Topic: What Should You Eat?
You probably want to live a long and healthy life on this earth. What  are you willing to do to make that possible? Here is an assignment that  can improve the quality of what you eat, and hence, the quality of your  life. Let’s develop the rudiments of a maintenance diet for you—a desirable, workable, realistic, non-faddish maintenance diet—one you follow permanently. You have several reference sources:
– the Bible’s many prescriptive texts regarding nutrition (ignore “descriptive” texts)
– your textbook’s chapter on biomolecules; how they are built and used
– the course Presentation entitled “Biomolecules and Nutrition”
– trustworthy sources such as
– USDA MyPlate:  https://www.choosemyplate.gov/MyPlate-Daily-Checklist
– the Mayo Clinic website.  http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle
– Very Well website (David Katz’ site):  https://www.verywell.com/
– Web MD:  http://www.webmd.com/diet/default.htm
The foods you select will contain the same classes of biomolecules that  you read about in your textbook: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins,  nucleic acids, vitamins, and minerals.  Use the following procedure to  build your diet.
For your Thread:
1.  Click on the link below.  This will give you a Word document “work  table” to add your foods to.  You may wish to print a copy for research  purposes.
What Should I Eat – Work Table.docx
2.  Go to the “My Plate Check List Calculator https://www.choosemyplate.gov/MyPlate-Daily-Checklist-input   Enter your data to determine how many calories your daily diet should contain. Record this number in your work table.
3.  Now go to the USDA MyPlate web site: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/MyPlate-Daily-Checklist  In  the Table, about the middle of the page click on the box representing  your caloric needs.  Some serving amount data will pop up allocated into  5 food groups.
4. Record the suggested serving amounts in your  work table to give quantitative values to the categories you will build  your diet around.
“What Should I Eat?” – Work Table:
Total Calories:
/per day
Food Group:
Biomolecules in this Group in Order of Relative Biomass*
Serving Amount:
My Food Choices:
10 Fruits
Carbs, Proteins, Oils
My first food, my second food, my third food, my fourth food, etc.
12 Vegetables
Carbs, Proteins, Oils
12 Grains
Carbs, Proteins, Oils
9 Proteins
Proteins, Fats, Oils
7 Dairy Items
Depends on the Food
*as a generalization
5.  Start to choose foods using the guideline comments given on the webpage.   Use other web pages listed above to get commentary on foods you think  (!) are healthy for you.  Here are two useful ones to give you ideas:
https://www.verywell.com/macronutrients-made-simple-4128991 , https://www.verywell.com/the-basics-of-a-healthy-balanced-diet-2506675
6.   Delete the sample foods listed in the “Fruits” category.  They are  there to show you the format for your own additions.  List specific  foods that you would eat for each group according the numbers indicated  in the first column. The second column of the table will help you with  your category accuracy.  Do not reuse any food under a second category.  You will thus select 50 foods for your diet—not a huge variety, but it’s  a start!  “Leafy greens” or “seafood” are food categories, not   specific foods.
7.  “Mouse over the upper left-hand corner of  the table to find the tiny navigation box and click on it.  This  highlights (“selects”) the whole table.  Copy it to your computer’s  “clipboard”.  You can now paste this table into the “Message Box” of  your open “Thread” in the discussion board.  Along with your table, you  may submit up to two prescriptive Bible passages that you feel most  constrain your dietary thinking.
Hints:
•     Your goal is always to improve your own list. Please include about 70  words for your diet (50 foods, some hyphenated as needed) with space  left over for two Bible verses for a total of 120 words.  That’s your limit!
•    Foods differ in their density of a wide variety of nutrients as  compared to just the calories they give you.  Which sweet would be  better for you:  hard candy or a fig bar?
•    What is in the food item you’ve selected? Check out:  http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/  to find out.
•    Suppose Mayo Clinic wisdom and Biblical wisdom seem to conflict.  Which source will you defer to and why?

