Nutrition and Gardening

A Contemplative Framework for Physical and Spiritual Nourishment

Core Principle: The Body as Temple, Food as Sacred Fuel

The nutrition section examines dietary patterns and habits that have evolved throughout one's life while exploring optimal macronutrient balance and micronutrient intake for aging bodies. For the most part, engage in a carnivorous ketogenic diet except that it should mimic the diet of the monastic community of Mount Athos. Produce L. reuteri yogurt/whey for one protein source but also to boost gut health. For fiber needs and variety, add in fresh produce from the garden and also frozen produce along with sprouts and microgreens when the garden is not available. Questions that one contemplates during eating should address practical aspects of meal planning, preparation strategies, and hydration practices, alongside psychological and social dimensions of eating. The section covers environmental and ethical considerations in food choices, digestive health issues, and food sensitivities that commonly develop with age. Special attention is given to nutritional approaches supporting longevity and healthy aging, with practical implementation strategies for continuous improvement. The reflective prompts encourage approaching nutrition as an act of stewardship for one's body rather than focusing solely on restriction or indulgence.

Yes, you will detect that these questions have that GetAfterIt AllSixDaysOfTheWeekLong Monday morning energy that characterizes Ancient Guy Fitness... get going... you aren't ready to die YET!

Part I: Daily Contemplative Practice for Nutrition

Morning Nutritional Intention

Begin each day by setting nutritional intentions aligned with spiritual purpose:

Pre-Meal Contemplation (5 minutes)

  1. That sugar addiction you're nursing - when exactly were you planning to break those chains?

    • Galatians 5:1 - "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

  2. Your liver is ready to produce ketones for superior brain fuel - why are you still poisoning it with glucose?

    • 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?"

  3. Still treating food as entertainment instead of sacred fuel for your divine purpose?

    • 1 Corinthians 10:31 - "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

  4. Ready to treat every meal as prayer-worthy fuel instead of mindless consumption?

    • 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - "Give thanks in all circumstances."

Evening Nutritional Review

Reflect on the day's nourishment choices:

  1. Your grocery cart - temple provisions or poison stockpile?

    • Daniel 1:8 - "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine."

  2. That emotional eating pattern - confronting it with discipline or enabling it with excuses?

    • 2 Timothy 1:7 - "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."

  3. Your relationship with hunger - friend for growth or enemy to avoid?

    • Philippians 4:12 - "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty."

Part II: Weekly Nutritional Cycles

Monday: Foundation and Fast Breaking

Setting the week's metabolic tone

  1. That 16-hour fast you keep postponing - your autophagy is waiting to clean house!

    • Isaiah 58:6 - "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice?"

  2. Your morning routine - breaking fast with poison or extending it for power?

    • Mark 1:35 - "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

  3. Still treating breakfast like it's mandatory instead of breaking fast strategically?

    • Proverbs 31:15 - "She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family."

  4. That morning cortisol spike - working with it through fasting or against it with breakfast?

    • Psalm 5:3 - "In the morning, Lord, you hear your voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly."

Tuesday: Protein and Power

Building blocks for strength

  1. That protein target you're missing - your muscles are literally eating themselves!

    • Ecclesiastes 10:17 - "Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness."

  2. That ribeye in your fridge contains complete nutrition - why complicate it with carbs?

    • Matthew 6:25 - "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink."

  3. That steak and eggs breakfast - too simple or perfectly complete?

    • Matthew 6:11 - "Give us today our daily bread."

  4. That ribeye cap - perfect fat ratio or still choosing lean like it's 1985?

    • Psalm 63:5 - "My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food."

Wednesday: Metabolic Mastery

Midweek metabolic optimization

  1. Your mitochondria are begging for fat adaptation - ready to give them what they actually need?

    • Psalm 63:5 - "You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy."

