From the Rector

Dear Everybody, hello again.

Weight has been in the news recently. It’s bad for us to be too overweight, and equally bad to be too underweight. Obesity and anorexia are both dangerous.

It’s good to see the children in school being encouraged to eat their five portions of fruit and veg each day, and that the children in these communities have the space to run around and play. Healthy habits early in life stand us in good stead later on.

Nearly all of us have some control over the size that we are. Our bodies will show whether we take exercise, if we’re eating the wrong kinds of food, or the wrong amount. The film “Super-size me”, on TV recently, was chilling. It not only showed how someone made himself dangerously ill by eating only fast food for a month. It also had clips of people who defended their inability to stop eating too much.

Is being overweight caused by greed, or the power of advertising, or the culture we live in, or depression, or laziness, or addiction? Is being too thin caused by fashion, or self-hatred? Sometimes the cause of either extreme is physical illness or in our genes; sometimes it’s our minds and attitudes.

What is healthy is to eat what we actually need. This world provides so much. I write this in Christian Aid Week, when we think of the hungry in the world. Food is the most incredible gift, whether you believe it comes from God or not. Why not do a Jamie Oliver on your life, and this month cook from scratch at least three different inexpensive and nutritious meals you’ve never tried before. (And that goes for the husbands and children among you too! Try it.)

God bless you

David Head