Bible Foods and Health

"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." (Genesis 1:29)

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" (Matthew 6:26)

"And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:" (Luke 10:7,8)

"And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things." (Luke 12:29,30)

"Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?" (Mark 7:19)

Through out the world, and especially in America, people are obese. Obese beyond what they should be. We see people eating all the time. In stores, in malls, in their cars, everywhere. Stores like Wal-Mart and Target have sections just for McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and the like. Obviously, for the consumer to stop by while shopping and "grab a quick bite to eat" in one of these places is hard to resist. Not only is the time and place wrong, but also the type of food is totally wrong for us to consume. There are, in my opinion, six types of weight problem.

#1 – Malnutrition this is extreme weight loss almost to bones due to food deprivation, war, poverty, etc.

#2 – Anorexia this is extreme weight loss due to self-infliction, which is a mental disorder, which reveals itself in weight loss and starvation.

#3 – Normal this is the perfect weight—the perfect specimen. This is the absolutely right weight for ones size and height. Some consider "normal" to thin this is only because they are used to seeing everyone overweight.

#4 – Overweight this is where a person is not extremely fat but some 10-20 pounds over weight.

#5 – Obese this is where one is very obese like 100-200 pounds over weight.

#6 – Extremely Obese in this case, which is rare, one is several hundreds pounds over weight—someone weighing 500-700 or more.

Obviously normal is where we want to be.  Is this possible? We will look at that later. At this point some may be saying, "Does God care about my weight I thought He cared about my spiritual state?" He does care very much about that, but we can not be very effective being extremely overweight or sickly.  Some may say, "Yes, but the Bible says "...bodily exercise profits little." That's true, but it says "profits little" it did not say "does not profit at all." Plus, this is a verse that the "couch potatoes" love to use to say don't exercise.  Yes, profits it a little while meaning while on earth. From the beginning, according to Scripture, we need four things to be happy and healthy.

God

Water

Food

Sunlight

God (Genesis 1:1) is the creator and source of all happiness and wisdom. The savior of all His children—the one life is worth living for.

Water (Genesis 1:2) is essential, not just any water, but pure water. Obviously, drinking polluted water is dangerous. Just as food must be "alive" so to water must be pure. Water is a great cleanser for the body. God knows what He's doing, and what our bodies need.

Food (Genesis 1:11) is also essential to life as well. Not "junk food" but food that God designed and is alive. Fattening non-Biblical foods are poison for our bodies. We should eat healthy Biblical foods. Here's a great list of almost every Bible food. http://www.sundayschoolresources.com/food.htm. Another excellent source is the book "The Maker's Diet" by Jordan S. Rubin. On pages 201-206 he gives an excellent listing of foods to eat and not eat.

Sunlight (Genesis 1:3) is needed to grow food. It's also known that those living in areas without much sunlight can be depressed and moody. I'm not talking about going out to get a tan or sunburned, but to spend some time outdoors in the sunlight use common sense.

Exercise is another activity we must be engaged in. This helps burn fat and keeps us healthy. It's not uncommon for overweight or very obese people to sometimes try and encourage others that are not overweight to eat, and sometimes to eat all the wrong kinds of foods. Overweight or obese people sometimes think thin people are not healthy or sick in some way. Many people that eat right are sometimes still overweight. These folks can have chemical imbalances that can throw them off. Our prayers goes out for a healing for them.

We, especially in America, eat a lot of wrong foods. For example: sodas, fried foods, pizza, ice cream, candy, shakes, hot dogs, cake, cookies, and fast food. Why would you eat something-called "fast food"? These "fast foods" and junk food was not known in Biblical times. We must have good healthy "living" Biblical food not dead food. You wouldn't drink gasoline or eat toxic waste would you? But why do we eat the equivalent of it in food and drink? Our bodies, designed by God, are not to be abused in this way.

#1 – To be Biblically healthy we need God—we need salvation and a right relationship with Jesus Christ.

#2 –Along with that we must eat the right kinds of food and drink.

#3 –And along with those things we also need to exercise. To many people that's a dreaded word. However, it's impossible to drop unnecessary weight and maintain a healthy weight without diet and exercise.

In Biblical times being obese or even overweight was very rare. Yes, there's a few places that speak about this but it's rare. Up until foods rich in fat, the advent of sugar, and fast foods people were not like they are today. The reason? They ate good healthy food, and they worked hard. Again, that translates to diet and exercise! You cannot go without exercising and expect to lose weight if you put junk in your body. It must be the combination of God, healthy food, exercise, and clean pure water. I'm of the opinion that a lot of weight problems come from several factors.

One, laziness--the wrong kinds of foods (being due to the availability and affordability of such junk food), and lack of exercise.

Two, societal pressures such as stress and depression causes one to be unhappy. Which leads to eating which leads to the wrong kinds of food and lack of exercise.

Three, chemicals--chemicals in air, food, water, etc. Before the industrial revolution the amount of chemicals were very low. Today, there's a pill for everything; even a pill for weight loss. Don't be fooled chemicals kill!

Am I advocating some radical adherence to the green movement or Green Peace? No. I'm I saying join ELF (Earth Liberation Front) No. What I am saying is we need a balance. Ok, so we have discovered the problem, the source, and the answers. But how do we work it out in our lives? No one can write an entire manual on every possible aspect of health. However, here are a few things you might find helpful. Use them, think about them, and put them into practice in your lives.

#1 God –Bible reading, prayer, and worship.

#2 Water – Pure clean water like distilled.

#3 Food – Good healthy "living" Biblical foods.

#4 Exercise – Good strong sweat producing exercise.

Here are some resources:

God – Holy Bible, King James Version, read it cover to cover.

Bible Foods - http://www.sundayschoolresources.com/food.htm, "The Maker's Diet" book pages 201-206.

Hallelujah Acres - Great resources on eating right, healthy foods and water. www.hacres.com

Recommend books: "What the Bible says about Healthy Living" by Rex Russell; M.D. and "Miracle Food and Cures from the Bible" by Reese Dubin; "The Maker's Diet" by Jordan S. Rubin.

Water – Get bottled water, or the cleanest water you can find. Get a water purifier. Try distilled water.

Exercise – Get out and do something. Whatever exercise you like to do. Walk, bike, jog, etc.

Amen?

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