  2. That metabolic flexibility you're avoiding - it's the difference between surviving and thriving!

    • 2 Corinthians 12:9 - "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

  3. Your body can run on ketones or glucose - why choose the inflammatory option?

    • Romans 12:2 - "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

  4. That metabolic syndrome diagnosis - reversing it with discipline or accepting it with pills?

    • 2 Kings 20:7 - "Then Isaiah said, 'Prepare a poultice of figs.' They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered."

Thursday: Organ Meat and Optimization

Nose-to-tail nourishment

  1. Organ meats provide nutrients supplements can't match - too squeamish or too wise to care?

    • Ezekiel 3:3 - "Then he said to me, 'Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.'"

  2. Your ancestors thrived on nose-to-tail eating - when did you become too refined for optimal nutrition?

    • Deuteronomy 12:15 - "Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want."

  3. That grass-fed beef liver - 3 ounces provides more nutrition than a week of vegetables!

    • Genesis 9:3 - "Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything."

  4. Ready to embrace nose-to-tail eating like every successful culture before us?

    • Acts 10:13 - "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."

Friday: Fasting and Freedom

Liberation through strategic restriction

  1. That extended fast you're afraid of - it's where cellular renewal actually happens!

    • Matthew 4:2 - "After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry."

  2. Your hunger hormones are broken from constant grazing - ready to reset with proper fasting?

    • Joel 2:12 - "Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."

  3. That 72-hour fast - scared of it or ready to experience true cellular renewal?

    • Esther 4:16 - "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me."

  4. Ready to see fasting as spiritual discipline instead of deprivation?

    • Matthew 6:16-18 - "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do."

Saturday: Sourcing and Sustainability

Stewarding resources wisely

  1. How much longer will you let food manufacturers profit from your metabolic dysfunction?

    • Matthew 21:12 - "Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there."

  2. That freezer full of grass-fed meat - investment in health or still shopping for processed garbage?

    • Luke 15:23 - "Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate."

  3. How much longer will you fund Big Food instead of local regenerative farmers?

    • Proverbs 31:16 - "She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard."

  4. Your meal prep Sunday - happening or hoping restaurant willpower appears?

    • Proverbs 6:6-8 - "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!"

Sunday: Rest and Reflection

Sacred rest and digestive recovery

  1. Still eating late at night disrupting growth hormone or respecting circadian wisdom?

    • Psalm 127:2 - "In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat."

  2. Your circadian eating rhythm - aligned with daylight or chaotic with convenience?

    • Genesis 1:14 - "Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night."

  3. Ready to see food preparation as meditation instead of obligation?

    • Colossians 3:23 - "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord."

Part III: Monthly Progressive Themes

Month 1: Breaking Food Addictions

Week 1-2: Sugar Liberation

  1. Those "comfort foods" - still using them as emotional crutches instead of fuel for strength?

    • Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

  2. How many more years will you let processed foods steal your vitality?

    • John 10:10 - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Week 3-4: Carb Independence

  1. Your carb addiction - conquering it with fat adaptation or still its slave?

    • Romans 6:16 - "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey?"

  2. Still counting calories instead of focusing on nutrient density per bite?

    • Proverbs 23:20-21 - "Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat."

Month 2: Ketogenic Adaptation

Week 1-2: Fat Fuel Transition

  1. Your fat-to-protein ratio - optimized for ketosis or still guessing?

    • Proverbs 24:3-4 - "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established."

  2. Your ketone levels - measuring them or hoping for the best?

    • Luke 14:28 - "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost?"

Week 3-4: Electrolyte Mastery

  1. Your electrolytes during ketosis - managing them or suffering unnecessarily?

    • Matthew 5:13 - "You are the salt of the earth."

  2. Your relationship with salt - afraid of it or using it to maintain electrolyte balance?

    • Mark 9:50 - "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?"

Month 3: Carnivore Principles

Week 1-2: Animal-Based Foundation

  1. That carnivore diet you're dismissing - have you actually researched the nutrient profiles?

    • Acts 10:13 - "Then a voice told him, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'"

  2. Raw meat contains enzymes cooking destroys - brave enough to optimize?

    • Leviticus 17:11 - "For the life of a creature is in the blood."

