Nutrition & Health in the Bible
The Smart Guide to the Bible™ Series
Kathleen O’Bannon, CNC
Larry Richards, General Editor
Thomas Nelson
Since 1798
www.ThomasNelson.com
Nutrition Health in the Bible
The Bible Smart Guide™ Series
Copyright © 2008 by GRQ, Inc.
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other— except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Originally published by Starburst Publishers under the title Health & Nutrition: God’s Word for the Biblically Inept. Now revised and updated.
This book is intended for educational purposes only. Neither the publisher nor the author intends this book to be used for diagnosing or prescribing in any way. If you have any medical or health problems, see your doctor or the appropriate healthcare practitioner. If you have spiritual concerns, consult with your pastor or a counselor specializing in this area.
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Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version® (NKJV), copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
To the best of its ability, GRQ, Inc., has strived to find the source of all material. If there has been an oversight, please contact us, and we will make any correction deemed necessary in future printings. We also declare that to the best of our knowledge all material (quoted or not) contained herein is accurate, and we shall not be held liable for the same.
General Editor: Larry Richards
Managing Editor: Lila Empson
Scripture Editor: Deborah Wiseman
Assistant Editor: Amy Clark
Design: Diane Whisner
ISBN 10: 1418510033
ISBN 13: 9781418510039
Printed in the United States of America
08 09 10 11 RRD 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Chapters at a Glance
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Bible Diet
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Whole Grains—The Good Grains
Brown or White?
Vegetables and Your Heart
Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Chapter 2: The Foundation of the Bible Diet
Two Kinds of Fiber
Wheat—Grain #1
Barley in the Bible
Fed on Bread
Some Whole-Grain Brands
Chapter 3: Ezekiel’s Punishment: Our Health Food
It’s Essential!
Beans—Our Health Food
Lower Your Cholesterol
Lentils: The Bible’s Very First Vegetable
Soybeans and Beta-sitosterols
Chapter 4: Daniel and His Diet for Strength
Daniel Put Vegetables to the Test
Fresh Is Best
What Is a “High-Fiber Diet”?
Powerhouses of Phytochemicals
Broccoli Sprouts, Cabbage, Ginkgo Bilbao Garlic
Chapter 5: Solomon’s Garden
The Nuts on Solomon’s Trees
Flaxseed Oil for Health
Fruit in the Mediterranean Diet
Olives: The Green and Black Fruits
What Phenolics Can Do for You
Chapter 6: Milk and Curds
Milk, It Does a Body Good
Fermenting Helps
Balance the Bacteria
Cheese: Can You Stomach This?
Whey More Protein
Chapter 7: Fish for Five Thousand
Dry Eye Syndrome
Bone Loss
Dementia, Aging, ADHD, and DCD
Depression in Adults and Children
Heart Disease and Fish Oil
Chapter 8: The Passover Feast—Bitter Herbs and Unleavened Bread
Parsley, the King of Herbs
Dandelion, the Not So Lowly Weed
Chinese Parsley, Cilantro, or Coriander: What’s In a Name?
PH Balance and Grasses
Greens and Eye Problems
Chapter 9: All the Fat Is the Lord’s
Forbidden Vegetable Fats
How Much Protein Do You Need?
Eggs in the Jewish Diet
Keep It Clean
You Are the Temple of God
Chapter 10: Sweets, Salt, Water, and Wine
Land of Milk and Honey
Salt in the Bible Diet
Not All Salt Is the Same
Water: Liquid of Life
Wine in the Mediterranean Diet
Chapter 11: All Food Is Clean
Is It Kosher?
Meat and Milk Together
Wash Those Hands and Feet
Safe Food Handling
Regulations About Mildew or Plague
Chapter 12: Elijah and Ahab
Ahab: Eat, Eat, Eat!
The Most Incredible Diet!
Music Lifts and Depresses the Soul
Psychoneuroimmunology
Gifts of Healing
Chapter 13: Food Cravings, Weight Loss, and Eating Disorders
Overweight in Bible Times
Don’t Fall for It
How Your Body Works
Do You Take Sugar?
Yeah, Yeah, but I Want to Know About Weight Loss
Eating Disorders in the Bible
Chapter 14: Wasting Disease
Whew!
Not Enough Love
The Cure!
Things to Avoid
Pray for One Another
Chapter 15: God’s Sacred Temple
Your Body Is God’s Temple
A Poultice of Figs
How Can I Know What to Do?
Turn to God
The Rainbow of Hope
Chapter 16: And Jesus Went A’ Walkin’
Jesus the Walker
Not Your Everyday Stroll
Walking Is Good for Older Folks
Make It Really Count
Chapter 17: Feasting, Feasting, Feasting
Seven Feasts
They Ate on a Couch
Why Can’t I Eat That Anymore
It Makes Me Feel Strange
Chapter 18: Fasting, Fasting, Fasting
Fasting from What?
Why Fast?
Some Toxic Substances
Fasting Cures
The Reward of Fasting
Chapter 19: Recipes for Healthy Living
Breakfast
Soups
Lunch or Dinner
Snacks or Appetizers
Breads and Quick Breads
Salads
Chapter 20: Sources of Nutrients
Recommended Dietary Allowances
It’s As Easy As 1, 2, 3!
Conversions
Vitamins
Minerals
Appendix A—Glossary of Nutritional and Medical Terms
Appendix B—Map of Mediterranean Region
Appendix C—The Answers
Appendix D—The Experts
Footnotes
Glossary
Endnotes
Introduction
Welcome to Nutrition & Health in the Bible— The Smart Guide to the Bible™. The Bible contains a lot of information on health, nutrition, foods, cooking, and even cures for many recently discovered health problems (also called diseases at one time or another). Who would have thought that 2,000 to 5,000 years ago the inspired writers of the Bible would know that we were going to do this book? There is a vast amount of information in the Bible that corresponds to health and medical information just published.
To Gain Your Confidence
Nutrition & Health in the Bible— The Smart Guide to the Bible™ is a unique book. In it I have compared modern scientific research with what the Bible has to say on topics like food, exercise, and keeping healthy. Scientists and theologians can make things so complicated; it’s difficult to make sense of what they’re saying. You can be sure that I have tried to make this material as simple as possible without sacrificing accuracy. I believe using the Bible to learn about nutrition and health should be useful and exciting!
We all know that the Bible was written in the area of the world that is called the Mediterranean. Yes, that’s right, the Bible is the first Mediterranean diet book. By “diet” I don’t mean weight loss; I mean your daily food, your daily regimen of eating, your food lifestyle. Many of the foods that are now being touted as healthy— foods like olive oil, yogurt, whole grains, fish, millet, and bitter herbs— were all part of the Bible lifestyle, the original Mediterranean diet.
Why Use the Bible to Learn About Nutrition and Health?
One New Testament writer put it this way: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV). This tells me that the Bible should be used as a guide for life and living. No matter what your life needs are, the Bible can guide you. I have found this to be especially true in the area of nutrition and health, and as you read this book, I think you will find the same.
How Is This Book Organized?
As you study Nutrition & Health, keep in mind the two main divisions: “Smart Guide to Nutrition” and “God’s Word on Good Health.” “Smart Guide to Nutrition” is about the foods to eat and how they will help you. “God’s Word on Good Health” is about healthy living. You know what I mean: exercise, weight loss, feasting, fasting, health diets, and more.
Nutrition & Health— The Smart Guide to the Bible™ is a unique book. In it, I have compared modern scientific research with what the Bible has to say on topics like food, exercise, and eating disorders. Scientists and theologians can make things so complicated, it’s very difficult to make any sense of what they’re saying. You can be sure that I have tried to make this material as simple as possible without sacrificing accuracy. I believe using the Bible to learn about nutrition and health should be useful and exciting!
The Languages of the Bible and When It Was Written
The first books of the Bible, written about 1400 BC, and most of the Old Testament, which was completed about 400 BC, were written in Hebrew. However, parts of the books of Daniel and Ezra were written in Aramaic, a related language spoken by most Near Eastern peoples from about 600 BC onward. The people of Jesus’s day also spoke Aramaic in everyday situations but studied the Bible in their ancient tongue, Hebrew. About one hundred years before Christ, the Old Testament was translated into Greek, because most people throughout the Roman Empire spoke Greek.
The New Testament was written in the Greek spoken by ordinary people. This meant that the New Testament was easy for all people throughout the Roman Empire to understand, so the message of Jesus spread quickly. All of the New Testament books were written between about AD 40 and AD 95.
Because the Old and New Testament books were recognized as holy, first by Jews and then by Christians, they were copied accurately and carefully preserved. Much later, chapter and verse divisions were added to the Bible to make it easier to find and remember the location of specific teachings. The many Bible translations we now have all try to express the original words of God in ways that people today can understand his message.
What’s Amazing About the Bible?
- The Bible is like no other book. It was written over a span of some 1,500 years. It is a collection of sixty-six different books by a number of different authors. Yet the Bible is one book, with a single story to tell!
- The first book of the Bible was written in Hebrew some 3,400 years ago, and the last book was written in Greek about 1,900 years ago. Yet the Bible we read in English today is essentially the same as when its words were first written. Uncertainties about Greek words take up no more than a half page in the Greek New Testament— and not one uncertainty affects any basic Bible teaching. Our English Bibles give a reliable and trustworthy account of what was originally written in Hebrew and Greek thousands of years ago!
- The Bible contains predictions about the future which have come true! Hundreds of predictions have been fulfilled— centuries after they were written. There is only one way this was possible. God knew what would happen ahead of time, and he guided the Bible writers when they wrote their predictions down!
A Word About Words
There are several interchangeable terms: Scripture, Scriptures, Word, Word of God, God’s Word, etc. All of these mean the same thing and come under the broad heading “the Bible.” I will use each at various points throughout the book.
One Final Tip
God gave us the Bible so that by reading it we would enjoy fuller, more healthy lives. Before jumping into the Bible, ask God to help you learn whatever he wants to teach you. With prayerful study of the Scriptures, your life is bound to change for the better! Along with the psalmist, let me urge you to “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8 NKJV).
About the Author
Kathleen O’Bannon is a Certified Nutrition Consultant, speaker, healer, and author of eight books, including The Anger Cure, The World’s Oldest Health Plan, Sprouts, and Whole Food for Seniors. Kathleen has appeared on thousands of radio and television shows in Canada and the U.S., promoting healthy living and natural foods cooking. Her motto is: Eat Right— Feel Right!
Kathleen divides her time between the U.S. and Nigeria where she works tirelessly with the Bishop Mark Wokocha Foundation HIV/AIDS, skills testing, and poverty abatement programs. She is the formulator of natural supplements and can be reached through www.healthaliveproducts.com or www.kathleenobannon.com.
