me a slightly hard time on a recent trip overseas for my “ability” to cry so easily, yet one of them expressed appreciation as we were checking in for our flight back to the States, “Thank you for crying, Caro because…I can’t.”
Frederick Buechner writes about an observation he heard during a lecture by a great theologian, “There is only one miracle…it is life.” He goes on to challenge us in this way, “Have you wept at anything during the past year? Has your heart beat faster at the sight of a young beauty? Have you thought seriously about the fact that someday you are going to die? More often than not, do you really listen when people are speaking to you instead of waiting for your turn to speak? Is there anybody you know in whose place, if one of you had to suffer great pain, you would volunteer yourself? If your answer to all or most of these questions is No, the chances are that you’re dead.”
I have thought about my mortality more lately – reaching mid-life has a way of doing that to you. Mom had a pillow on which was embroidered, tongue-in-cheek: “Live Long Enough To Be A Burden To Your Children.” The furthest thing from her wishes, of course – and mine.
So I do think about not only what I put into my body – which scripture teaches is a temple of the Holy Spirit – but also about what I put into my mind (and how many hours I fritter away on the computer). And I think about what it means to really live- authentically, passionately and courageously.
Paradoxically, yet consistent with my Christian faith in ways I don’t even fully grasp, this involves dying to self – decreasing so that He may increase and surrendering with “reckless” abandon to the one who said he came so that we might have life and have it abundantly.
And to experience that, I believe, we must in reality super-size…Him.
– Caroline Watkins
