Your Diet Is Spiritual Guest Blogger: Kate Hilliard MS, RD, LD, CDE

My mission field for the last 9 years has been as a registered dietitian. I have educated kids,
adults and seniors in every stage of life on nutrition and how foods can prevent and treat many
health diagnoses. More importantly, as a believer in Jesus, I have observed and learned the
role food can play in our life. Reading through scriptures on food, witnessing personal
experiences, and having my own struggles, I truly believe our diet is not just physical, but
spiritual. Surely there is a physical sensation to food, from its tastes, smells and textures- even
emitting emotional ties, what we know as comfort foods, or family recipes that can transport us
back in time to when we were little kids enjoying our grandmother’s cooking. In addition, food
decisions can be very wired to how we were treated as kids; whether we had enough food to eat
or were solely served fast food as a cheap alternative to real nutrition, or if we were punished
with eating vegetables, or rewarded with desserts. Identity is tied into everything we do, and
what we choose to believe from our past to mold us into the present person; food is very much a
part of identity building. Young people who struggle with body image, believing the lie they are
not skinny enough or not attractive enough could potentially and harmfully reduce or even stop
their eating until they get to a certain weight; and even at that “goal weight” still feel ugly and fat,
because the issue wasn’t on the outside anyway, the issue that needs healing is spiritual, it’s
knowing who they are, created as masterpieces by the Creator and Author of life. In agreeing
with the enemy’s schemes of the senses, and agreeing with the wrong identity, we could be led
astray in any area of our life, our health as one of them. Believing you are an orphan, and that
there is not enough, can lead to overeating, over-indulging, which can lead to becoming
overweight, which can lead to having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes from the
stress on the body – but the issue at the core is spiritual: believing an orphan spirit and identity
rather than believing you’re a child of God, have more than enough, and will be provided for. If
we believe God to be the best Provider for our life, should we ever go hungry? Should we ever
need anything if He is the Good Shephard? The Israelites, when they were wandering in the
desert, how much manna did God allow them to collect? What was needed for the day. What
happened when some of the family members collected more? It rotted. He wanted to teach His
people how to trust Him daily with their daily sustenance. The Israelites, having the miracle of
food raining down on them every day except on the Sabbath, still cried out for variety, for their
cravings and what they wanted; when quail was given to them it did not fair well. They missed
the lesson of God as their Provider, given food with healing properties, that supplied everything
they needed. It was a spiritual issue that manifest physical in the want for more than what was
already freely given.
We live in a culture of convenience; we can easily order food through an app, online, delivery, of
course drive thru, although sometimes the thought of even having to get in our own cars to get
our food has us rely more on other to do it for us. There is no lack of cheap, unhealthy food
around us, however, as Christians if we should not look like the world in any means, the way
they speak, act, what they wear, what they spend their money on, why should we eat like the
world? Needing to have a craving met, rather than following guidance of Holy Spirit on what we
should eat to nourish our bodies, can leave us feeling sluggish and sick.
It is hard to witness how physically sick the Body of Christ right now. Out of the top 10 chronic
(long-term) diseases, 7 of them are diet related, which means they are preventable. All
diseases, illnesses, sicknesses are from the devil (John 10:10). God designed our bodies to be

healthy and diseases, illnesses, and sicknesses are from the curse and they should have no
place in the believer’s life; they have been nailed to the cross. You most definitely should not
agree with any diagnosis or label that is not what God says and speaks over you; however, God
has given us practical answers in the way we should live and the choices we make (read the
book of Leviticus). We have a responsibility and are called to steward our bodies 1 Corinthians
6:9 “Do you now know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you
have received from God, your are not your own, you were bought with a price.”
What benefit is it to the believer that when praying to God to take away diabetes and normalize
their blood sugar, that they continue to drink sweet tea or coke all day long, eat bags of chips?
Is that person truly healed? Genesis 1:29 “God said, “I have given you every seed-bearing plant
on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for
food.” God’s practical solution from the beginning? Eating more of the foods He has grown for
us. Science has proven the healthy properties and the reversal of diseases when eating plant-
based foods. They are meant to bring life, and the variety God provides in our food shows His
creative side.
In summary, sickness is never from God, however, we have a responsibility and even if
everything is permissible not everything is beneficial (1 Corinthians 6:9); Healthy eating frees us
to do so much more, to feel good, give us energy for the assignments God has given us. I don’t
want us to agree with any diagnosis, what I want is for us to seek God and to the prompting of
the Holy Spirit to best take care of our temples since He has to live in there.

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