Don't Eat That - Guarding What We Consume!

What we consume shapes more than our bodies. Guard what enters your mind, heart, and home, choosing what nourishes faith, wisdom, and well-being.

Watch your diet.

It is familiar advice because what we consume has a direct impact on our health and well-being. People devote considerable time and attention to outward appearance, but much of our physical health is determined by internal systems we cannot see. What we eat affects how our bodies receive nutrients, maintain energy, support immunity, and sustain overall health.

I can not imagine anyone would see food that is clearly rotten and moldy, growing with bacteria, and desire to eat it.  Most of us would never knowingly eat food that is contaminated. We understand instinctively: Don’t eat that.

So, what if we applied the same principle to our mental, emotional, and spiritual lives?

Every day we consume far more food in the form of information, entertainment, conversations, relationships, opinions, images, and ideas than we need. Over time, these influences can shape what we believe, how we think, how we respond to adversity, and how we see ourselves and others.

Perhaps we should ask: What should and should not be a part of my life diet?

Are there people, places, habits, mindsets, media, or other influences that continually diminish us? We readily question natural food that appears unfit for consumption, but we can be surprisingly tolerant of influences that repeatedly fill our hearts and minds with fear, anger, comparison, deception, cynicism, or hopelessness.

Scripture reminds believers that our bodies are temples of God; they should be a sacred place worthy of care and stewardship.  Our bodies, minds, and hearts should not become dumping grounds for everything seeking access to them because human beings are more than physical bodies. We also have thoughts, emotions, and spiritual lives that require care.

In modern nations, regulatory systems exist to protect the public from unsafe food, medicines, and consumer products.  These standards matter because harmful substances have harmful consequences.

Philippians 4:8-9 offers a powerful life principle:

Whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise—think about these things.

This verse does not mean we ignore suffering, deny difficult emotions, or pretend negative circumstances do not exist. Healthy thinking is not the absence of difficult thoughts but the discipline of refusing to allow ungodly, deceptive, or wicked thoughts to have permanent residence in our minds. Scripture encourages us to meditate on healthy things. What we repeatedly focus on matters because our thoughts influence our attitudes, decisions, and actions.

This principle is increasingly important in the digital age. Technology has dramatically increased the amount of information available, but human beings have not suddenly developed an unlimited capacity to process it all.  We can consume bad news, conflict, tragedy, entertainment, advertising, and other people's opinions from the time we wake up until the moment we go to sleep, if we rest our minds at all.  Being constantly connected to information does not mean we are well informed, and being informed does not mean we are healthy.  Sometimes wisdom requires asking “Is this access to information beneficial for me and my family?”

According to mental health data, nearly a quarter of the American populace aged 18 and older have mental illness and young adults, aged 18-25, have the highest prevalence.*

Approximately half of all mental health conditions start by age 14 and 75% begin by age 24.  Nearly 13 million adults report thoughts of suicide annually, and it is a leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24. Young men seem to be particularly vulnerable and account for almost 80% of all suicides.

Does this alarm us enough as parent-leaders to be present, be engaged, be intentional?

Our Children Are Consuming Too

Mental illness is not exclusive to one country, culture, or generation.  It affects people globally.

When we consider the mental-health challenges among children and young adults, it is staggering. Behind every statistic is a person: a son, daughter, mother, father, student, friend, coworker, or family member of value.

Mental illness is complex and has different causes. We should never reduce mental-health conditions to a lack of faith, poor choices, or just unhealthy media consumption. At the same time, we have to be aware that the environments we cultivate either support or denigrate our health.

This raises an important question for parents, educators, mentors, and leaders:

Are we present, engaged, and intentional enough to notice what the people entrusted to our care are consuming and what may be consuming them?

One responsibility as parent-leaders is to teach discernment and protect the vulnerable. We must guide future generations in recognizing what depletes them, what deserves their attention, and what should never be given access.

Check Your Life Diet

Physical strength requires nourishment and exercise and healthy living requires us to exercise our minds, develop emotional maturity, and strengthen our spiritual lives.

So, take an inventory.

Consider what occupies your attention, influences your emotions, shapes your thinking, and enters your home and workplace.

Then look beyond yourself. Have the courage to challenge and remove, if possible, influences that continually contaminate rather than nourish the lives of people around us. We cannot control everything that enters our environment or theirs, but we can become more intentional about what we allow to remain.

This week, assess your “life diet.” Identify any influence you need to remove, one healthy practice you need to increase, and one person you need to intentionally check on.

Sometimes leadership looks like offering wisdom, setting a boundary, having a difficult conversation, or reminding someone:

You do not have to consume everything available to you. Don’t eat that!

Data Sources: National Institute of Mental Health, National Alliance on Mental Illness, and Mental Health America *Some data sources report ages 18-29

What we consume eventually shapes what we think, believe, and become.

Discernment requires more than recognizing what is harmful. It requires intentionally choosing what nourishes our minds, strengthens our faith, and contributes to the well-being of those entrusted to our care.

Take a moment to reflect:

What has been consuming your attention lately, and is it nourishing the person God is calling you to become?

This week, identify one influence to remove, one healthy practice to increase, and one person you need to intentionally check on.

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Identity first. Integrity always. Lead intentionally.