Health God's Way: Biblical Nutrition
by Jeremy Likness

See also: The Healthy Shopping Guide

My clients ranged from teenaged children to senior citizens, women who were pregnant, and even post-operative patients recovering from triple bypass surgery. I know there can be quite a bit of conflicting information in the world - even I have contradicted myself many times as I learned new things - but some of the confusion may be easily laid to rest when we view healthy living in the context of the Bible.

Plants and Fruits with Seeds

I have given you every plant with seeds on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seeds. This will
be your food. Genesis 1:29

This was God’s original directive to Adam and Eve. Some people try to live as “true vegans” due to this specific verse. This is unfortunate, because there are many references later in the bible that clearly indicate this is not the method we can use today. We do not have access to the same trees that grew in the Garden of Eden. Those who believe they can extend their lives by nutrition beyond what God intended (i.e. to the antediluvian spans where people lived for thousands of years) are trying to thwart God’s plan, and it will never work. When Goddecided to limit man’s life, the decision was final.

Nothing indicates that if we somehow grasped the antediluvian diet that it would override his wish for us to live shorter years. What we can do, however, is build our bodies, the vessels for the Holy Spirit and Christ within us, the best we can to minister and testify for the time that God intends.

Eating within the confines of Genesis 1:29 limits foods to fruit with seeds (apples, oranges, etc), beans, whole grains, oats, and legumes. Tubers such as potatoes, leaves such as spinach, etc. would have been forbidden.

Herbs and Other Plants

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field Genesis 3:18

After being sent out of Eden (“The Fall”), God expanded our nutrition because we were no longer able to partake of the Garden. This extended the strict vegan diet to include other items, the “herb of the field” which through the context of the passage implies leaves such as spinach and tubers such as carrots and potatoes.

Flesh and Meat

This is probably one of the most controversial items, not only in modern society but for Christians as well. There are many proponents of strict vegan diets who claim that we are not "meant" to eat food and that we should only eat raw fruits and vegetables. They'll even cite "studies" that prove this. One thing that I've learned from research is that seldom do people research and then form an opinion - rather, the opinion is formed first, and the research is found to support that opinion. I have done this myself.

When trying to make decisions from an empirical perspective, sometimes the restricted, clinical studies published in certain journals are not indicative of real world situations. One of the most enlightening sites I have found with regard to meat is the The Weston A. Price Foundation. Price was a dentist who traveled the world observing tribes that were isolated from the rest of civilization in the early 1900's. What he found was remarkable. I won't spoil it here ... you are welcome to browse those pages at your leisure.

When trying to make a decision for myself, personally, I simply look to the bible. I am a firm believer that our God is not a God of riddles. When He has a law, it is written. When He has a command, it is heard, and when He is displeased, punishment will follow. When I look to the bible, I see clearly that meat comes with God's blessing. For me, there is no further argument. This section will detail some specifics about meat and how it is presented in the bible.

Permission Granted

Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. Genesis 9:3

After the great flood, man's diet was extended to include meat. This is also when God chose to limit man’s years on the earth to just over 100 years. Some infer that meat is the way He did this. This is a fallacy. We cannot move against God’s will – God is the Almighty – so to think something simple like not eating meat would thwart His plan is preposterous. Meat is clearly allowed now.

Some also argue that this was simply a means to sustain Noah because vegetation was destroyed from the flood. They consider it a "temporary fix" that God provided. I believe in Jesus Christ, the Word incarnate, and the Scripture. If God had intended man to only eat meat for a little while, He surely would have made this clear to us.

Specific Meats Only

Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14

These chapters deal specifically with the types of flesh proteins that are allowed. They involve other food groups as well, but the main restrictions are on “creatures.” Some interesting items to note are that while certain birds are listed, the implication is that no predators or scavengers are to be consumed. This eliminates hawks, birds, vultures, and in the ocean “fish without scales or fins” such as lobsters and shellfish. Shrimp and lobsters are considered “cockroaches” of the oceans as they scavenge the bottom and eat debris, while shellfish, mollusks, etc also clean muck and algae from the ocean floor. It stands to reason that the only sources of flesh protein allowed appear to be either animals that are vegetarians themselves, meaning it would be a direct source of amino acids (rather than amino acids processed from plants, dumped into an animal, processed into flesh, consumed by another animal, processed into flesh, then ultimately ending up in our stomach) and then fish.

Another interesting fact to note about the laws regarding clean animals is what modern science has uncovered. Shellfish, for example, are notorious for containing contaminants while fish with scales, like humans, have organs that filter toxins and prevent them from being deposited in their flesh. Pigs, another banned meat, are overeaters and very prone to parasitic infection. God cares for His children ... He cared just as much 5,000 years ago as He does now!

Flesh and Milk

The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. Exodus 23:19

The implication of this passage is that dairy should not be consumed in conjunction with meat. This would eliminate yogurt-based marinades and having a glass of milk with your chicken. To “seethe” is to cook. This could rather be a reference to a specific type of sacrifice. Recent research with regards to food combining suggests that dairy products are best consumed on their own, as they require a different stomach environment than flesh meats.

If possible, when consuming dairy products, try to obtain raw products. This is how milk was consumed in biblical times. Pasteurization and homogenization changes the structure of milk, and recently several studies and observations concluded that this may be detrimental to health. Don't worry about bacteria in non-pasteurized milk - the FDA actually has stricter regulations regarding the amount of bacteria that is allowed in raw milk versus pasteurized milk!

