“Let food be thy medicine.” We have been meditating on Hippocrates’s famous quote; it certainly is a simple yet profound way to think about food. However, I would say that it is also only one side of the coin. We need to “let eating and thinking be thy medicine.” We will never change our eating habits unless we change the way we think about food.
True, positive lifestyle changes, which can be both exasperating and exhausting, are worth the effort. Science and Scripture are in sync (and so they should be, since God gave us science to better understand ourselves and the world we live in) when it comes to the benefits of lifestyle change. “Think and eat yourself smart, healthy, and happy” is a lifestyle change that draws on a formula of knowledge, attitude, and skills. I provided the knowledge of our food systems in part 1. Attitude was handled in part 2. And the skills to change are provided in part 3.
Knowledge, attitude, and skills—hence your lifestyle—are driven and controlled by your thinking. If your thinking is not right, nothing else in your life will go right, including your eating habits. Thinking governs eating, and the two activities are inseparable. This is why I have placed such emphasis throughout this book on the mindset behind the meal being the 80 percent, and the meal behind the mindset being the 20 percent.
If we want to see a healthier world, we need to look in the mirror and see a healthier person, mentally and physically. It starts with us: we have to begin thinking and eating ourselves smart, happy, and healthy . . . and plant healthy trees not only in our gardens but wherever we go, in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior.
In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev. 22:2)