About the General Editor
Dr. Larry Richards is a native of Michigan who now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was converted while in the Navy in the 1950s. Larry has taught and written Sunday school curriculum for every age group, from nursery through adult. He has published more than two hundred books, and his books have been translated into some twenty six languages. His wife, Sue, is also an author. They both enjoy teaching Bible studies as well as fishing and playing golf.
Part One
SMART GUIDE TO NUTRITION
Chapter 1
The Bible Diet
Chapter Highlights:
• Whole Grains— The Good Grains
• Vegetables and Your Heart
• Fatty Acids
• Benefits of Omega 3
Let’s Get Started
Are you trying to find the “perfect diet” that will bring you extreme health, great energy, and freedom from many common diseases? Perhaps you have read books, articles in newspapers, and entire magazines devoted to health and are still no closer to a healthy diet than before you began your search. Is your head swirling with facts that don’t mean anything to you? Well, you can just relax. The Bible has the answer. Yep! God has outlined the perfect diet for you and your family in the Bible. Chapter 1 is an overview of the foods found in the “Bible diet.” Each chapter that follows in Part One, Smart Guide to Nutrition, will open up to you a simple, easy-to-follow lifestyle plan that will show you the way to be as healthy as you can be. This lifestyle plan comes from the diet outlined in the Bible; that’s why we call it the “Bible diet”!
God Creates
GENESIS 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (NKJV)
In Old Testament times the Hebrew verb for created* was used only when referring to divine activity, not human activity. Only God could create. It is fitting that the very first chapter in the Bible, Genesis 1, gives the account of Creation and outlines the foods that God created for us to eat.
Food First— Then Man and Woman
After God had created the earth and sky, light and darkness, water, dry ground, vegetation of seed-bearing plants and trees, birds, sea creatures, livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, God created the first man and woman* — Adam and Eve. God created a garden in the east— in Eden— for them to live and be together in (see Illustration #1). Adam and Eve were allowed to eat of all the plants and trees except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.* In other words, the first humans had a wide variety of foods to choose from.
Many people look at this passage from Genesis and think we were created to eat only fruits, nuts, and vegetables (which includes grains). These people are called vegans; they do not eat any animal products, including honey and dairy products, nor do they wear leather or use any animal products. This is a popular lifestyle that many young people are now choosing, but it is not scriptural. We will learn in chapter 11 about clean and unclean foods and that with the New Covenant all foods are to be considered clean. It is no longer necessary to follow a specific food rule from the Old Testament. However, we are obligated to eat what is healthiest for our specific bodily needs. If eating certain foods makes you ill or causes allergic reactions, then it is wise to not eat those foods. You have the choice to eat them or not.
In these times of stressful lifestyles, rushing around, breathing in pollution, and so many new antibiotic-resistant health problems, it is best to eat the diet that keeps you the healthiest. It could be based on your blood type, your metabolic type, or trial and error. One thing is certain; you are obligated to take care of your body to better serve God.
Forbidden Fruit?
GENESIS 2:15–16 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.” (NKJV)
All of the food in the Garden of Eden was available for Adam and Eve, except the fruit of one tree. God forbade them from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We do not know what the tree was or what the “fruit” of it was, but we do know that the fruit of disobeying God was a curse on Adam and Eve that can still be felt today.
*Illustration #1 Map of Eden— Genesis places Eden in this area, probably at the head of the Persian Gulf. Four streams are named, but only two of them are known today, the Hiddekel (Tigris) and Euphrates*.
Lots and Lots of Water
Many generations after Adam and Eve, Noah* was born. God told Noah to save a male and a female of each kind of living creature and to put them into an ark, which he was to build according to God’s instructions. He was to include his wife, his sons, and his sons’wives. He was also to include all the food they would need for the voyage. After the Flood, when the water started to recede, God talked to Noah again and gave him some new instructions on what to eat.
Gotta Have My Meat!
GENESIS 9:2–3 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. (NKJV)
Since Genesis 9, man has been allowed to eat the meat* of all animals. For many years before the Flood, man ate only plant foods proteins such as vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, and nuts and seeds. But in Genesis 9 God added meat and all other animal products to man’s diet. This changed man from just a gatherer to a hunter/ farmer/fisherman. This was good news for hunters and farmers; man was now allowed to eat meat from all different animals and fish. So meat was made as important in their diets as vegetables.
When you think about it, there are some similarities between the development of man’s diet (in Genesis) and the development of a baby’s diet. The first food a baby should eat is mother’s milk, then fruits and vegetables, which can include beans, followed later by grains, and last, meat is added.
Only the Right Foods
A wide variety of foods is essential for a healthy body and mind. A healthy diet contains fresh fruits (this includes olives and avocados as they are considered fruits), fresh vegetables and dried beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and animal proteins. They are the foods that are now proven by science and medicine to be the most healthy, the most healing, the most nourishing, and essential for a vital, fulfilled, and healthy life.
Work the Fields
PSALM 104:14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth. (NKJV)
God taught man to cultivate the plants he made for them to eat, and man became a farmer. Before the Flood, food was found by foraging and digging. But with the advent of farming, after the Flood, man was able to grow the plants he preferred in the quantities necessary to feed himself, his family, and perhaps his neighbors. Man was becoming civilized; he was fending for himself.
*Illustration #2 The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid—From just a glance at this pyramid, you can see we should all eat whole grain breads, pasta, rice, potatoes, polenta, bulgur, and other grains as well as fruits and vegetables. But we should rarely eat red meat, candy, cake, ice cream, and pie.
The Mediterranean Diet/The Bible Diet
The diet people followed in Bible times is still being eaten today in the Mediterranean region of the world (see Appendix B). It has been touted as the healthiest diet and is called either the “Mediterranean diet” or the “Bible diet,” which is understandable because the Mediterranean area is where most of the events in the Bible took place. The Bible diet is derived from two biblical sources: specific instructions of what to eat, and general information about the foods available in Bible times. It is simple to follow, and the rewards are great. The Mediterranean diet pyramid (see Illustration #2) is a visual picture of which foods should be in your diet and how much you should eat of each. The more space a particular group of foods takes up, the more you should eat from that group. By just looking at this graph, you can plan a diet every day that will be healthy and complete. It will enable you to follow all the dietary guidelines of the Bible.
Do not try a new diet on your own. Always discuss any program with your doctor, especially if you are a diabetic, have a heart condition, or have high blood pressure.
Chew It Up!
The most important thing to remember when you switch to a higher-fiber diet is that chewing starts digestion. Each time you chew grains until they are fully chewed, you are aiding your digestion and reducing your need for larger quantities of food. Saliva contains the enzyme “salivary amylase,” which digests starch. The more you chew each mouthful of starch, the easier it will be to digest it. The chewing also starts all the processes of digestion going in your stomach, pancreas, intestines, and so on.
Fiber and Diabetes
For years fiber has been used to reduce the risks and symptoms of diabetes. When I worked as a nutritionist in a Toronto clinic we used a specific diet of 80 percent complex carbohydrates, 10 percent fat, and 10 percent protein to help people with diabetes. Most of the patients reduced their insulin, and some didn’t need insulin at all when they followed the high-fiber diet.
New research is showing that following a diet like the Mediterranean diet can help to reduce the risk of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, strokes, and also reduce the risk of obstructions in blood vessels in the elderly as well as increase longevity and improve quality of life.2
Mediterranean Diet and Cancer
An article published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention in 2000 concluded that following a Mediterranean diet with its emphasis on low consumption of red meat and high consumption of fruits and vegetables can reduce the incidents of colorectal cancer by 25 percent; breast cancer by 15 percent; and prostate, pancreas, and endometrial cancers by 10 percent. If you have a family tendency to any of these cancers, you owe it to yourself and your family to consume at least the recommended servings of fresh fruits and vegetables.3
Mediterranean Diet and Alzheimer’s Disease
The Taub Institute for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain did a study published in 2006 showing that following the Mediterranean diet daily and accurately could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease up to 60 percent and also reduce the risk of other brain-related problems thought to be part of old age.4
In the Mediterranean area people eat cheese and yogurt almost daily. The yogurt and cheese are often from goat’s or sheep’s milk and are generally not as fat or sugar-laden as the cheese and yogurt eaten by most North Americans. When looking at the food pyramid you can see that Mediterranean people eat very little red meat, and that allows them to eat more cheese and yogurt than people who eat mostly red and/or fatty meats. A healthy Mediterranean diet does not include fast-food burgers and fries! It does include fresh vegetables at every meal and fresh fruits, lots more than most North Americans now eat. You might even say that when following the foods and lifestyle of the Bible region, the Mediterranean, you will have an emphasis on vegetables, especially fresh raw ones and dark green leafy ones. Eating at least five to ten servings of vegetables a day is really the key to a healthy and long life.
Grains, Grains, Grains
The foundation, or base, of the Mediterranean diet is grains. It is the widest section of the pyramid but not necessarily the largest (see Illustration #2). This means that grains should be the base or foundation of a daily diet. The grains available today are wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, rice, millet, triticale, kamut, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, and sometimes corn. The suggested amount to eat daily is two to eleven servings. One serving is considered to be one piece of bread, so a sandwich would be two servings of grains. If you also ate another serving of grain for lunch or dinner, like rice or barley, you would meet the minimum daily requirement. Many people decide to eat the grains as snacks. Things like whole grain pretzels, crackers, and toast are great sources of grains.
A Grain Is a Grain
Grains are not all equal. For example, millet, amaranth, and quinoa have less starch or carbohydrates and are higher in protein than the other grains mentioned, making them easier to digest and easier on your blood sugar. Most of the pasta in the Mediterranean region is made from durum flour. Durum is a kind of wheat that is often used to replace Western wheat because it is easier to digest and has had less hybridization over the years so it is often more natural and is perfect for making pasta. Spelt is an ancient grain that is similar to wheat and was not commonly used for thousands of years, so it, too, has not been hybridized or over-cultivated. There are many people who are sensitive to wheat who can safely eat whole grain products made from durum or spelt. Please consult your doctor if you are allergic to wheat before you try eating these other wheat-like grains.
Gluten
Gluten is the protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and oats. Gluten is known to cause several kinds of health problems, including celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis (a gluten-induced skin sensitivity), and some kinds of autism. Some people find that gluten causes them to have bloating, gas, and other digestive disturbances that can be rectified by taking digestive enzymes. Generally, buckwheat, millet, rice, amaranth, and quinoa can be used in place of gluten grains. If you are a person with any of the health problems related to gluten, please consult your doctor before trying any of these other grains, as there may be other reasons to avoid grains than just gluten.
Spelt
Spelt is an ancient grain that is mentioned in the Bible and is one of the ingredients in Ezekiel’s bread*.
Spelt, Triticum spelta, is an ancient and distant cousin to modern wheat, Triticum aestivum. Spelt, along with barley, is one of the oldest of cultivated grains. Spelt is a more flavorful grain than wheat and is often described as having a nutty flavor. In Italy it is known as farro; in Germany it is called dinkle. In Roman times it was called farrum.