Bugs - Yes, Bugs!

Leviticus 11:22

Interestingly enough, and possibly to survive times of famine when protein requirements would be higher, a few, specific insects are allowed: locusts, beetles, and grasshoppers. John the Baptist survived on locusts and honey in the wilderness. Modern observations of various cultures demonstrate that people can live healthy, nourished lives on a diet that obtains protein mainly from insects!

Fat

And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. Genesis 45:18

There are various references in the bible to fat. Fat, unfortunately, has received a very bad reputation in recent times. People are constantly bombarded with the notion that "diets high in fat" cause any number of health issues from high blood pressure to cardiovascular disease. This is only in a limited sense true: the traditional American diet, which is a very unhealthy diet, is high in fat.

However, fat is not the culprit. The culprit is a number of factors including the "white" foods, highly processed carbohydrates such as table sugar, white flour, and other items that are quickly digested and converted to fatty acids in the body. Fried foods are to blame. The scare of "saturated fats" led to the use of vegetable oils in cooking. Vegetable oils turn into transformed fatty acids, which are implicated in cancer. Saturated fats, on the other hand, retain their chemical structure in high heat and are more suitable for cooking.

As an analogy, consider someone performing a crash test of various vehicles and assessing the damage. After awhile, they realize that a certain type of vehicle creates the most damage. After looking closely, they see that the data suggests YELLOW is the culprit, so they conclude that yellow vehicles are dangerous. In reality, it was the large schoolbuses painted yellow that were causing the damage - the little yellow Volkswagen Bug is innocent! This is similar to how studies regarding the American diet have been misrepresented - yes, the majority of the American diet is loaded with fat, but there are healthy diets with fat as well, and these diets do NOT cause the same ill health.

After learning about the benefits of healthy fats, I changed my nutrition nearly two years ago. In that time frame I've eaten probably a dozen whole eggs every week and eaten an additional 56 grams or nearly 500 calories from other fats such as almond butter and flaxseed oil. I've only consumed 4% fat or whole fat dairy products (never fat free!) and where has that gotten me? I maintain around 10% body fat, when the average male maintains twice that. I recently received a lab report with a full urine and blood analysis. Everything was in the super-healthy, ultra-normal range - in fact, despite the amount of fat in my diet, my cholesterol has inched down over those two years!

Don't take my word for it - take the Word. This section will illustrate what God has to say about fat.

Animal Fat

Leviticus 7:23

This passage prohibits the fat of cattle, sheep, and goats. This is the “covering” fat as opposed to the fat that was marbled inside the meat (intramuscular fat). Keep in mind that current methods of raising cattle introduce more than 5 times the amount of fat into the muscle than existed in biblical times. This is why eating lean proteins is closer to the biblical law than the modern, fat proteins that are available. The intramuscular fat contained healthy fats (essential fatty acids) while the covering was and is mostly saturated fat. Today, even the fat in the muscle is mostly saturated due to the poor quality of the nutrition fed to these animals. The bible clearly supports healthy fats as the meats of that time were healthy.

With the recent craze over "organic" foods, I would like to offer some advice. Organic foods are expensive. If you can afford them, I would eat 100% organic. However, when you have two children like our family has, organic isn't always the best way to go. So when choosing foods, if you do purchase an organic selection, I would make it the meat. In fact, I would be less concerned with the fat content of the meat over whether or not it comes from an animal that was raised free range in an organic environment. You can always trim visible fat. Vegetables are highly resilient and can filter many toxins, but flesh is more readily contaminated - so make flesh the "prized" purchase during your next visit to the grocery store.

Healthy Fats

A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey. Deuteronomy 8:8

And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds. Genesis 43:11

Here we see foods that are named specifically in Scripture, so we can consider them to be a fantastic component of any diet. Mentioned here is a cooking oil of choice - olive oil. God was kind enough to let us know this was the safe oil, and it has taken 5,000 years for man to confirm this through science. Almonds and nuts are consider “best fruits” and now are known as healthy fats.

Other healthy fats include flaxseed (this is what Israel's spies hid under on a woman's roof before reclaiming their land), borage, the oil from hemp (there are crops grown that do not contain THC, the chemical responsible for the popularity of the illegal version of this plant), and even the oil from fish such as tuna and salmon.

Butter

And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. Genesis 18:8

Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife. Proverbs 30:33

The bible mentions many times that butter is fine to consume with meals. Natural butter, in moderation, is a fine fat. It handles heat well, and is ideal for cooking when such a fat is needed. Vegetable oils, while healthier in their raw form, do not stand heat well and can convert to rancid, dangerous trans-fatty acids if exposed to too much heat.

One trick to use healthy fats is to add the fats after cooking. For example, do you enjoy potato chips? Then try this: instead of frying the potatoes, or even baking them with oil, slice the potatoes thin and bake in the oven naked at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Once the chips are done, remove them, then baste them with olive oil. When they are cooled, put them in a bag. Add seasonings of your choice and shake them up. Now you have a healthy bag of potato chips and because you added the oil after the high heat, the oil maintains its integrity!

Conclusion

This section has been my own interpretation of how the bible relates to nutrition. It was the basis of the biblical nutrition course that I taught at my local church. I pray that you benefit from this perspective of nutrition based on the bible!

If you enjoyed this approach to nutrition, you'll love Jeremy's eBook Become the Journey: A Transformation Guide.

You may also be interested in Body By God : The Owner's Manual for Maximized Living - a great guide to fitness and nutrition God's way.