The Simple Truth

 

"Please test your servants for ten days:  Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.  Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." ~Daniel 1:12-13

Danny and I subscribe to the MAHA movement long before HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., introduces this concept to the country, raising a new national awareness regarding our health.  We've always known that fresh is best and have genuinely tried to put our beliefs into practice based on the knowledge we glean over time.

One influencer who Danny finds to be reliable is Bobby Parrish on YouTube.  He is full of current healthy bargains you can find at places like Costco, Aldi and even Target.  Because of Bobby, we not longer purchase products containing sunflower or canola oils or those listing any ingredients we can't pronounce.  And when something claims to have natural flavoring, buyer beware!  At the moment, the FDA does not strictly regulate this aspect of the food industry, but we're hoping they will begin to clamp down on this ugly loophole during this administration.

You can rightly assume at this juncture in the post, that we no longer buy any item, especially fruits and vegetables, unless they are organically grown.  Yes, they can be more expensive, but how does one put a price on overall health?  Honestly, I'd rather eat less and eat clean than eat more because the product costs less.

Lately, Danny's pursuit of healthy products extends beyond food to include the daily soaps we wash with and even the lip balm I apply multiple times a day.  Burt's Bees has always been my go-to brand.  Not anymore!  Why?  Danny discovers that the brand is now owned by the  Clorox Company who keeps Burt's image, but drastically changes the formula to cost less for them, yet the same, or more, for us.

Yuck!  Really???  Instead, I now use, thanks to Danny's intrepid research, Tallow Lip Balm made by a company called Texas Tallow.  It has six simple ingredients:  Beef Tallow; Organic Coconut Oil; Natural Beeswax; Vitamin E Oil, and Organic Shea Butter.  What a world of difference that makes!

And as I examine the tube more closely, I make and unexpected and delightful discovery.

Do you see what I see?  Yes!  It's the fish!  The universal sign for Christianity.  This tiny logo reveals what at the heart of this manufacturer, all it stands for, all it promotes, all it produces.  Signs like these make my heart rejoice and appreciate all the more the people whose bottom line isn't profit, although I'm sure they will be profitable as the Lord blesses their endeavors.

So how did things turn out for Daniel and his companions, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when they chose to eat simple foods over the rich diet offer to them?  Daniel 1:15 says:  At the end of the ten days, they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food."

And that's the simple truth we would all do well to live by.

Amen!