Stewardship in the Small Things
Reader, I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom lately.
Not the kind of freedom that says, “Eat whatever you want and forget about your health.”
And not the kind that says, “If you really want to honor God with your body, you’d better eat perfectly, never indulge, and always choose the ‘right’ thing.”
Something in the middle.
Something that looks a whole lot more like biblical stewardship.
Because somewhere along the way, I think many of us have quietly bought into the idea that if we want to be healthy, we shouldn’t actually enjoy food.
Pleasure becomes suspicious.
Dessert becomes a moral failure.
Eating something outside our normal routine becomes something we have to “make up for.”
And “my body is a temple” can start sounding less like an invitation to care for ourselves and more like a reason to be afraid of food.
But I started wondering…
Is that actually what Scripture teaches?
Let’s go all the way back to the Garden.
The first temptation in Scripture involved food.
But notice what Satan did.
He didn’t simply tell Eve to eat the fruit.
He first got her to question what God had actually said.
“Did God really say…?”
God had given Adam and Eve an abundance of food. They could freely eat from the trees of the garden. There was one boundary.
But suddenly, Eve’s attention shifted away from everything God had generously provided and toward the one thing He had said no to.
And Genesis tells us that the fruit looked good.
It was desirable.
It was appealing.
The problem wasn't that the fruit was pleasurable.
The problem was that Eve chose the pleasure of the moment over trusting the goodness and wisdom of God.
And honestly, I think there’s something in that for us today.
Because food isn't the enemy.
God created food.
He created flavor and variety and beauty. He gave us food for nourishment, but Scripture also connects food with thanksgiving, fellowship, celebration, and joy.
Jesus ate meals.
He went to weddings.
He broke bread with people.
He shared tables with people others thought He shouldn't be associating with.
And He was even criticized for eating and drinking.
So perhaps the goal isn't to remove pleasure from food.
Perhaps the goal is to put pleasure back where it belongs.
We can enjoy food without worshiping it.
We can practice self-control without living in fear.
We can care for our bodies without becoming obsessed with our bodies.
We can make wise choices without believing that one meal determines whether we are “good” or “bad.”
And we can remember that our bodies are temples without turning the temple into the thing we worship.
Paul says:
“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
— 1 Corinthians 10:31
Notice that he didn't say, “Eat perfectly.”
He said do it to the glory of God.
That changes the conversation.
And that brings me to something else I’ve been working on…
Muscle.
After nearly five years of focusing heavily on reversing insulin resistance and rebuilding my metabolic health, I'm entering a different chapter of my own journey.
And I'm shifting my attention toward building and preserving lean muscle in midlife.
Not because I suddenly decided my body needs to look a certain way.
Not because I’m chasing a smaller number on the scale.
And definitely not because I think my worth is hiding underneath a layer of body fat.
I’m doing it because strength matters.
Muscle matters.
Mobility matters.
Metabolic health matters.
And as I move through midlife, I want to build a body that is capable of carrying me through the next several decades of the life God has given me.
This is a new chapter for me, too.
I'm an N of 1.
I'm studying what works for my body in this season.
I'm paying attention.
I'm experimenting.
I'm looking at the data.
I'm adjusting.
And I'm trying very hard not to turn any of it into another form of obsession.
So here's my current progress report…
I'm still very much in the middle of the experiment, but some things are encouraging.
I'm watching more than the scale now. As you know, I have a body composition scale that tells what is going on behind the initial weight measurement.
I'm paying attention to how my body is reshaping, strength, lean mass, how my clothes fit, how I feel, and what my metabolic markers are doing.
And that has been an important reminder:
Progress doesn't always show up as weight loss. While I'm actually up in weight from one month ago, that is actually an increase in lean muscle mass and a decrease in body fat! 🔥
Sometimes the scale moves very little while your body is changing in other ways.
Sometimes the goal isn't to become smaller.
Sometimes the goal is to become stronger.
And that's where I am right now.
After spending years learning how to improve my metabolic health, I'm now asking a different question:
What does it look like to build a strong, metabolically healthy body for the long haul?
I'm not pretending I have all the answers.
I'm not handing you a magic formula.
I'm certainly not saying what I'm doing is automatically what everyone else should do.
I'm simply sharing the journey as I live it.
Because that's what I believe coaching should look like, too.
Not perfection.
Not fear.
Not “do exactly what I do.”
But learn, test, pay attention, make wise adjustments, and keep moving forward.
Maybe that's what temple keeping really looks like.
Not obsessing over the temple.
Caring for it.
Not fearing food.
Learning how to receive it with gratitude and wisdom.
Not worshiping our bodies.
Stewarding them.
Not being controlled by our appetites.
Practicing self-control.
Not chasing a smaller body at any cost.
Building a stronger body for a bigger purpose.
And perhaps most importantly…
Not letting health become another thing we put on the throne that belongs to God.
Because food is good.
Muscle is good.
Health is good.
Strength is good.
A body that functions well is a gift.
But none of those things is God.
And I don't want to spend the rest of my life trying to perfectly manage the gifts while forgetting the Giver.
So that's where I'm at.
Still learning.
Still experimenting.
Still building.
Still paying attention.
And, thankfully, still giving myself plenty of grace along the way.
Food is a gift, not a god.
My body is a temple, not an idol.
And health is a tool for living well—not the measure of my worth.
That's the kind of freedom I'm after.
And I'm pretty sure there's a lot more freedom to be found here than we've been led to believe.
With grace,
💕 Coach AJ
Metabolic Lifestyle Coach
Balanced & Nourished Living
💌 P.S. If you're in your 40s, 50s, or beyond and you're finding that your health goals are changing right along with your body, you're not imagining it. We don't need to chase the same goals at 50 that we chased at 25. Sometimes the next chapter isn't about becoming smaller. It's about becoming stronger.
P.P.S. If you're interested in exploring my interactive tool that shares more about what I've been using to boost my metabolic health in a natural way using real-food bioactive support, I'd love for you to use the link below or scan the QR code to learn more.
🔗 Take me to the Interactive Tool
Certified Revelation Wellness LiveWell® Health Coach, Fast-Like-a-Girl Coach, and Glucose Goddess Pro
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