The Carb Diet, Napoleon, and Communion Part 2

I do realize that this part two is long past due. If you have held out to read the sequel, thank you. If you are visiting for the first time, please read part one first. It will make more sense.

Lately, I’ve noticed that many people are choosing to go on a ‘carb diet’. From my understanding this means one eats very little breads or grains, or even none at all. This fast makes one lose weight and it seems rather rapidly.

When Jim, my husband, and I had a friend come up to run the Chicago Marathon, I thought about this and found it quite curious. He was not dieting from carbs. In fact, the night before the race, many runners “carb up”. I made two pounds of pasta for him.

I presented this seemingly contradictory material to my husband.

“Why do runners carb up? While other people are cutting carbs completely? Runners are in great shape.”

“Carbs give you energy. They need that energy to run.”

“Don’t the rest of us?”

“Yes. Carbohydrates are important. Whole nations have died without them. Wars have been won over them.”

Wars have been won over grains.

It is what is known as the slash and burn tactic. I’m not sure when it was invented, but the Russians used it against Napoleon. Essentially, what an army does is use what foods and supplies they need in a particular area and when they are going to move on they burn whatever is left behind. Napoleon’s army retreated from Russia but many of his men died or were unable to fight.

Not only did Jesus give us something we would eat daily to remind us of him, but something essential for our bodies to use for energy. This is not coincidence.

There is depth to communion.

We eat bread daily, and we need grains for energy. We need Jesus. We need him to get through our day. The Bible says,

“I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.^[a] I will feed them in justice.” (Ezekiel 34:16).

Let us remember to need Jesus daily just as we need food to get up and function through our daily tasks, there is a deeper living food we need.