My Body Is A Temple

I don’t consider myself a picky eater, but I guess in a way I am. I choose not to eat meat, not to drink soda or coffee, and instead try to balance the ratio of junk foods versus healthy foods I consume. It just makes me feel better and healthier. I simply believe that people should take care of and be responsible for their body starting with what they put in it. I’m not always perfect at managing what I eat, especially when funds are low and a Bojangle’s biscuit cost less than a fruit platter at Wal-Mart, but I try my best to eat right for my own personal wellbeing.

This whole state of mind began in seventh grade during a class discussion in math. We had a problem involving milk versus soda consumption in the United States and my Canadian health nut of a teacher started to rant about how bad soda is for the body and how horrible it is that soda consumption is far greater than milk consumption. Pretty soon, the entire class was sharing disgusting facts and stories about soda that lasted the entire period. By the end of the class, I was so sickened by everything I had just heard that I decided right then and there to stop drinking soda. I had absolutely no desire to drink a calcium eating acid that can dissolve a nail in four days or to develop osteoporosis. I started to think more about the foods I was eating and my lifestyle in general. Not long after I started my soda embargo, I began feeling cleaner and healthier. It was like all this disgusting crap in my body that I originally had no idea was even there was gradually disappearing. I felt happier and more confident. I began to realize how good a decision this was for me and it fueled my desire to continue on.

A couple years later I was gradually becoming revolted by meat. It had nothing to do with ethics or animal rights; I just lost my appetite for it and had no desire to eat it. The only meat I had really liked anyway was chicken and even that was starting to look disgusting. One night as my mom was cutting a roasted chicken for dinner, I watched her cut through a ligament still clinging to the bone. That was it for me. I didn’t care if everyone else ate meat around me, I just wasn’t going to have any part of it. I was playing a lot more soccer when I made this change and the combination made me lose a lot of weight (which I’ve pretty much gained back now) and I just felt awesome. I looked and felt healthier than I ever had before and with the exception of having a more difficult time finding something to eat at a restaurant, had no regrets about my decision. It was the right choice for me.

My body is a temple and I intend to treat it as such. I believe all people should feel that way about their body and put more thought into what they’re putting into it. If they did, maybe America wouldn’t be the fattest and laziest nation in the world. Maybe obesity, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis wouldn’t be as prevalent. Maybe we’d be a better people and make a better world. Maybe.