Grains
Each of us should eat three to eleven servings of potatoes, bread, pasta, couscous, polenta, bulgur, or other whole grains each day.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread …
PROVERBS 30:8 Give me neither poverty nor riches— feed me with the food allotted to me. (NKJV)
In Bible times the basic grain was barley. It was made into a round, heavy, full-bodied loaf that was baked fresh every day. This was the “daily bread* ” that Jesus mentioned in what we call the Lord’s Prayer*. Much of the bread eaten in Bible times was made of barley and emmer wheat. Emmer wheat is similar to the spelt we have available today.
Daily bread was very important to all people living in the Middle East. Jesus encouraged* all people to pray for their daily bread and trust God for it rather than rely on the government of Rome to provide it.
Daily bread was so important for the Israelites that they preferred it over riches. Daily bread was distributed in Roman times to Roman citizens. A recently excavated pyramid showed that workers were paid in “daily bread” while building the pyramids around 2575 BC in the Giza Plateau, Egypt (see Appendix B).6
Whole Grains— The Good Grains
Because only whole grains were available in Bible times, it is obvious that we are supposed to eat whole grains, not refined ones.
Whole grains contain protein (differing amounts for each type of grain), fiber, nutrients, and carbohydrates or starch. Whole grains have the nutrients that God intended people to eat when he made food. When grains like rice, wheat, barley, and spelt are refined, much of the fiber is lost as well as most of the B complex vitamins. Fiber and B complex vitamins play important roles in the digestion of the starch in these grains.
Brown or White?
Who decided that white was better? I have read many references that say how years ago the wealthy had the more-refined grains, and the peasants had the cruder, unrefined grains. Who do you think was healthier? I suspect the peasants were. As a comparison I checked with the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18 (2005), and made a chart. Look at the differences in protein and fiber between the whole grains and the refined grains. It wasn’t clear if the wheat flour and rice were enriched because it didn’t specify. I chose wheat, rice, and barley because they are the most common grains that we eat in North America and the grains that are most commonly refined. In each selection there is a large difference in some areas, especially fiber, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and selenium, all nutrients that we need daily.
Comparisons of Three Grains per 100g
The Largest Food Group of the Pyramid
The next section up from the base of the pyramid is the group comprised of fruits, beans and other legumes, and vegetables (Illustration #2). This is the largest section of the Mediterranean pyramid because it is the group of foods that you should eat the most of each and every day.
Dried beans such as navy, kidney, turtle, lima, pinto, and others are really the seeds of the same kinds of plants that produce the green and yellow beans we eat as fresh vegetables. Yellow beans produce a black seed that is used in black bean soup. When the green or yellow beans are left to grow until the green or yellow part is dried out, the seed inside is harvested as a dried bean. It can be used as the seed to plant and grow more beans the following year, or it can be soaked, cooked, and eaten as food.
Powerhouses of Nutrients
GENESIS 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (NKJV)
The foods in this largest section of the pyramid, the ones that should be eaten most during the day, are also the same foods God created for the first people on earth. Grains, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds, and vegetables contain vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, essential fatty acids, and amino acids. These are the powerhouses of health, vitality, and well-being. The concentrated vital nutrients in these foods should be eaten in abundance every day. This group of foods comprises all the foods mentioned in Genesis
1:29: “God said, ‘ See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food’” (NKJV).
RDI, RDA, DRI, Not Too Confusing
The Department of Agriculture in the United States has published the nutrients essential for health since 1941. Of course as we learn more, the nutrients have changed, the amounts have changed, and, in some cases, the required amount has increased. The Mediterranean food pyramid shows the foods to eat and how much of each category of food to eat, but it doesn’t tell why. The RDI, RDA, and DRI reveal that. These stand for Recommended Daily Intake, Recommended Daily (or dietary) Allowance, and Dietary Reference Intake (which also includes UL [Upper Limits] for each nutrient). Chapter 20 has made this easy for you. We have listed the RDA and then given some foods containing the nutrient so you can see how to increase your intake of vegetables and fruits to obtain at least the RDA.
The best way to eat more fresh vegetables and fruits is to eat them as snacks. Snack on carrots, cucumbers, radishes, mango, celery, melon, broccoli, red and green bell peppers— the list of snacks is endless. Try having half an apple and six or eight natural almonds or walnuts or three to four whole grain crackers with natural cheese and some lettuce or cucumber slices for a between-meal snack for more energy and vitality. Celery or lettuce spread with peanut, almond, or pistachio butter is a terrific snack that even the pickiest children generally love; you will too. Unsweetened yogurt with chopped fresh veggies and fresh mint is a fabulous cooling and refreshing snack.
What About Nutritional Supplements?
Nutritional supplements are designed to supplement your food intake, not take the place of it. In most of the research done on the importance of vegetables and fruits to health, basic nutritional supplements like multivitamins and multi-minerals were taken into consideration, and although those who took supplements were healthier, it was generally noted that those people also ate the most servings of fresh vegetables and fruits. You cannot live a healthy, disease-reduced life without eating vegetables and fruits.
Vegetables and Your Heart
We have all heard that vegetables are good for us, but we never heard exactly why they were good for us. Research published in 2001 of an ongoing study showed that for every serving of vegetables, especially dark green leafy ones, and fruits a day, the risk for coronary heart disease goes down 4 percent to 6 percent. Increasing your servings of fresh vegetables and fruits to at least six servings daily can reduce your risk of coronary heart disease from 5 percent to 20 percent. This was especially true for those vegetables and fruits highest in potassium and vitamin C, which lowered blood pressure as well as other risks for coronary heart disease (CHD).8
Research published in 2006 in the Journal of Nutrition showed that mice fed a diet of green and yellow vegetables reduced their aortic atherosclerosis by 38 percent. Their total cholesterol levels were reduced as well as the low-density lipoprotein levels (LDL). LDL is currently thought to be the form of cholesterol that is dangerous because it can clog the arteries, making it difficult for adequate blood flow through the body and increasing the risk of a stroke or vascular incident because of blood clots being lodged in the narrowed arteries.9
So your mother was correct: Eat your vegetables!
Vegetables and Fruits
Eat vegetables at every meal and as snacks; always eat at least one serving of raw vegetables and one serving of fruit each day.
The United States Department of Agriculture used to recommend that all people eat at least five half-cup servings of vegetables and fruit a day and one serving must be raw. This is the minimum amount of these foods that you need to stay alive, think properly, be alert, heal wounds, grow, maintain proper body weight, and have enough energy to live healthily and be able to exercise daily.12
Every year as more research comes out on the importance of eating vegetables and fruits, the recommended amount keeps increasing. In 2006 the recommended amounts were eight to ten servings. This would mean that a small can of mixed vegetable juice would qualify as one serving, a salad meal might contain three or four half-cup servings of different vegetables, therefore constituting three to four servings, and when fresh fruit is added for dessert, you might be eating five servings at that meal alone. If you also have snacks of veggies and fruits during the day, it is easy to eat that amount of food, eight to ten half-cup servings of vegetables and fruits. And by the way, potato chips and French fries do not count as anything; sure, they might have started as potatoes, but they are not considered “food.”
Five to Keep Alive!
For many years the U.S. Department of Agriculture has promoted various programs trying to convince people to eat at least five half-cup servings of vegetables and fruits. In January of 2006 the Lancet published a study showing that eating at least five servings of vegetables and fruits daily can reduce the incidence of stroke by up to 75 percent. That in itself is enough reason to eat your veggies! The more servings of vegetables you have every day, the better you will feel, so try to eat more than the old recommendation of five half-cup servings.13
Olive Oil
LEVITICUS 24:2 Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. (NKJV)
In Bible times the oil* in olives was used for heating, as lamp fuel, in cooking and baking, for anointing* and for healing. Olive oil is part of the Mediterranean diet (Illustration #2) because olives grow in abundance in the Middle East, Italy, Greece, and Spain. Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fatty acids. This “good fat” has been shown to help reduce the “bad fat ” or bad cholesterol that sticks to the arteries and may cause many different diseases. The olive oil section of the pyramid shows that it is to be used as the main fat or oil in the diet. This should replace the saturated fats that come mainly from animal sources and the polyunsaturated fats that are found in a highly processed form in manufactured bakery products such as crackers and sweet rolls, and some other processed and packaged foods, creating dangerous trans fats.
Oil in the Grain Offering
Oil was so important that God commanded it be used for the consecration of priests— the ceremony included anointing with oil and was part of the grain offerings* . The grain offerings were made with grain or bread and olive oil to symbolize devotion to God. Offerings were important because without an offering, an Israelite was not allowed to approach God.
Olive Oil
In biblical times, the people used olive oil every day for preparing their meals, and we should do the same today.
A Bull and Two Rams?
EXODUS 29:2–3 [Take] unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour). You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams. (NKJV)
Fine flour and oil were presented to those men who were chosen to become priests, along with a bull and two rams. Imagine the importance of olive oil if cakes mixed with oil, and wafers (or crackers) spread with oil, held the same importance as a bull and two rams.
I’ll Give You My Oil for Your …
JEREMIAH 41:8 But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field.” So he desisted and did not kill them among their brethren. (NKJV)
Oil was so important that it was a major export product of the time. Ancient Greece was one of the largest producers of olive oil. One of the reasons it was important to their economy was olive trees could grow and thrive in rocky soil, which could produce very few other crops. They were also known to live for a long time. Olive production began when a tree was about five years old and was at the height of production between forty and fifty years old. Oil was essential for life because it was used for cooking, lighting, cosmetics, and medicine. Because of its value, the men in Jeremiah 41:8 were able to convince Ishmael to spare their lives when he was thinking about killing them. And why? They knew of a valuable supply of oil hidden in a field. So valuable was this oil, as well as the other foods they mention, that their lives were spared for the sake of obtaining them.
Dairy in the Diet
The next section of foods is even smaller: cheese and yogurt (Illustration #2). Cheese and yogurt are already partially broken down, which makes them easier to digest than milk. In Bible times most people did not drink mugs or cups of milk, and neither do most people living in the Mediterranean region today. Small quantities of cheese and yogurt can be consumed daily. Of all the available proteins, cheese and yogurt are the best choice for small amounts of daily protein.
There is not the emphasis on drinking milk in the Mediterranean region as there is in North America. Milk is touted as a good source of calcium, but dark green leafy vegetables, whole grains, almonds, broccoli, and fish with bones like sardines, anchovies, or salmon are all good sources of calcium. So when you eat a varied diet rich in vegetables and these other sources of calcium, it isn’t as essential to drink glasses of milk.
