The
Bible:
Food, Diet, and Health
1- Original food
for man in the Bible
2- Green Herb is added for man
3- Meat and Fish is added for man
4- Milk and Honey
5- Moderation... No Gluttony
Vegetarians are Healthier
Meat Food: Animals, birds, fish...
Loose a Pound a Day... by taking Daniel's ten-day Test!
From Genesis to Revelation, food plays a vital role in the Biblical account. The forbidden fruit is elemental the Fall of mankind from grace, and Jesus ate broiled fish when He appeared to His disciples after the Resurrection--evidence that He had indeed risen bodily from the dead.
I invite you to lose weight and be healthy God's way! You will learn to make simple, healthy choices that will not only create a slim, attractive body, but a healthy one: Lose weight, be healthy, live longer, and never go hungry!
1- Original food for man in the Bible:
In the beginning before man sinned, it was plants, seeds, cereals, legumes, fruits, nuts:
Genesis 1:29 "And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food."
The following explanation of Genesis 1:29 is given according to foods as we know them today:
- Every plant yielding seed:
- - Grains: wheat, corn, rye, barley, rice, oats, millet, etc.
- - Seeds: sunflower, sesame, flax, pumpkin seeds, etc.
- - Legumes- soybeans, lentils, peas, peanuts, other beans, etc.
- - eggplant, okra, bell peppers, squash, green beans, pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, etc.
- Fruits: citrus fruits, sweet fruits, palm fruits, etc.
- Nuts: almonds, pecans, cashews, brazil, walnuts, etc.
So, God originally intended man to eat plants and fruits... And after the sin of Adam, green herbs were added... and mankind lived extraordinarily long lives, 912 years on average, for over 1,700 years. Only after the drastic changes of a global flood and the addition of a meat-eating diet did man's life-span diminish.
And what was the original food for animals?:Originally it was "every green herb", "And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so" (Genesis 1:30). So, Adam and Eve and the generations following, all the way up to Noah, were vegetarians... and all the animals and birds and reptiles were green herb eaters... even Tyrannosaurus Rex was a vegetarian!.
2- Green Herb is added for man:
Although vegetables (green herb) were not part of the Original Diet given to man, they were intended for animals (Gen.1:30)... but they were added to man's diet after he sinned, and are part of his diet today.
After man sinned, he was driven out of the Garden of Eden, and no longer had access to the wonderful tree of life. Man had to gain his livelihood by tilling the earth, and the "herb of the field" (originally food for the animals) was added to his diet.
In Genesis 3:17-19 "And unto Adam He said... And you shall eat the herb of the field".
Herbs (vegetables):
Leaf: beet greens, brussels sprouts, cabbage, collard, etc
Flower: globe artichoke, broccoli, cauliflower.
Root: carrots, beets, potatoes, turnips, etc.
When Daniel and his
3 friends were faced with a decision not unlike ours today, they
chose a diet with just vegetables and water (Daniel 1). And "At the end of
the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate
the royal food." (Dan.1:11-15)...
... King Nebuchadnezzar's
choice food was very similar to the Standard American Diet (SAD), with plenty of meat,
fish, eggs... and Daniel an his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were
found even ten times better in matters of wisdom and understanding (Dan.1:18-20).
3- Meat and Fish is added for man:
After the Flood, in Genesis 9:3 “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.”
At the time of the flood the earth's soil and climate was
dramatically altered. In many places on earth it would not be possible to obtain enough
food from plant sources during all times of the year. It was at this time that God gave
man permission to each animal flesh... "every moving thing"!: Animals, birds,
fish, reptiles, insects...
Yet even in this God gave instruction that the blood must be drained
from the carcass before eating it.
The Bible speaks pretty well about Milk and Honey:
"and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of
the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land
flowing with milk and honey"
God's idea of the ideal land is one with milk (protein) and honey
(carbohydrates)!. Anyone who calls you to a diet that curses honey and milk is
a Bible heretic.
"The glutton shall come to poverty... and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony." (Proverbs 23:2, 20)
"Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand". (Philippians 4:5)
Weight Watchers has simply applied this Bible principle to their program.
Food did not make us fat-- Our sin made us fat!. We
have to confess our sin of gluttony and be now ready to start giving that fat back to God.
God originally intended man to be vegetarian, with plants, and fruits (Gen.1:29)... and mankind lived extraordinarily long lives, 912 years on average, for over 1,700 years. Only after the drastic changes of a global flood and the addition of a meat-eating diet did man's life-span diminish (Gen.9:3).