Week 3-4: Fat Quality Focus

  1. That grass-fed tallow - cooking with medicine or still using toxic vegetable oils?

    • Exodus 29:13 - "Then take all the fat on the internal organs."

  2. Those seed oils in your pantry - industrial lubricants or still calling them food?

    • Deuteronomy 32:14 - "With curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats."

Month 4: Digestive Optimization

Week 1-2: Gut Health

  1. How many more inflammatory meals before you respect your gut lining?

    • Proverbs 25:16 - "If you find honey, eat just enough—too much of it, and you will vomit."

  2. Your gut microbiome - feeding it with fermented meat or destroying it with fiber myths?

    • Proverbs 20:1 - "Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise."

Week 3-4: Absorption Enhancement

  1. Your bile production - supporting it with proper fats or struggling with digestion?

    • Job 16:13 - "His archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground."

  2. Those food combining rules - following digestion science or diet culture nonsense?

    • Mark 7:19 - "For it doesn't go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body."

Month 5: Micronutrient Mastery

Week 1-2: Essential Vitamins

  1. Your vitamin D status - supplementing poorly or getting it from pastured egg yolks?

    • Psalm 84:11 - "For the Lord God is a sun and shield."

  2. Those B vitamins - getting them from liver or synthetic pills?

    • Psalm 104:14-15 - "He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate."

Week 3-4: Critical Minerals

  1. Your zinc and magnesium levels - optimized through organ meats or ignored?

    • Numbers 11:5 - "We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost."

  2. Your selenium intake - Brazil nuts and kidney or deficiency?

    • 1 Kings 17:6 - "The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening."

Month 6: Bone and Collagen Health

Week 1-2: Bone Broth Benefits

  1. That bone broth simmering - medicine in a mug or too much effort?

    • Ezekiel 37:7 - "So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together."

  2. Those grass-fed bones in your freezer - making marrow and broth or letting them waste?

    • Proverbs 17:22 - "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

Week 3-4: Collagen Optimization

  1. Your collagen intake - bone broth and tendons or expensive powders?

    • Job 10:11 - "You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews."

  2. Your phosphorus balance - managing it with nose-to-tail or disrupting with processed foods?

    • Ezekiel 37:6 - "I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin."

Month 7: Metabolic Health Markers

Week 1-2: Blood Sugar Control

  1. Your insulin resistance didn't happen overnight - why expect healing without discipline?

    • Hebrews 12:11 - "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness."

  2. That continuous glucose monitor data - using it to optimize or ignoring the truth?

    • Proverbs 27:12 - "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty."

Week 3-4: Inflammation Management

  1. Still believing the cholesterol myth while your inflammation markers scream truth?

    • John 8:32 - "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

  2. Your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio - balanced through grass-fed meat or inflammatory?

    • Genesis 1:30 - "And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky...I give every green plant for food."

Month 8: Eating Patterns and Timing

Week 1-2: Meal Frequency

  1. Still eating six times a day like a grazing herbivore instead of a focused predator?

    • Proverbs 28:1 - "The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion."

  2. Your meal timing - strategic for autophagy or random for convenience?

    • Ecclesiastes 3:1 - "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."

Week 3-4: Window Management

  1. Your eating window - compressed for efficiency or expanded for indulgence?

    • John 4:32 - "But he said to them, 'I have food to eat that you know nothing about.'"

  2. Ready to stop eating by the clock and start eating by genuine need?

    • Ecclesiastes 3:1 - "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."

Month 9: Cognitive Nutrition

Week 1-2: Brain Fuel

  1. Ready to stop feeding cancer cells with sugar and start starving them with ketones?

    • 1 Corinthians 15:26 - "The last enemy to be destroyed is death."