Whey? Never Heard of It
GENESIS 18:8 So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. (NKJV)
Butter is made by setting cream out overnight to sour slightly, then churning it so the butterfat comes together to make butter, leaving some bits of butter and the soured milk that is left, which contains the whey, or liquid. The resulting liquid is also called buttermilk. Buttermilk has been used for centuries as medicine and as a cooling refreshing drink in the summer.
Cheese is made from milk. Some form of acid is used to curd it, then the curds are cooked, strained, and pressed to remove most of the whey. If the cheese is to be an aged cheese like cheddar, it is set in a cool clean place to age. Cottage cheese used to be made naturally like this, but in modern times it is mostly done fast with chemicals unless you are using organic cottage cheese or some local farm/dairy where they still make cottage cheese the natural way. Once the curds form and they are cooked, the process stops there and cream is added to make creamed cottage cheese. It is not pressed or aged, but the whey is generally removed from the curds before the cream is added. Many Europeans drink whey and claim it is helpful for weight loss.
Whey protein is now one of the most fashionable protein powders used in meal-replacement powders or drinks.
Cheese
Cheese is used in the Mediterranean diet as part of a meal or snack. Many cheeses are added to vegetable dishes. Cheese can be made from full-fat milk, which is about 4 percent butterfat, or some imported from France even contain 35 percent butterfat. Cheeses like mozzarella are often made from skimmed milk and have very little butterfat in them. If you are eating cheese as your main protein, then you will want to have regular-fat cheese; 4 percent is fine. If you are adding cheese to a meal that has other fat in it, then you will want to use a lower-fat type of cheese. (See chapter 6 for more information on milk and cheese.)
Yogurt
ISAIAH 7:22 So it shall be, from the abundance of milk they give, that he will eat curds; for curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land. (NKJV)
Yogurt was eaten in Bible times because it is already fermented, so to speak, and it keeps without much refrigeration, so it was easier to transport.
Cheese and Yogurt
Eating cheese and/or yogurt provides nutrients for health.
Generally when “milk” is mentioned in the Bible it means yogurt or a thickened and fermented form of something similar to yogurt called kefir. Fresh milk could not be stored or carried around, but cheese and fermented milk products could be. “Curds” can also mean butter, cheese, or something similar to yogurt.
The following chart of dairy products compares the calories, protein, fats, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, sodium, and zinc in some common dairy foods. For example, when you look at the cow’s milk as compared to the goat’s milk, you will see small differences in protein and fats, and a huge difference in potassium. If you are a person who needs more potassium, goat’s milk might be a better choice for you on a regular basis. Processed cheddar-type cheese, also called American or Canadian cheese, has more than twice the amount of sodium as real or unprocessed cheddar. Please read the labels on all packaged foods that you purchase to check for these nutrients.
Comparisons of Dairy Products per 100 g
Fish, Not a Snake
MATTHEW 7:9–10 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? (NKJV)
Jesus considered bread and fish good gifts for children. In the Bible, snakes are often used as symbols for evil. For example, in Genesis 3 Eve was tempted by a snake (or serpent), which triggered the fall of man*. Obviously a decent father would not want to give his son a snake. However, he would want to give his son bread and fish*, the very foods that Jesus multiplied for feeding the multitudes.
Fish is a staple protein food in the Mediterranean diet (Illustration #2) just as it was in Jesus’s time. This is why it has its own section in the Mediterranean diet pyramid. Fish is high in protein, relatively low in saturated fats, and contains omega-3 essential fatty acids or EFAs.
When it comes to heart health, we are hearing more and more about the benefits of this particular type of polyunsaturated fatty acid, the omega-3 fatty acids. The most common omega-3 fatty acids are eicosa-pentaenoic (EPA), docosahexaenoic (DHA), and alpha-linolenic (ALA) acids. EPA and DHA are found in fatty fish such as salmon, white tuna, mackerel, rainbow trout, herring, halibut, and sardines. ALA is more commonly found in soybean oil, walnuts, and flaxseeds or flaxseed oil. The American Heart Association has recommended that healthy adults eat at least two servings of fish per week to boost their omega-3 fatty acid intake. Eating two to four ounces of these fish will generally provide about one gram of omega-3 fatty acids.
Benefits of omega-3- Fatty Acids
- Reduce inflammation
- Help prevent blood from clotting and sticking to artery walls
- Help to lower the risk for blocked blood vessels and heart attacks
- Prevent hardening of the arteries
- Decrease the risk of sudden death and abnormal heart rates
- Decrease triglyceride levels
- Improve overall heart health
- Lower blood pressure
- Slow the development of dementia
Fish
Fish can be eaten daily in 4- to 5-ounce servings.
What’s a Vegetarian?
There are many kinds of vegetarians. All vegetarians eat vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts and seeds. Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat dairy products and eggs, lacto vegetarians eat dairy products but not eggs, ovo vegetarians eat eggs but not dairy products. Vegans do not eat animal products, which is to say they do not eat meat, dairy products, or eggs.
Which Came First: The Chicken or the Egg?
ISAIAH 10:14 My hand has found like a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; and there was no one who moved his wing, nor opened his mouth with even a peep. (NKJV)
In this passage, God is quoting an Assyrian king, who boastfully claims full credit for Assyria’s victories when they were actually all God’s doing. God seems to be using egg-gathering as a metaphor for political triumph. It would have been an effective metaphor because the Israelites and Romans kept chickens for their eggs and their meat, and they gathered the eggs of chickens that were allowed to wander around.
Poultry and eggs are in the section of foods that are recommended to be eaten a few times per week (Illustration #2). This would mean that once a week you might have eggs for breakfast, an egg sandwich for lunch, and chicken once for lunch and once for dinner.
The Mediterranean diet is one of the tried-and-true lifestyles and eating programs that have been found to promote good health. Vegetables and grains comprise the largest portions of foods each day; therefore, a variety of different proteins can be eaten. The suggested amount is about four ounces, the size of a deck of cards. When you consider eating eggs, fish, cheese, peas and beans, nuts and seeds, chicken, lamb, and small amounts of red meat as your protein, this means that you would only want to have eggs a few times a week. If you are a person who doesn’t want to eat beef, lamb, or chicken, then eating eggs more frequently would be fine. It is essential to eat some protein every day, especially if you do heavy physical work, work out in a gym, play sports, or are recovering from an illness or surgery.
ON Target • OFF Target
Broiled, poached, baked, stewed fish • Breaded or deep-fried fish, composition fish sticks
A Sweet and Joyful Feast
NEHEMIAH 8:10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (NKJV)
Ezra, the priest commissioned to teach the Law*, had been in Babylon for years; he returned to Judah to read* the Law. This was such an important occasion that women and children were allowed to be there. Ezra praised God and read the Law, which took from daybreak to noon, and afterward Nehemiah* the governor declared the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets*. He also instructed the Israelites to share the feast with those who had nothing prepared so that they too would be able to share the food and joy of the Lord that came from reading the Law.
Sweets for the Sweet
Sweets are to be eaten on special occasions only, like the Feast of Trumpets Nehemiah opened. We are not supposed to eat sweets every day (Illustration #2), whether it is sweet foods or sweet drinks. By “sweets” I mean those foods that have been sweetened with honey, sugar, or artificial sweeteners. Naturally sweet fruits and vegetables (like carrots) are to be eaten daily. Sugar contains no nutrients. Yet the average American eats more than 42 teaspoons of sugar a day.
ON Target • OFF Target
Eating naturally sweet fruits and vegetables • Eating artificially sweetened foods on a daily basis
Daily Sweets
Many of us have overdeveloped our sweet tooth, but we need to remember that sweets must not be eaten daily, because sweets can harm our bodies. Sweets are to be eaten on special occasions only.
That Meat Again
GENESIS 27:9 Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. (NKJV)
Eventually God allowed people to eat meat, so it became part of many special occasions like feasts, celebrations, weddings, and other important gatherings. Isaac was fond of roasted goat and other meat, so his wife, Rebekah, sent their son Jacob out to get a couple of goats for his father. The meal came just before Isaac, who was dying, gave his blessing to Jacob— a very special occasion.
The Few-Times-Per-Month Food
Of all the foods found in the Mediterranean diet, red meat is the only one listed as a food that should be eaten in small amounts, like a few times per month (Illustration #2). Beef, lamb, mutton, goat, and venison are the main red meats we eat today that were also eaten in Bible times. Many people eat pork as well, which the Israelites did not eat. Most people in Bible times ate meat during special feasts or Passover*
It’s reasonable to estimate they ate red meat a few times per month, which is exactly what the Mediterranean diet recommends. The main difference is that North Americans also eat pork in the form of roasts, ham, bacon, and hot dogs, and in Bible times Israelites did not eat any pork or pork products. Many cultures of the world do not eat red meat.
Much research has been published over the years as to the dangers of eating red meat. Most of the studies show that red meat cooked so that the melting fat hits the heat source and splashes back up on the meat is the most dangerous red meat to eat. This kind of cooking produces so-called carcinogens, cancer-causing particles.19
Research also shows that processed red meats and frequent consumption of meats that have the burned fats can contribute to high blood pressure, prostate cancers in blacks, and stomach and esophageal cancers.20 Much research has also been published showing that some of the nutrients in red meat can be useful for good heart health and weight loss like the amino acid l-carnitine and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) respectively. It isn’t the meat but the fat and processing that cause the problems (chapter 9).
If you are following a modified Mediterranean diet and want to eat red meat weekly, there is no problem as long as it is not fatty meat like higher-fat burgers, broiled over an open flame, or overcooked until it is no longer pink inside.
Meat
Eat small amounts of meat and large amounts of vegetables.
ON Target • OFF Target
Meat as a condiment • Meat as the main component of a meal
Your liver uses saturated fats to make cholesterol. A diet high in saturated fats can lead to many diseases of the arteries, heart, intestines, stomach, and gallbladder that can be avoided with a lower-fat, higher-vegetable diet like the Mediterranean diet followed in Bible times and still favorable today. A serving of meat, fish, or cheese should be two to four ounces, about the size of a deck of cards. A serving of eggs is one to two.
Chapter Wrap-Up
- God created two kinds of foods for man to eat: plant foods and animal foods.
- Before the Flood man was to be a vegetarian; after the Flood he could eat animal products. (Genesis 1–6)
- The Mediterranean diet is the same as the Bible diet. (Genesis 1)
- Medical doctors, scientists, nutritionists, and many healthcare practitioners agree that the healthiest diet consists of a foundation of whole grains, lots of fruits and vegetables, smaller amounts of dairy products and fish, and minute amounts of fats, sweets, and red meats.
- The foods that the Bible tells us to eat in large quantities are the healthiest for us. The foods that the Bible tells us to eat on special occasions or with discernment are less healthy for us but still useful if eaten in moderation.
Study Questions
1. Which foods did God give us to eat in the Garden of Eden? Are they still available today and where?
2. Which foods did God allow man to eat after the Flood? Name some occasions when they were eaten in Bible times. When do you eat them?