Vegetarians are among the healthiest and longest living people on
earth.
For instance, although these cultures live in a harsh environment and
eat little to no meat, the Russian Caucasians, the Yucatan Indians, the East Indian Todas,
and the Pakistan Hunzakuts live to be 90 to 100 years old. The three cultures that live
the longest in the world are the Vilcambas (Andes of Ecuador), the Abkhasians (Black Sea),
and the Hunzas (Himalayas of Northern Pakistan). All three cultures are completely
vegetarian or very close to it. The largest group, the Hunzas, only consume an average of
1.5% of total calories from animal products. The elderly in these cultures not only live
to be over 100 years old, but live vital, healthy lives until their death. (Robbins, John.
Diet for a New America. Walpole, New Hampshire: Stillpoint Publishing, 1987.
154-155.)
Many laboratory tests have been conducted in order to compare the strength and stamina of meat-eaters against vegetarians. Yale Professor Irving Fisher selected men from three groups: meat-eating athletes, vegetarian athletes, and vegetarian sedentary subjects. He found that the meat-eating athletes showed far less endurance than even the sedentary vegetarians. Dr. J. Ioteyko of Paris performed a comparable study and found that vegetarians averaged two to three times more stamina than meat eaters. Also, he found that vegetarians only took one-fifth of the time to recover from exhaustion than did their meat-eating counterparts. A Danish study in 1968 revealed that men peddling on a stationary bicycle until muscle failure lasted an average of 114 minutes on a mixed meat and vegetable diet, 57 minutes on a high-meat diet, and a whopping 167 minutes on a strict vegetarian diet. (Robbins, John. Diet for a New America. Walpole, New Hampshire: Stillpoint Publishing, 1987. 156-158.)
It is inarguable that a meatless diet is healthy. The overwhelming evidence, biblical and scientific, is in favor of a vegetarian diet, consisting of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, with limited amounts of whole grains, brown rice, potatoes, and legumes.
After the Flood, God gave man permission to each animal flesh... "every moving thing"!: Animals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects... (Gen.9:3)
Although it is not a sin to eat meat, it is very doubtful that God intended for us to eat as much meat as we do now. Meat was usually for special occasions in the Bible, such as blessings (Genesis 27:4-31), guests (Genesis 24:33), gifts (Genesis 45:23), offerings (Exodus 29:41, 40:29, etc.), ceremonies (Exodus 12:21), and celebration (Luke 15:11-32). It is very likely that most people went days or even weeks without meat.
But, what about our protein? Isn't that essential to the growth and nutrition of our bodies? Absolutely. Let me ask you some common-sense questions: Wouldn't you agree that an infant is growing at the most rapid rate of his lifetime? That is when he would need the most protein in his diet. Right? Well, wouldn't you also agree that God designed the perfect food for that infant? Mother's milk was flawlessly designed to meet every nutritional need of a baby. How much protein do you think is in mother's milk? 50%? No. 30%? Lower. 10%? You're getting warmer. Mother's milk averages only 1.2% protein and 1.6% at its peak. That's 1 gram per 2 lbs. of body weight. One serving of broccoli has that much protein! We're poisoning ourselves!
"The glutton shall come to poverty" (Proverbs 23:20-21). Eating meat at every meal is as close to gluttony as one can get. Cut down to one serving per day. Better still, take Daniel's ten-day test. Eliminate meat for ten days and see if you feel any different. Godspeed!
Meat and dairy products are so high in phosphorus that the body requires high amounts of calcium to maintain the proper two-to-one, calcium/phosphorus ratio. Where does the body get the calcium to maintain its proper balance of minerals? The bones! The more animal products we consume, the more calcium is leached from our bones. The result? Osteoporosis.
Our body can only handle 8 grains of uric acid (urine acid of animal which gives meat its taste) per day. A 4 oz piece of meat contains 16 grains. Uric acid leaches calcium from our bodies and causes arthritis.
If you must eat meat, do not eat it more than once a day and get it from a clean, organic source (kosher has no urine, or taste).
Animals Clean and Unclean:
LEVITICUS 11:1-30 "And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ''These are the animals which you may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth:
- MAMMALS: Among the beasts, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cut that you may eat.
- Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves:
- the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you;
- the rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you;
- the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you;
- and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.
- Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you. (Isa. 66:17)
- FISH: These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers that you may eat.