  2. Your CoQ10 levels - eating heart meat or ignoring mitochondrial health?

    • Psalm 73:26 - "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart."

Week 3-4: Mental Clarity

  1. That coffee addiction - masking fatigue or genuinely enhancing performance?

    • Proverbs 31:6-7 - "Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in bitter distress."

  2. Ready to stop eating for dopamine and start eating for mitochondria?

    • Romans 8:5 - "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires."

Month 10: Detoxification and Cleansing

Week 1-2: Natural Detox

  1. Your glutathione production - supporting with glycine-rich foods or depleting with toxins?

    • Psalm 51:7 - "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."

  2. Those artificial sweeteners - still fooling yourself they're harmless?

    • Proverbs 25:27 - "It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to search out matters that are too deep."

Week 3-4: Antinutrient Awareness

  1. Those vegetables you think are healthy - checked their antinutrient content lately?

    • 1 Timothy 4:4-5 - "For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving."

  2. Those oxalates in your "superfoods" - building kidney stones or choosing wisely?

    • Matthew 7:16 - "By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes?"

Month 11: Optimization and Testing

Week 1-2: Biomarker Tracking

  1. That food journal - tracking truth or avoiding accountability?

    • Revelation 20:12 - "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened."

  2. Your iron status - optimal from red meat or supplementing poorly?

    • Deuteronomy 12:23 - "But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life."

Week 3-4: Strategic Supplementation

  1. Your choline intake - egg yolks and liver or heading toward fatty liver?

    • Proverbs 31:6 - "Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in bitter distress."

  2. Those lectins in your legumes - inflammatory triggers or still calling them protein?

    • Genesis 3:18 - "It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field."

Month 12: Long-term Vision

Week 1-2: Aging Optimization

  1. Your mTOR pathway - cycling it strategically or constantly activated?

    • Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 - "There is a time for everything...a time to be born and a time to die."

  2. Your autophagy activation - scheduled like training or random like weather?

    • 1 Corinthians 9:25 - "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training."

Week 3-4: Legacy Building

  1. Ready to stop thinking moderation works when your metabolism needs revolution?

    • Revelation 3:16 - "So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

  2. How much longer before you realize food is either medicine or poison - there's no middle ground?

    • Deuteronomy 30:19 - "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life."

Part IV: Seasonal Nutritional Cycles

Spring: Renewal and Cleansing

Season of fresh growth and metabolic renewal

Spring Nutrition Questions

  1. Ready to embrace hunger as a tool for growth instead of an emergency?

    • Psalm 107:9 - "For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things."

  2. Those hunger pangs - cellular renewal signals or emergency alarms in your mind?

    • Psalm 42:1-2 - "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God."

  3. Ready to treat your cardiovascular system like the life-sustaining miracle it is?

    • Leviticus 17:11 - "For the life of a creature is in the blood."

Summer: Abundance and Activity

Season of fresh produce and increased metabolic demands

Summer Nutrition Questions

  1. Still making food decisions based on taste instead of cellular needs?

    • Proverbs 27:7 - "One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet."

  2. Your body's satiety signals - listening to them or overriding with habits?

    • Proverbs 25:27 - "It is not good to eat too much honey."

  3. Those cravings at 3 PM - blood sugar crashes or just boredom?

    • Proverbs 16:26 - "The appetite of laborers works for them; their hunger drives them on."

Fall: Harvest and Storage

Season of preparation and metabolic adaptation

Fall Nutrition Questions

  1. Ready to stop negotiating with cravings and start commanding them?

    • 1 Corinthians 9:27 - "I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave."

  2. Still using food as a reward instead of recognizing it as responsibility?

    • Luke 12:48 - "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded."

  3. That warrior mindset about food - cultivating it or still playing victim to cravings?

    • Ephesians 6:12 - "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood."

Winter: Conservation and Deep Nourishment

Season of metabolic efficiency and nutrient density

Winter Nutrition Questions

  1. Still meal prepping with plastic containers instead of glass like your health matters?

    • 2 Timothy 2:20 - "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay."