3. How can we know which foods to eat? Do you ever eat foods more often than recommended? Which ones and why?
4. What is the Mediterranean diet pyramid? What are its eight food groups?
5. Of all the foods God gave us to eat, which do you eat daily and which do you never eat? Why? According to the Mediterranean pyramid, what foods should you be eating the most of?
6. Of all the foods God gave us, which should we eat sparingly? Why?
Chapter 2
The Foundation of the Bible Diet
Chapter Highlights:
• Two Kinds of Fiber
• Wheat— Grain #1
• Barley in the Bible
• Fed on Bread
• Some Whole Grain Brands
Let’s Get Started
Grains have always been the foundation of a healthy diet, in Bible times and in our times. This means every day you should eat something made with grains, just as the Israelites did. It does not mean grains are the largest part of a healthy diet; they are actually the second largest part (Illustration #3).
In this chapter you will see how and why it is essential to eat grains every day, which kinds are best for you and why, and how to prepare them so they can be added to your diet with grace and ease.
*Illustration #3 The Grains Section—The darkened section of this pyramid represents how much of your diet should be devoted to grains.
A Grainy Dream
GENESIS 41:22 Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on one stalk, full and good. (NKJV)
Pharaoh dreamed of seven good heads of grain and asked Joseph, the young Hebrew, what this meant. Joseph, who was gifted with dream interpretation, answered that it meant there would be seven years of great abundance in the land of Egypt. Because grains were a very important part of the lives of all people in the Mediterranean region, it is not surprising that the pharaoh would have grains in his dream, and that Joseph would be able to understand the significance of grains in a dream. Grains held an important part in the everyday lives of the people, which is why we call grains, and bread made from grains, the staff of life — the very foundation of a healthy diet.
This Grain, That Grain, Every Kind of Grain!
There is a large variety of grains, each with a distinct flavor and use. The most basic and universally available grain in the West is wheat. Hard wheat or winter wheat is used for making bread and thickening. Soft wheat or spring wheat is used for pastries, cakes, pies, muffins, and quick breads. Other common grains are rice, barley, rye, millet, corn, triticale, durum wheat, oats, spelt (a kind of wheat), buckwheat, and corn. Many ancient grains are becoming popular because they have a heartier taste and are higher in nutrients than the hybridized grains used in North America. The most popular are kamut, quinoa, and amaranth.
God provided us with bread for our health and healing, but today we must be careful to choose the correct bread. Look for barley bread, whole wheat bread, and breads containing spelt and millet. Breads containing millet and spelt can help ease premenstrual cramps and heal wounds. Barley bread can help our bodies to lower cholesterol, improve digestion, and reduce cancer risk. Whole wheat bread provides us with B complex vitamins, phosphorous, iron, and vitamin E, which protect against heart disease and cancer. Also, the fiber in whole wheat bread can help protect against colon cancer.
Modern and Ancient Grains
Modern Grains • Ancient Grains Rediscovered
Barley • Amaranth
Buckwheat • Barley
Corn • Kamut
Durum Wheat • Quinoa
Hard Wheat • Spelt (a kind of wheat)
Millet
Oats
Rice
Rye
Soft Wheat
Triticale
Can’t Do That!
LUKE 6:1–2 Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grain fields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” (NKJV)
In Jesus’s day, many people ate grain right out of the field, while it was still green. Just like you can have fresh or green lima beans and dried lima beans, you can also have fresh or green grains and dried grains. Usually we eat them dried. In fact, grain is always dried before it is ground into flour. Jesus and his disciples got in trouble for eating the grains, not because they were in somebody else’s field (they were allowed to glean in those days), but because they were picking grains on the Sabbath, which was considered work, and that was not allowed on the Sabbath. The grains had nothing to do with it.
Eat ’Em Every Day
Grains are good sources of protein, carbohydrates, and fiber only if they are whole grains. Whole grains have not been polished or “refined” to remove any of the nutritional part of the grain. The outer layer of most grains— wheat, rice, and barley especially— contains the B vitamins essential for digesting the starch or carbohydrates in the grain. The fiber is roughage that is essential for healthy intestines and good digestion. God made grains to contain a high amount of nutrients so that they could be the foundation of a healthy diet.
It’s the Fiber!
Intake of whole grains has been shown to be paramount in helping to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in both children and adults.
A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2004 concluded that eating three servings of whole grain products daily reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes. They concluded that the intact fibers were responsible for this. However, when they added bran fiber to an ordinary diet, it did not reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. The conclusion to this study of the literature is that only whole grains, because of their soluble fiber, along with additional legumes and fruits, were responsible for reducing the incidence of type 2 diabetes.2 Whole grains are useful in reducing serum homocysteine and C-reactive protein, two types of inflammation often thought to contribute to cardiovascular disease.3 Barley fiber is known to reduce cholesterol, and in May 2006 the FDA approved of this as a medical claim for barley.
Two Kinds of Fiber
Whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables all contain fiber that is essential in a healthy diet. There are two kinds of fibers— soluble and insoluble.
Soluble fiber.
Gums, pectins, and mucilages are the gummy parts of food that slow its passage through the digestive system. They are found in whole grains, dried beans (legumes), and some fruits like apples and vegetables like okra.
Insoluble fiber.
Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin are not soluble in water and increase bulk in the stool and regulate bowel movements. They are found in whole grains, some vegetables, and wheat bran.
Fiber in Your Grains
Grain • Amount • Fiber in Grams
Whole wheat bread • 2 slices • 6.0
Buckwheat(Kasha), cooked • 1 cup • 9.6
All-Bran cereal • ½ cup • 10.6
Oatmeal (not instant) • ¾ cup • 7.7
Ry-Krisp • 3 single • 2.3
Popcorn (unseasoned) • 1 cup • 1.0
Brown rice, cooked • 1 cup • 5.5
Whole wheat spaghetti, cooked • 1 cup • 5.6
Look for the Stamp
The Whole Grains Council places a stamp on many whole grain products that tells if it has 100 percent whole grain or the percentage of whole grains so consumers can be proactive in adding whole grains to their lifestyle and make sure they eat up to forty eight grams of whole grains a day.
Will the Real Whole Grain Please Stand Up?
White flour and white flour products are not whole grains. White rice is not a whole grain. They are refined, or stripped of most nutrients, and processed to remove all the fiber. Often, wheat flour is even bleached to make it look whiter.
Grains
God’s whole grains contain fiber. Eat at least three to eleven servings of whole grain products a day.
Whole Grains to Protect You
What is there about whole grains that makes them such powerhouses of nutrition and health? They contain antioxidants and phytoestrogens that are known to protect you against many chronic diseases including cancer and cardiovascular disease6 Whole grains help to protect you against cancer by binding to carcinogens and removing them from your body.7
Roasting on an Open Fire …
1 SAMUEL 17:17 Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp.” (NKJV)
Many grains will cook faster and have a nutty taste if they are roasted first. This might be why Jesse sent roasted grains to the soldiers; they would take less time to cook and they could even eat them roasted as soon as they got them. During the Vietnam War many Vietnamese soldiers were found with roasted rice in their pockets. Often, this was all the food they had. Rice, wheat, barley, and buckwheat are often roasted or toasted in a heavy pan over a medium-low heat before water is added to cook them. If whole wheat bread flour is roasted this way before it is used as a thickening agent or in gravy, it will take less time to thicken and taste fully cooked.
During Bible times, the only grains people had were whole grains. Grain refinement had not been invented yet. They often roasted grain whole before eating it as a snack. When grains were ripe, they either roasted them or cooked them in a liquid just as you do when you eat whole oats, wheat groats, or whole barley. People of the Bible also made them into flour to make flour products such as bread and flat breads, just the same as we do today.
I often dry-roast barley and/or brown rice before I cook it for a sweeter, nuttier taste. This can make a dish of barley or rice, which might be bland by itself, taste rich. If you cook the roasted grains in a flavored broth such as vegetable or chicken broth, instead of water, it will turn these grains into a dish fit for a king.
Wheat— Grain #1
Wheat is the most common grain used in the West, so we will start with it. There are many kinds of wheat: winter wheat, spring wheat, hard wheat, soft wheat, and emmer wheat, just to name a few. There are also several ancient grains that are in the wheat family but are not the same as the wheat we use today. These are spelt and kamut.
Fiber Sweeps You Clean
Wheat, barley, and rice fiber are all also called “bran.” When you eat whole grains you are eating the natural bran or fiber that God created to be part of a healthy diet. Fiber has at least two roles in your health:
- It binds undesirable toxins and chemicals to itself and removes them from your body.
- It acts like a broom and sweeps out unwanted materials from your intestines or bowels.
Your body needs fiber, bran, and B complex vitamins to digest the starch or carbohydrates in wheat. Fiber, bran, and B complex vitamins are already a part of whole wheat, but are refined out of white flour, which makes white flour products very difficult to digest. For example, your body needs B complex vitamins to digest the starch in wheat. If you were to eat, say, a whole grain piece of bread, within the bread are all the B complex vitamins you need to digest it. On the other hand, if you were to choose a piece of bread made from white flour, your body is forced to rob B vitamins from somewhere else in your body, causing a stress. The result may be that you become deficient in B vitamins, which could cause health problems either directly related to this lack of B vitamins or to the stress your body goes through when robbing B vitamins from elsewhere.
Whole wheat contains protein, carbohydrates, fiber, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc, copper, selenium, folate, phytic acid, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and the vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, C, E.
If you eat refined white-flour products, replace the B vitamins with
1⁄8 teaspoon nutritional yeast and replace the fiber with ½ teaspoon wheat or rice bran to avoid nutritional deficiencies.
Spelt
Spelt is an ancient grain that was known to the Romans as “farrum” and has been traced as far back as 5000 BC in the area we now call Iran. It is also called “farro” and “dinkle.” Spelt has a nutty taste that gives it a stronger presence in baked goods. Many people who are sensitive to wheat can often eat whole grain spelt products with no reaction. Because spelt retains its husk or hull, it is also more resistant to disease and pollution than wheat, which has been bred to lose its husks. This also means that it requires fewer pesticides and other chemicals. Purity Foods reintroduced spelt to the West in 1987, and it has become very popular since.
Spelt was used extensively as medicine by Hildegard von Bingen, or Saint Hildegard as she is often called. Hildegard was an abbess who lived from 1098 to 1179.