Each reply must be 125 words.
Response #1
Nicole Brown Alcoholism

Effects of Alcohol Abuse

Alcoholism is a topic that hits close to home for me. Growing up I witnessed the negative effects alcoholism can have on not only your health, but family and social life as well. Now that I am grown and have developed my faith in God I know that as Christians, we are not supposed to drink excessively. Romans 13:13 (NIV) states, “3Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.”
Out of the many health related risks of drinking, I would like to talk about those which I have witnessed most often during my career in the healthcare field.  When I was working in memory care facilities, we would often get patients with alcohol induced Dementia. There is no cure for dementia, and it is a disease that slowly worsens. Alcohol supports the disease process and often makes it progress more quickly.
Another negative effect of drinking is depression. Many people drink because they are depressed and looking for an outlet, and many people fall into the trap of alcoholism and become depressed as the need for alcohol takes over their lives. I have witnessed this firsthand, being that my mother took up drinking after my father passed away. From sunrise to sunset my mother would drink. People who abuse alcohol and have depression are also more likely to abuse other substances and mix medications with alcohol, which is not recommended and can lead to other serious health problems.
Heavy drinking can slow down the body’s immune system, making it more susceptible to disease. When intoxicated, your body is not able to protect itself and preform functions needed to guard you from infections. People who drink are more likely to engage in risky sexual activity, which often results in contracting an infectious disease. The Bible warns of immoral acts like this. 1 Corinthians 6:18(NIV) “18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body”.
In the state of Virginia, between the years of 2006-2010 there have been 1,871 documented alcohol related deaths alone. Imagine the amount of undocumented cases. I hope to one day see a world without alcohol abuse, very unlikely scenario but wouldn’t it be wonderful? I hope as Christians we can all remember the negative effects of alcohol abuse and abstain from partaking in excessive drinking. Remember to glorify God in all that you do and treat your body as a temple.
References:
Freeman, D. (2011). 12 Health Risks of Chronic Heavy Drinking. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/features/12-health-risks-of-chronic-heavy-drinking#1
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alcohol Related Disease Impact (ARDI) application, 2013. Available at www.cdc.gov/ARDI.
Response 2
Brenda Barber Alcoholism
Alcohol is a common addiction issue in our society.  It is socially acceptable and often found to be the source of entertainment in young people today.  People often do not realize the longterm effects it can have on their system.  We are warned in Proverbs 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, and whoever is led astray bit it is not wise”.  One has to wonder why we would need a warning if something is safe for our system.  (NKJV)
The obvious issues that we see with alcoholism is the effects that it has on our relationships and safety concerns with driving ability, but there are many other issues to take into consideration with our general health.  Longterm alcohol use can change how our system functions.  Anemia can be caused by alcoholism, which is a decrease in the red blood cells that causes fatigue, shortness of breath and lightheadedness.   These same symptoms are also common in cardiovascular disease, which can also be caused by longterm alcohol use/abuse.   Alcohol causes platelets to be more likely to clump together and form blood clots that can cause heart attacks or strokes.  If our blood thickens it makes it harder to pump the blood through our system and create blood pressure issues.  High blood pressure makes the heart work harder to move the blood and just like any other muscle in our system the heart is a muscle.  If you work a muscle more you build it up just like working out builds your muscles.  When the heart wall thickens it becomes enlarged, this is known as cardiomyopathy.  Cardiomyopathy causes the heart to pump blood less efficiently and blood can backup into the lungs or the rest of the body.  All of our lives we have been told the importance of what we feed our body and brain.  When we feed our brain alcohol it can lead to dementia.  Our brains shrink slowly as we age and  studies have shown that alcohol speeds up the rate that they brain shrinks.  When I think back to the scripture in Proverbs these things make me realize that we should be warned about the issues with alcohol.
If you believe that Jesus is your savior, then you know that we are all sinners.  In Romans 3:23, Paul describes us,  “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  (NKJV).   Paul refers to the flesh as weak.  Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 Idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkennness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in the past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (NKJVS)  He also mentions in Ephesians 5:18, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.  Consumption of an alcoholic beverage is not a sin, however, it can lead to sinful behaviors including alcoholism.  Alcoholism is not just the choice to drink in excessiveness, but is a chemical change in the system that makes a person dependent on alcohol.   If our goal is to be is to be like Christ  we should protect ourselves from things that challenge our abilities of self control, as mentioned in  Romans 13:13-14, “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.  14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (NKJV)
References:
The Holy Bible. New King James Version.Holman Bible Publishers.(2013)
Beckerman,MD, J. (2018,February 12). Heart Disease and Cardiomyopathy. Webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/muscle-cardiomyopathy.
Freeman, D. (2011).12 Health Risk of Chronic Heavy Drinking. Webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/features/12-health-risks-of-chronic-heavy-drinking#1.