1 Peter 5:8 – “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” As we near the close of probation, Satan will use every means available to destroy, cripple, and hamper God’s people; because he knows his time is short. As related in January’s PEARLS FOR HEALTH, intemperance and its related health consequences are one of his chosen methods of victory. All of us war with this problem, some more obviously than others. And unless we are overcomers through Christ, who knows what our end will be? This month we will examine simple methods to get that weight down and reduce the chances of having the health problems covered in January’s Pearls.

Our first assault in this war will be directed at an unlikely target.
Beverages! A study reported in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics revealed that the risk for obesity in teenage girls was related to the amount of non-water liquids consumed? With the larger sizes of soft drinks, unlimited refills and the increasing use of all non-water beverages we can consume over 500 calories a day without knowing it. But none of us drink that much soda, right? But did you know that 12 ounces of a cola drink contains fewer calories than 12 ounces of orange juice, 152 calories and 180 calories respectively? While orange juice is far more nutritious, when dealing with weight, a calorie is a calorie. Therefore its easy to see that this could be a problem. Over the next 2 weeks why not restrict your non-water liquids to no more than 12 ounces per day and see if it makes a difference? Keep up with your progress in the table below by putting a check in the appropriate area each day you drink 12 ounces or less of juice, soda, etc. Remember water does not contain calories and you need to get at lease 48-64 ounces daily! (Sabbath is a day of rest and is not included in the table.)