Barley in the Bible
Barley • Scripture
Barley in the Field • Exodus 9:31 • Deuteronomy 8:8 • Ruth 1:22; 2:23; 3:2 • 2 Samuel 21:9 • 1 Chronicles 11:13 • Job 31:40 • Isaiah 28:25 • Joel 1:11
Barley in Measures • Leviticus 27:16 • Numbers 5:15 • Ruth 2:17, 23; 3:2, 15, 17 • 2 Samuel 17:28 • 1 Kings 4:28 • 2 Kings 7:1, 16, 18 • 2 Chronicles 2:10, 15 • Jeremiah 41:8 • Ezekiel 45:13 • Hosea 3:2 • Revelation 6:6
Barley Products • Judges 7:13 • 2 Kings 4:42 • 2 Chronicles 27:5 • Ezekiel 4:9, 12; 13:19 • John 6:9, 13
Barley in the Bible
REVELATION 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (NKJV)
Barley* is one of the most-mentioned whole grains in the Bible. It was considered a “lowly” grain and fit for non-royalty. This is why it was used by Elisha and Jesus; they dealt with the common man. Wheat was worth a lot more money than barley, about three times as much.
While barley was not valued as highly as whole wheat, we know barley’s great value today. It helps to lower our risk of heart disease and cancer. Barley stops heart disease in these two ways: it prevents the dangerous LDL cholesterol from sticking to our artery walls, and it prevents tiny blood clots from forming. Barley fights cancers, because barley contains cancer-fighting selenium and vitamin E.
Barley Bread Multiplies
JOHN 6:9–11 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. (NKJV)
Elisha* and Jesus both multiply a few loaves* of barley bread to feed large numbers of people (Illustration #4). There are four times listed in the Bible when Jesus multiplies loaves of bread to feed the crowds, but only one of them, John 6:9–13, mentions that the loaves of bread are made of barley. The people who followed Jesus were common people, not royalty. Their bread would have been the kind that took the least expense to make and was, therefore, the least processed. The less grains are changed from their original form, the better they are for health, and the closer they are to the food God created for us to eat.
Barley Water
Barley water is an old-fashioned remedy for diarrhea, constipation, and an upset stomach. Generally it is called “lemon barley water” or “ginger barley water” and often is called “barley gripe water.” Barley protects against heart disease and cancer. In addition, it tastes great.
Four Healthy Ways to Eat Barley
Loaves or cakes • Great for people who can’t eat wheat
Crackers • Do not usually contain wheat
• Often used as teething biscuits for babies
Soup • Full meal
• Whole grains in a form kids like
Water • Great cure for gas and diarrhea in babies
*Illustration #4 Jesus Multiplies Bread—Jesus took the loaves of barley, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people.
Barley is often in baby-teething crackers and is almost always in vegetarian soup. Mushroom-and-barley soup is a real comfort food (recipe in chapter 19). Made in twenty minutes, the barley will be firm and still in the form of the grain itself. If barley is left to simmer on low for an hour or more (make sure there is enough water for this before you try it), the barley will begin to absorb the water or other liquid and swell. Some of the creamy goodness of the barley will become a great base for the soup. Cooked overnight or throughout the day in a slow cooker of some type, barley soup will be an easy and hearty meal. Barley-and-mushroom or barley-and-vegetable soup is a great way to introduce whole grain barley into your diet.
Millet, Low Starch and High Protein
Millet* is mentioned in the Bible only twice. Small and round, this grain is often used to feed songbirds. For a grain, millet is low in starch and high in protein. It contains no gluten, so it is very difficult to be made into a loaf of bread on its own. Millet is very good cooked into a porridge and eaten for breakfast. It can also be eaten as a cooked grain at meals in place of rice. I often use it in soups because it opens up or explodes in the pot when it is boiled, and this makes for nice thickening.
The Case of the Missing Rice
Grasses and cereals are mentioned in the Bible, but rice is not mentioned by name. We know that people in Bible times had rice, however, because there are recipes using rice that were published around the time of Jesus.
Rice Is a Grain
Brown rice or unpolished rice is a whole grain. White rice of any kind— polished, enriched, fortified, or instant— is still not a whole grain. Whole-rice or brown-rice flour is whole grain flour. White rice flour is not. This means that most ethnic restaurants that serve rice (for example: Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Italian, Mexican, East and West Indian, Spanish, Portuguese, and African restaurants) are not serving whole grain rice.
In restaurants, read the menu and ask questions if you want whole grain rice. Ask the server if the restaurant offers brown, unpolished rice. Look for brown, unpolished rice on your grocery shelves. Don’t neglect rice, since rice plays a prominent role in the Mediterranean diet and in your health. Besides, rice can be enjoyed in many wonderful ways, from rice pilafs, risottos, and cold rice salads, to thick soups and stews.
Rice Pasta
Rice pasta is very popular in oriental cooking. Alas, it is not whole grain or brown rice. However, health food stores and health food sections of large supermarkets often have brown-rice pasta available. It is generally considered an “allergy” product because people who are allergic to wheat or gluten can often eat rice products, as they do not contain gluten.
The White and Brown of It
White rice of all kinds takes less time to cook than brown or whole grain rice. This makes it almost impossible to gradually introduce brown rice in with white rice, unless you plan ahead. By precooking brown rice and adding it to the final stage of cooking white rice, you can introduce brown rice to your family slowly. Once you develop a taste for whole grains and their rich, nutty flavors, you won’t have to be concerned with this; you will be able to serve brown rice on its own!
Roasted Grain— Brown Rice
JOSHUA 5:11 And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. (NKJV)
Roasted grain was very popular in Bible times because it was partially cooked by the roasting, and people could eat it without any further cooking. It also had more taste than non-roasted grains. Roasting grains before cooking is done in many different recipes using brown rice, barley, or wheat. Brown rice is excellent when it is roasted before adding water or liquid to cook it. Try roasting it over medium heat in a heavy pan until it begins to give off a nutty smell. Stir it frequently. It can also be roasted in a small amount of olive oil or clarified butter until it browns or roasts. Then add the required amount of liquid for cooking. Popped corn might be considered the modern version of roasted grains.
A baked brown-rice pudding, with roasted rice, dried fruit, and roasted nuts, is a wonderful dessert, whether it is made with dairy, soy, or rice milk. Often, roasting the rice first shortens the cooking time.
Fed on Bread
ACTS 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. (NKJV)
In the Bible, the word bread and the word food are practically interchangeable. That’s how important bread was in these ancient times. Breaking bread together was almost a necessity of hospitality in Bible times, and still is in the Middle East. Whole grain flour products, like breads and crackers, are an easy way to eat whole grains. Bread is the most popular way to eat wheat, the grain of choice for North Americans. As long as the bread is made of whole grains, it is nutritious. Whole grain bagels, muffins, pita bread, pasta, biscuits, cookies, crackers, tortillas, and even pretzels are available in most grocery stores and health food stores. Look for whole grain mixes to make cakes, quick breads, pancakes, and waffles. Whole grain bread can also be made in bread machines, and there are many natural whole grain bread mixes available.
*Illustration #5 The Last Supper— Jesus and his disciples most likely ate whole grain, unleavened bread on the evening before the Crucifixion.
In Bible times bread was the main part of every meal. This bread was much coarser than the bread we have today. The grains were ground with stone grinding wheels, and very fine flour* was reserved for wealthy people. The common man ate a heavy bread made of coarsely ground grains. Every day was bread-breaking day in Bible times. The barley or wheat flour was mixed with water and salt, shaped into loaves, and then baked. At the Last Supper, Jesus described the breaking of the unleavened bread of Passover as a symbol of himself, and early Christians remembered Jesus’s words in a ceremony called “breaking of bread* ” (Illustration #5). The breads that contain cooked whole grains or coarsely ground grains are much healthier than breads made of just flour. Bread made from branless flour is generally not considered a whole grain product.
“Whole grain,” “whole wheat,” and “made with only whole grains” are the phrases to look for on the labels of bakery products.
If the label says “wheat flour,” “unbleached wheat flour,” or anything other than “whole grain” or “whole wheat,” chances are the product is not entirely made of whole grains.
Many food companies would like you to think that their breads, rolls, and crackers are entirely made of whole grains, or that their products are made from the entire grain. This is not always the case. Many products advertise that they contain whole grains, and they do. But they are made from refined wheat flour with very few whole grains added. This is not a whole grain product! Please read the labels before you buy a product.
Jesus Told Me to Do It, So I’m Gonna Do It
ACTS 20:11 Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. (NKJV)
The disciples were always breaking bread as Jesus had shown them to do (Illustration #5); it is called the Lord’s Supper* now. Even Paul performed this remembrance act in Troas*. While he was talking, or giving the sermon, one of the people listening, Eutychus*, sank into a deep sleep, fell out of the third-story window, and died. Paul came out and hugged him, and he was raised from the dead. Then Paul went upstairs again, performed the Lord’s Supper, and talked until daylight. Presumably nobody else fell out of the window.
Can’t Stand the White Stuff
Whole grain pasta is the easiest way to introduce whole grain products to your family. Whole wheat, spelt, durum wheat, buckwheat, rice, and mixed-grain pastas are available in health food stores and many grocery stores. I especially like the spelt pastas that are made by Purity Foods and sold under the name VitaSpelt. Many companies make whole grain pastas; just read the label. Even a pasta product that is only partially made up of whole grain is better than one that has no whole grains in it at all. Once you and your family get used to the taste of whole grains and whole grain pastas, you will not be able to eat the white stuff again. Now that you have read this information on how important whole grains are, please consider changing to a whole grain diet.
If you or your family has trouble wanting to eat the very heavy, natural, whole grain bread that is the most healthful, which is also the most similar to the bread eaten in Bible times, start slow. Start by eating bread that contains some whole grains. When you have become accustomed to this, switch to a product that contains 100 percent of the grain and no refined flours.
Pasta in the Bible
Nope, there is no mention of pasta in the Bible. But there are recipes published during the time of Jesus that refer to “paste” in various dishes. This paste, which is made of flour and water, and sometimes eggs, is then rolled flat. That sounds suspiciously like pasta!
Although it is very important for your health to eat whole grains, it is also important to keep your sanity about it. If you are out to eat at a friend’s house or a potluck, don’t make a big scene. Just eat what is provided. It is better to eat refined grains once in a while than to offend your friends and neighbors by refusing them. Worrying* about your health is not recommended either.
Some Whole Grain Brands
Here are some brand names of foods that generally are made from whole grains. Please read the label to ensure that whole grains are in the products. Also try to purchase organic grains and grain products whenever possible.
Ancient Harvest
Annie’s
Arrowhead Mills
Back to Nature
Barbara’s
Barilla
Bob’s Red Mill
Cascadian Farms
Clif Bars
De Bowes
De Cecco
Eden Foods
Erwhon
Food for Life
Garden of Eatin’
General Mills
Gia Russa
Health Valley
Hodgson Mills
Kashi
Lotus Foods
Lundberg
Nature’s Path
Newman’s Own
Pacifica Natural Foods
Peace Cereal
Purity Foods
Seeds for Change
Tinkyáda
Chapter Wrap-Up
- God made grains to contain carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, B vitamins, vitamin E, minerals, fiber, and every good thing essential for health. (Genesis 1:11–12)
- God made whole grains, and people in Bible times, like Elisha and Jesus, ate whole grain barley bread. (1 Kings 4:42–44 and John 6:9–13)
- Wheat, spelt, barley, millet, and rice were eaten in Bible times and are still considered to be the most healthful grains today.