- But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you.
- They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. (This would include oysters, shrimp, clams, lobster, turtle, and catfish.)
- Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales - that shall be an abomination to you.
- FOWL: And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination:
- the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the kite, and the falcon after its kind; every raven after its kind, the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
- INSECTS: All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you.
- Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth.
- These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.
- But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you. ......
- RODENTS, REPTILES: These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the large lizard after its kind; The gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.'"
DEUTERONOMY 14:3-21 Clean and unclean animal foods are reviewed, with the addition of the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep to the list of clean meat. Also stated is "You shall not eat any detestable thing".
Eat No Animal Fat:
"And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: You shall not eat any fat, of ox or sheep or goat. And the fat of a beast that dies naturally, and the fat of what is torn by wild animals, may be used in any other way; but you shall by no means eat it." (LEVITICUS 7:23-24)
Eat No Blood:
“. . . but you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” (Gen.9:3)
"Moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people." (Lev.7:26-27)
- NOTE: Let me say here that I do believe in giving blood transfusions to someone who is going to die or be severely anemic without this life-saving measure. The command forbids the eating of meat with the blood, not saving lives with it. I have met too many people who would forbid a blood transfusion, but think nothing of eating a juicy stake.
In ancient days there were very few restrictions on foods such as fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs and grains, but the laws governing the eating of flesh, fowl and fish were very strict. However, the Bible did not require the ancients to be vegetarians. (Deut.14:3).
First of all the flesh had to come from animals that have both split hooves, and chew the cud (Lev.11:3), and the blood had to be completely drained from the carcass before cooking. This leaves out several animals commonly eaten today in various parts of the world, including pigs, rabbit, horses and dogs.
Fish was a good food for the ancients, both saltwater and freshwater varieties, but only fish that had both fins and scales could be eaten. This also leaves out several fish commonly eaten today including tuna, shellfish and catfish. (Lev.11:9).
It was okay to eat birds and fowl, but not birds of prey, nor scavengers such as eagles, vultures, hawks, owls and bats. (Lev.11:13-19, Deut.14:20).
Most insects were on the prohibited list but the Bible specifically states that it was alright for the ancients to eat locusts, crickets and grasshoppers. (Lev.11:20-22).
A small amount of fat was acceptable, but not the fat around the kidneys, the abdominal viscera nor fat upon the flanks. Of course they also got fat from milk, butter and cheese.
Loose a pound a day!... by taking Daniel's ten-day Test!:
Daniel was a scientist (Daniel 1:4) and used the first recorded method of classical experimental design in Daniel 1. This was nearly 2,000 years before Roger Bacon "discovered" this scientific method. The classical experimental design must contain a control group and an experimental group in order to compare results. A hypothesis must be formed with an independent and dependent variable, i.e. the cause and effect.
In Daniel's experiment, the control group subjects consumed the king's meat and wine. The experimental group subjects had vegetables and water. All other conditions were identical, so the before-and-after test would compare the changes from the one-variable diet. His hypothesis contained the independent variable, the cause—diet. It also contained the dependent variable, the effect—healthier and better nourished bodies.
The results were obvious in Dan.1:15, 18-20)...
DANIEL 1:11-14 (When Daniel and his three companions were carried to Babylon as captives): "Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days."
The royal food would have included meat, fish, eggs... and also foods first offered to idols.
DANIEL 1:15 "At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food."
DANIEL 1:18-20: At the end of the three year period during which
they were to learn the Caldean language:
They were found ten times better in matters of wisdom and understanding:
“Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought
in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before nebuchadnezzar. Then the king
interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and
understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all
the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.”
Bible Food Bible Diet Diet and Health in the Bible My Body is God's Temple
In Christian retreats very seldom is mentioned divine faith healing for overweight and obesity.
However, it is important to pray for the obese and the overweight, either if it is due to a sickness, or hereditary trait, or simply gluttony by a demon oppression or possession.
The way to pray is simply by casting out the demon and placing the hands on the obese, and it shall be healed, says Jesus (Mk.16:17-18).
The biblical way to proceed for healing of the obese or the overweight follows the same general rules of all the sickness and demon oppression, obsessions and possessions. Please look at Divine Healing of the Sick in the Bible
In the name of Jesus, I order the bad spirits of obesity to get out of the person reading these lines. Thank you, Jesus. Praise be the Lord. Alleluia!. Amen.