  2. Still eating from boxes and bags instead of from animals and earth?

    • Genesis 1:29 - "Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth.'"

  3. That fear of saturated fat - based on science or 1960s propaganda?

    • Psalm 104:15 - "Wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts."

Part V: Annual Nutritional Development

Year One: Foundation and Understanding

Primary Focus: Breaking addictions and establishing metabolic flexibility

Annual Questions for Year One

  1. Ready to stop treating nutrition like religion and start treating it like engineering?

    • 1 Corinthians 14:40 - "But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way."

  2. That "balanced diet" propaganda - still believing it while your health declines?

    • Colossians 2:8 - "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy."

  3. Still snacking between meals like a toddler instead of eating like a warrior?

    • Judges 7:6 - "Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs."

Year Two: Optimization and Refinement

Primary Focus: Fine-tuning macros and mastering meal timing

Annual Questions for Year Two

  1. That nutrient density calculation - doing the math or assuming all calories equal?

    • Proverbs 24:3 - "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established."

  2. Ready to embrace therapeutic ketosis instead of nutritional mediocrity?

    • 3 John 1:2 - "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you."

Year Three: Mastery and Mentorship

Primary Focus: Sustainable practices and helping others transform

Annual Questions for Year Three

  1. Ready to see every meal as an opportunity to build or destroy your temple?

    • 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 - "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple?"

  2. Still grazing all day destabilizing insulin or eating like an apex predator?

    • Isaiah 11:7 - "The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox."

Years Four-Seven: Advanced Integration

Primary Focus: Long-term metabolic health and disease prevention

Long-term Development Questions

  1. Ready to treat your metabolic health like the foundation of your longevity?

    • Matthew 7:24 - "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock."

  2. Your relationship with food - healing or harming your future self?

    • Galatians 6:7 - "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap."

Part VI: Integration with Life and Faith

Nutrition as Spiritual Discipline

Food choices reflect our understanding of stewardship, discipline, and the sacred nature of the body as God's temple. Every meal becomes an opportunity to honor or dishonor this divine gift.

Questions for Spiritual Integration

  1. How does your approach to nutrition reflect your spiritual disciplines?

    • 1 Corinthians 10:31 - "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

  2. What would Jesus think of your current relationship with food?

    • Matthew 4:4 - "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

The Garden Connection

The practice of gardening connects us to creation, seasons, and the miracle of growth while providing the freshest, most nutrient-dense produce to complement our animal-based nutrition.

Garden Integration Questions

  1. How does growing your own food change your relationship with nutrition?

    • Genesis 2:15 - "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it."

  2. What spiritual lessons emerge from the patience required in gardening?

    • James 5:7 - "See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains."

Conclusion: The Lifelong Journey of Nutritional Wisdom

Nutrition transcends mere sustenance—it becomes an act of worship, discipline, and stewardship. Each food choice either builds or destroys the temple God has entrusted to us. The questions in this framework challenge conventional dietary dogma while encouraging a return to ancestral wisdom combined with modern metabolic understanding.

Remember: Your nutritional journey is unique. Some days you'll feel invincible on your chosen path; others will test your resolve. Both are part of the transformation. The key is consistency, wisdom, and the courage to reject cultural food norms that lead to disease.

The integration of scripture with nutrition reminds us that food has always been central to the human spiritual experience—from Eden's garden to the Last Supper. As we learn to eat with intention and wisdom, we develop discipline that extends far beyond the dinner table.

Final Nutritional Challenges:

  1. If your body is truly a temple, what are you offering on its altar?
  2. Will you choose food that builds strength or accepts weakness?
  3. What legacy will your nutritional choices leave for the next generation?

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

The choice is before you. Not tomorrow. Not after the holidays. Not when it's convenient. Right now. Choose life. Choose strength. Choose wisdom. Your temple awaits its proper fuel.