- Jesus told us to eat bread daily, as was the custom in those days. (Matthew 6:11)
Study Questions
1. When is the best time to eat grains? How many different times a day do you think you should eat grains?
2. Name at least five health benefits of eating whole grains.
3. Which grains were eaten in Bible times? Which ones should you eat and why?
4. What kind of bread did Elisha and Jesus multiply and why? What made bread in Bible times different from bread today?
Chapter 3: Ezekiel’s Punishment
Our Health Food
Chapter Highlights:
• It’s Essential!
• Beans— Our Health Food
• Lentils: The Bible’s Very First Vegetable
Let’s Get Started
The second level of the Mediterranean food pyramid has three categories. In this chapter we will start with the second level’s smallest section: beans and other legumes (Illustration #6). Beans and legumes played a very important role in the food supply of people in Bible times and still do today for all people the world over. “Legumes,” “beans,” and “pulses” all mean the same thing. They are the seeds of plants in the same families. Dried peas are also in this category.
*Illustration #6 Beans, Other Legumes, and Nuts Section—The darkened section of this pyramid represents how much of your diet should be devoted to beans, other legumes, and nuts.
Ezekiel’s Punishment
EZEKIEL 4:9 Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it. (NKJV)
Ezekiel was of a priestly family, and he was called upon to be a prophet among the Jews who were exiled in Babylon. God told him to put the sins of the house of Israel upon himself and lie on his left side for 390 days and then to lie on his right side for 40 days. During this time he was to eat only this special food at set times with water to go with it.
Ezekiel Bread
Flour or bread made with a combination of wheat, barley, millet, spelt, beans, and lentils is generally called “Ezekiel bread” or “Ezekiel 4:9 Bread.” Many of the specialty breads use sprouted grains and sprouted beans to make the flour for this bread. Most often the ingredients are ground into flour and then made into bread. Some recipes call for a combination of whole grain flours and precooked beans that are simply mixed together and then baked.
Often grains and pulses are sprouted and then ground, or the beans are cooked and added to the grain flours. Any combination of these ingredients is called Ezekiel bread.
It’s Essential!
All animals and plants need protein, which is made of amino acids. There are twenty-two known amino acids, and of these, eight are considered to be essential for humans. The essential amino acids cannot be made in your body as the other amino acids can; that is why it is “essential” to get them from your food. Foods that contain all the essential amino acids are sources of complete protein. Dairy products, all animal meats, eggs, and soybeans are the only foods that contain complete protein. Grain, beans, nuts, and seeds contain incomplete proteins.
Complementary Proteins
Since the 1970s, there has been much controversy about the nutritional value of eating foods that do not contain all the amino acids. For example, wheat and other grains are low in an amino acid called lysine. Beans, however, are high in lysine. So it was thought that the solution was simply to eat grains, like wheat or rice, at the same meal with beans. These were called complementary proteins, since they complemented each other to make a complete protein. It was done with several combinations— beans with rice or wheat, beans with nuts or seeds, or dairy products with grains and/or beans. Ezekiel bread contains grains and beans combined to make complementary proteins. Ezekiel flour contains balanced protein, fiber, and vitamins B and E.
A Balancing Act: Amino Acids
When Frances Moore Lappé published Diet for a Small Planet in 1971, her theory was that the amount of available amino acids was determined by whatever was the lowest level of any of the amino acids in all the food eaten at one meal. So a lot of people actually kept track of which foods they ate and whether they had complete protein at each meal. Nutritionists now know that the amount of amino acids in each meal does not determine the amount of amino acids for the entire day. It is possible to have a high-lysine food at one meal and wheat at another and still have a balance of amino acids.
God knew that something like this would be too complicated for people to keep track of, so he allowed the Israelites to eat meat, dairy products, and eggs, and he gave them Ezekiel flour. Ezekiel flour has the perfect mix of grains and beans to make complete protein (Illustration #7). According to the Mediterranean diet, we should eat beans and grains daily.
*Illustration #7 Dried Beans and Grains—Beans and grains combine to form complete protein.
Beans— Our Health Food
2 SAMUEL 17:28–29 [They] brought beds and basins, earthen vessels and wheat, barley and flour, parched grain and beans, lentils and parched seeds, honey and curds, sheep and cheese of the herd, for David and the people who were with him to eat. For they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.” (NKJV)
David’s friends brought him grains, beans, and dairy products— a perfect complement of proteins to keep his soldiers healthy. The only additional foods they needed were some fresh greens.
Have you been eating low-fiber foods? Have you ignored whole grains and beans? Perhaps you need to have some Ezekiel flour products to restore your health! Beans contain protein, carbohydrates, and fiber. They also contain B vitamins and are low in fat. Beans are easy to carry around dry without spoiling, and they have a variety of tastes.
Beans, Lentils, or Nuts
Have at least one serving per day.
In societies where there are no refined grains, where the majority of meals and foods are high in natural plant-based fibers, there are also very low rates of degenerative diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, colon cancer, and diverticulitis.
Where Do I Get This Fiber?
By following the Mediterranean diet and eating whole grains frequently during the day and adding in some form of high-fiber beans, legumes, or nuts, you will start getting the kind of fiber required for health. There are many companies that make whole grain and/or bean products: Eden Foods, Hains, Kashi, Westbrae, Cascadian Farm, Amy’s, Garden of Eatin’, Soy Deli, White Wave, Lundberg Family Farms, Barbara’s Bakery, Arrowhead Mills, and Bob’s Red Mill. Many of these products are sold frozen in your health food store or supermarket health food section.
Cascadian Farm, for example, makes a frozen entrée from bulgur wheat, lentils, garbanzo beans, vegetables, raisins, and seasonings. This is a great meal in itself. All you really need to add is a dark green salad.
Beans As Medicine
Beans have been shown to reduce serum cholesterol in many studies. Canned beans and even tofu are being used to reduce all body fat in many clinics in the United States and Canada. The old saying still stands: eat a cup of beans a day and lose a pound of weight. Beans can reduce your cholesterol and other body fats.
If you are going to eat canned beans, check the sugar content. Please do not eat beans with any sugar in them, as this defeats the purpose of healthy eating. Diabetics may benefit from eating bean fiber but not if it contains sugar.
Lower Your Cholesterol
A mixed diet containing soybeans, almonds, oats, and barley was used in the dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods used in several studies done at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, showing that these foods, high in the ingredient beta-sitosterol, can help to lower cholesterol levels up to 20 percent if followed for a year. This particular study found that these foods in the diet lowered LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, often called the “bad cholesterol,” in similar ways to statin drugs, but with none of the side effects of the statins. This study also showed that it wasn’t just one food that did it, but a mixed diet of different high-fiber foods combined with foods high in beta-sitosterol.5 For more information on using beta-sitosterol for health, visit www.healthaliveproducts.com.
GTT
In 1924 Dr. Seale Harris recognized that certain individuals secreted excessive insulin in response to eating refined carbohydrates and white flour. He even devised a special blood sugar test called the six-hour Glucose Tolerance Test, or GTT, to diagnose hyperinsulinism and functional hypoglycemia. Beans are excellent for diabetics.
Fiber is essential to your digestive processes. Digestion is less efficient in a low-fiber lifestyle.
But Beans Give Me Gas!
Beans are known for giving people gas, which happens because beans are difficult for some people to digest. There are two reasons for this. One is that the fiber in beans causes your body to work better and this creates gas at first. After you have been eating a high-fiber diet for a few days or weeks, this will not happen. The second reason is that there are two complex sugars called raffinose and stachyose in beans that some people cannot digest very well without forming gas. Generally, this is remedied by adding kombu to the bean-cooking water or a small amount of asafoetida to the food. You can also purchase Beano in most stores, which will help you digest many gas-giving foods.
Beano is made of alpha galactosidase, an enzyme that can help digest beans, whole grains, broccoli, cabbage, and other sulfur-containing foods. A product called Super Digestive Enzyme Formula contains alpha galactosidase and seven other enzymes to help improve digestion and prevent gas from eating beans and whole grains.
Cooking Beans
The best way to cook beans to avoid the gas problem is to use the “quick soak” method. This will reduce the amount of complex sugars that ferment and give you gas. Start by using a stainless-steel saucepan that has a tight-fitting lid. Add three times as much water as the amount of beans you want to cook. Bring the water to a boil on high heat while you clean the beans. Slowly add the beans to the boiling water and boil them hard for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the beans, and let them sit until they are completely rehydrated. The time it takes will vary between bean sizes and could be anywhere from 1¼ to 4 hours. When the beans are fully soaked and no longer look shriveled, pour out the water. Add fresh water and bring them to a boil over medium heat. Then reduce the heat to a slow simmer until they are fully cooked. Then add seasonings. Do not add salt, tomatoes, or other acids during the initial cooking.
Voilà! Instant meals!
Many health-conscious companies make quick lunch or snack soups or pasta meals in a cup that you just have to add boiling water to and wait 3–5 minutes. This makes it possible to have whole grains and beans ready in just a few minutes. Please look at the label of any meal-in-a-cup-type foods to be sure that they are really made of whole grains and beans. A black bean soup should really have black beans in it, but it should also have whole grain flour or pasta. If you are fond of the ramen noodles meals, please buy the ones made of whole grains like soba or whole wheat udon.
White Flour Noodles Spell Trouble
If you eat meals of white refined flour noodles, you are only asking for trouble later on. White pasta can raise your blood sugar or serotonin levels too high and make you sleepy. They can also strip your body of B vitamins (because B vitamins are required to digest the starch in pasta and grains) by using up your B vitamins and not replacing them as there are no B vitamins in white flour pastas. This could make you feel nervous, edgy, hyper, tired, or lead to exhaustion later in the day.
Beans Under Pressure
A pressure cooker may be used to cook large beans, but not the smaller beans like mung beans or lentils. The skins on the smaller beans have a tendency to come off during cooking and clog up the air vent. I generally cook beans in a pressure cooker with an onion, garlic, carrot, bay leaf, and strip of kombu. When you use a pressure cooker the beans don’t have to be soaked first, they take less time to cook as well, and they don’t cause gas. If you want to cook beans in a pressure cooker, read your pressure cooker’s instructions. Beans can be cooked many different ways.
