The role of the tongue in prediabetes

The role of the tongue in prediabetes in the life of a Christian.

Welcome to this the fourth day of our discussion of the management of prediabetes, and preventing it from progressing to the full blown disease. Few illnesses can prevent us from serving God and doing his will with the utmost of our ability as effectively as type 2 diabetes, a condition that arises solely from sloth and feasting on foods from the Devil’s Pantry; and, yes let’s acknowledge it, lack of understanding of these issues. Screwtape and Wormwood are constantly bombarding us with the joys associated with potato chips, energy drinks and cookies.

Yes, it’s a controversial subject yet one we need to face honestly as servants of the living God if we are to be effective in doing His will in the world. It is my prayer that the Spirit will give to you wisdom and understanding in discerning what is pertinent to you personally.

The tongue

Today we will take a rather different tack in our discussion. We are going to talk about our tongues, one of the most interesting and complex organs in the body. God’s creation is revealed in all its glory, more complex though less dramatic than the force of gravity that holds the moon in its orbit.

Our beautiful tongues, with them we sing of God’s glory, slander fellow Christians and lust after foods from the Devil’s Pantry. The apostle James describes the tongue as a fire that can set a whole forest ablaze, stain our whole bodies and a restless evil that can utterly ruin relationships.

In short, the saving grace of Jesus needs to go beyond the roving eye, capturing every thought and reach our tongues too. The tongue is a fire; unsaved it can and does ruin many lives.

A little anatomy lesson

The tongue is truly a beautiful organ. It has 8 different muscles, is innervated by 5 of the 12 cranial nerves and is involved in chewing, tasting, swallowing and speech. But unsaved it reveals all the wickedness of mankind; how it can bring both individuals and even nations to their knees.

James undoubtedly was talking about the tongue as an organ of speech when he described it as a restless evil and a destructive fire. But today we will talk of the other functions of the tongue, those that impact on our journey with prediabetes.

Chewing, prediabetes and dementia

Firstly let us talk about chewing. If you take a bite of an apple, or a mouthful of what the Americans call corn on the cob, the tongue has to move that food artfully around in your mouth, between your teeth cleverly avoiding being bitten itself.

An interesting man by the name of Dr Fletcher reckoned more than a century ago that each mouthful should be chewed 32 times. It’s green mealie season, try it. He was about right.

It does indeed take about 10 minutes to eat a mealie properly. We choose yellow cobs incidentally because they taste sweeter, the high beta-carotene content and have less starch.

And this is where sloth reaches its ugly head, making us not only unwilling to go out and exercise our arms and legs as we know we should but also reluctant to spend so long chewing our food. We want all our meals to slide down our throats like a cup of soup, a bowl of porridge or a slice of delicious cheesecake.

And so we are increasingly reluctant to eat food that is rich in fibre. Give me cottage pie or meatballs rather than a steak; mealiemeal in preference to corn on the cob, a delectable scone instead of a slice of wholegrain bread, a vegetable soup, if you please, not a salad.

• Chew your food thoroughly
  

It’s interesting that scientists have found that eating foods that require a lot of chewing is directly related to whether you will get dementia or not. Whether it is the actual mastication, the food itself or the fibre that delays stomach emptying and slows digestion of our carbs, no one is quite sure.

Taste and our love of all things sweet

It’s now contested but traditionally it was believed that the tip of the tongue is where the receptors are for foods that are sweet; and the rest for those that are sour and bitter. Interestingly God ordained in his creative genius that a smaller part of the tongue was tasting sugar and spice and all things nice; that is where the danger lies in relation to blood sugar. Sweet is okay, but beware, far more of our food should be like an avocado, radish or stick of celery than the bunch of delectable grapes, koeksuster or even Pooh Bear’s honeypot.

• Honey glycemic index
  

Whole foods rich in fibre

In chapter 1 of Genesis, the Bible lists the Kingdom Foods. Obviously it’s not a scientific text; you won’t find mushrooms and oysters mentioned. But you will quickly notice that they are all chewy, most are rich in fibre and super mealiemeal and cake flour are conspicuous by their absence.

James talks of the lust of the flesh, in which I would include that of the tongue, and the lust of the eyes. I find it so interesting that a large platter of mealies, or a bowl of granadillas or even strawberries or a plate of green beans, a bowl of pecan nuts never seems to arouse erotic thoughts that might be described as lustful. But a Black Forest cake, a bar of chocolate or bowl of Quality Street sweets can set us a drooling in a moment.

Research into prediabetes

Researchers following two groups, one in the US and the other in China for more than 2 decades found that those suffering from prediabetes who were able through lifestyle changes alone (exercise, dietary change and weight loss) within 1 year to bring their FBG to 5.4 mmol/L (97 mg/dL). It halved the rate of an MI, heart failure and premature death. Notice that they did it slowly; a whole 12 months. Then you know it’s for ever. We can all turn over a new leaf in January for a few weeks but not sustained it has zero value. In fact it’s a negative.

That dietary change means moving back to the Kingdom Foods and eschewing those ultra-refined foods from the Devil’s Pantry. Will the Lord save us if we continue to break the laws of the universe that He created? My experience is no He won’t any more than if we jump from an aircraft without a parachute.

Again and again the scriptures call us to abide in Him who is Lord of Creation, to keep his commandments and to do his will; and to resist the devil. The world passes away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides for ever.

May these thoughts about the tongue urge you on to care and provide for the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow we will talk about the exercise that is also needed to overcome prediabetes. May these talks bring you understanding to discern what is of God, and that which is of the world and the Devil.

Now we see through a glass darkly, much about wellness remains mystery, but my prayer is that you may live long in the land, serving him to the utmost of your ability and strength.

Disclaimer

The role of the tongue in prediabetes

The role of the tongue in prediabetes considers the beauty of this organ that is so important to our humanity; but how destructive its love of sweet can be.

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