Patience Is a Virtue: Slow-Cook Beans
With the exception of soybeans, it is possible to cook beans without soaking them first. Put them in a pot of water after cleaning them. Use enough water to soak the beans and to cook them. So if you are cooking one cup of beans, you will need at least 3¼ to 4 cups of water. Do not add salt or acid. Cover the pan. Turn the heat to medium-high and bring the beans to a simmer. This should take around an hour. Turn the heat to low and let them simmer for about 4 hours. I have done this in a slow cooker overnight or during the day and found the beans to be perfectly cooked. Many ethnic recipes for cooking beans and even recipes from famous chefs do not call for soaking the beans first. It might be said, then, that not soaking the beans before cooking is the newest and the oldest trend in cooking them. Please do not add baking soda to beans at any stage of soaking or cooking. This can remove a lot of nutrients from the finished beans.
Beans from a Can
If you want to use canned beans, check the labels first. Make sure that there is no sugar or EDTA in the beans. Wash them off to remove the majority of added salt. Many health food stores have beans in jars and cans with no preservatives or additional ingredients. They often have beans that have been organically grown without chemicals as well. Canned beans with no or low salt and no sugar are good for you.
Easy Beans
Cook beans according to the recipe for regularly cooked beans and put them on a paper towel to dry them just enough to no longer be wet. Then put them in a plastic bag or covered refrigerator container in the freezer. Use them in salads, add them to soups and grain dishes, mash them and put them in sandwiches, or just keep them handy so you can eat them any time of the day. If you freeze several different types of beans, you will have lots of variety. It is especially wonderful to have black beans like this that you can defrost and make into black bean dip or add to basic soup, to give you a special black bean soup.
*Illustration #8 A Bible Diet Meal— Try cooking olive oil, onion, garlic, and beans in a large pot.
ON Target • OFF Target
Eating beans and dairy daily Protein Facts: 2 tablespoons of lentils= 7.1g of protein 2 tablespoons of cheddar cheese= 7.1g of protein Eat 20–35 grams of fiber a day. • Eating beans loaded with salt or fat. Eating refined breads and pastas
Lentils: The Bible’s Very First Vegetable
GENESIS 25:34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils* ; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (NKJV)
Jacob bought Esau’s birthright with a dinner of lentil stew. They had been fighting over who would take over when their father died. Esau had been out in the field and was very hungry, so hungry that he gave up his rightful place in the family for some lentil stew. Lentils are a kind of bean or legume. They are easy to cook and do not require soaking first. They are red, brown, or green and are shaped like a convex lens. Lentils happen to be the first vegetable mentioned in the Bible.
How Much Fiber Should I Eat?
The recommendation for total fiber in the daily diet is 20 to 35 grams. This will allow for proper daily bowel movements that will assist your body in removing the toxic waste matter excreted in your stools without the excretion of any calcium.9 Children two years of age and up should increase their dietary fiber intake in an amount equal to or greater than their age plus 5 grams a day. For example, a three-year-old child should have at least 8 grams of fiber a day. This should continue to increase until age twenty, when the fiber intake should be 25 to 35 grams a day.10 This includes all fiber from whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. Even as much as a 6-gram increase in fiber can reduce serum cholesterol concentrations.11
Soybeans: They Didn’t Have ’Em, but We Do!
Many kinds of beans were eaten in Bible times and still are eaten in the Middle East and the entire Mediterranean region. Soybeans, unfortunately, were not grown in this area during Bible times, according to Bill Shurtleff, the author of many books on tofu and soybeans and an authority on soybeans. Nowadays, there are many kinds of soybeans for your use, and they make a wonderful addition to your life.
The Complete Protein Bean
In 1979 Nevin Scrimshaw and Vernon Young of M.I.T. published the results of research showing that soybeans do contain complete protein.12 They are the only beans known to contain complete protein. This means that they are balanced in amino acids and do not need to be complemented with grains, nuts, seeds, dairy products, or animal proteins. Until this discovery, it was not known why soybeans were so healthy.
Soybeans Are Important Seeds
GENESIS 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (NKJV)
Soybeans are the seeds of the soy plant. They are used as food and for oil in North America and throughout the world and have many other industrial uses that make them a valuable cash crop. Soybeans are also very healthy to use as a regular food. Some form of soybean can be eaten daily.
Soybeans Contain Phytoestrogens
Isoflavones have been in the news lately because they are the newest form of plant-based hormones. Genistein is an isoflavone found in soybeans that is especially beneficial to men and women because it contains phytoestrogen. Phytoestrogens have been shown to be effective in both protecting against and treating prostate cancer14 and in preventing the symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, memory loss, and night sweats.
Phyto-What?
Oftentimes, there are undesirable side effects with synthetic estrogen pills and creams. These generally do not occur with plant-based estrogens in your diet. Phytoestrogens have been proven useful in offering protection against breast, bowel, prostate, and other cancers, cardiovascular disease, brain function, alcohol abuse, osteoporosis, as well as menopausal symptoms.16
Soybeans and Beta-sitosterols
Sprouted soybeans are an excellent source of Beta-sitosterols, also called sterols. Sterols have been researched for more than thirty years for their immune-boosting properties. Research published in 2004 in the journal Lipids in Health and Disease shows that sterols from plants, including nuts, seeds, and soybeans can not only lower cholesterol levels, but also shows that plant sterols possess anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-atherogenicity and anti-oxidation activity.17 The best soybeans are non-GMO and/or organic; this ensures that they will not contain genetically modified materials that have not been fully researched as to safety.
It is the high-soybean diet in the East that is deemed responsible for the low level of menopausal symptoms in Asian women, who traditionally eat a high-soybean, high-fiber diet.
Women with PMS (generally including the symptoms of bloating, crankiness, headaches, fatigue, or water retention directly before menstruation) or women who are entering menopause (the actual stoppage of the menstrual flow), or the years before actual menopause called perimenopause (characterized by many symptoms including weight gain, craving for sugars, salt, or fats, fatigue, hot flashes, memory loss, and irritability) find that including soy products in their lifestyle can reduce some of these symptoms. Although there are many creams and supplements in the health food store or pharmacy for these conditions, it is best to seek the advice of a medical professional before using anything stronger than eating foods high in phytoestrogens like soybeans.
Women with PMS, perimenopause, or actual menopause should eat some soybean products daily to ease their symptoms.
How Do You Like Your Soybeans?
Soybeans are eaten as beans in a side dish or as baked beans, the traditional ways of eating any dried beans. I prefer to eat soybeans in the form of tofu, tempeh, soyburgers, or tempeh burgers. I also drink soy protein and soy milk– based shakes that are high in isoflavones, especially genistein.
A diet high in soybeans and avocados was very useful in reducing the amount of NSAIDS used for treating symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee and hip.18
Ezekiel’s Punishment Is Our Health Food
The mixing of fibers from whole grains, beans, and lentils into what we call Ezekiel flour may have been a punishment for Ezekiel, but it is really a wonderful health food for everybody. Because there are so many modern health problems that can be directly related to a low-fiber diet, it is no wonder that people all over the world are rediscovering the special flour blend that has come to be known as Ezekiel flour. God created this special recipe for Ezekiel thousands of years ago, and now it is your special health food.
Chapter Wrap-Up
- For years there has been a controversy in the area of health foods and nutrition about eating beans and grains together to make complementary and complete protein. Ezekiel was told by God how to make grains and beans into a bread that would sustain life for a long time— more than a year, actually. This should tell scientists that God made the food, and he knows exactly how to put it together to be the most healthful. (Ezekiel 4:9)
- Make sure that when you eat beans you also eat whole grains on the same day, not necessarily at the same meal. Try various ethnic dishes that naturally mix beans or lentils and whole grains together as a way to start eating this more healthful diet.
- Beans in some form should be eaten daily as part of the Mediterranean diet. Doing so will improve your digestion and elimination, and reduce your risk for heart disease, cancers, and menopause or PMS symptoms.
- God also made soybeans, even if the Bible does not mention them or if people did not know of them in the Bible lands. They are very healthful and can be included in your diet weekly.
Study Questions
1. What is different about Ezekiel’s bread recipe?
2. Why is Ezekiel’s punishment our health food?
3. What are amino acids, and why do we need them?
4. What’s so great about beans and lentils? Give four examples.
5. Which bean is the most healthful? Why?
Chapter 4
Daniel and His Diet for Strength
Chapter Highlights:
• Daniel Put Vegetables to the Test
• Broccoli Sprouts, Cabbage, Ginkgo Biloba, and Garlic
Let’s Get Started
Believe it or not, whole grains, beans, and peas are from the vegetable family. You probably don’t think of them as vegetables, but they are. There are a lot more vegetables in the vegetable kingdom than we have discussed so far— root vegetables like potatoes, beets, carrots, and sweet potatoes; bulb vegetables like onions, garlic, and kohlrabi; flowering vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower; head vegetables like cabbage and lettuce; leafy vegetables like parsley, kale, and collards; and hanging vegetables like tomatoes and peppers. There are yellow, orange, red, purple, brown, green, white, and pink vegetables. In short, vegetables are endless in tastes and varieties.
Daniel Put Vegetables to the Test
DANIEL 1:12–13 Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants. (NKJV)
Daniel asked to eat vegetables in preference to the king’s royal food and wine. Why do you think he did that? Because he didn’t want to fit in with the Babylonians? Because he missed his regular food? The clue to this strange action is in Daniel 1:3–4.
Did They Eat Junk Food?
DANIEL 1:3–4 Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. (NKJV)
The young men chosen for this assignment were to be the healthiest men among the royalty and nobility, the best learners, the best of all the available young men. This was Daniel and his friends. What made them this way? You got it! Eating mostly vegetables, no wine, no rich foods, and no junk foods. Even when they were put to the test*, they were ten times better in wisdom and understanding than all the magicians and astrologers in his kingdom.
*Illustration #9 The Vegetables Section—The darkened section of this pyramid represents how much of your diet should be devoted to vegetables.
How Much Should I Eat?
If you look at the Mediterranean diet/Bible diet food pyramid section for vegetables, you will notice it is actually the largest section (Illustration #9). This means you should eat more vegetables than any other food each day. It also means that you should eat more vegetables than fruit, grains, or animal proteins. Whew! That’s a lot of vegetables! Isn’t it wonderful that vegetables are also the most convenient to carry around and the least expensive to buy?
Have Some More!
The average North American eats only the basic seven or eight kinds of vegetables— corn, peas, potatoes, green beans, head lettuce, green peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. As recently as fifty years ago, the average person ate more than twenty different vegetables, which they grew and stored or preserved for the winter. Actually, a wider variety of vegetables is available to us today, in most supermarkets, than was available ten years ago. Be adventurous and try a new vegetable!
A Word About Potatoes
Whole, unpeeled potatoes are real food. Peeled and deep-fried French fries are not. Baked potatoes are real food, potato chips are not. Homemade scalloped potatoes made from fresh potatoes that have not been peeled and are baked in a low-fat sauce are real food. Packaged, peeled, chemically treated scalloped potatoes are not real food— they are processed food stuffs.
*Illustration #10 Potatoes vs. French Fries—Always make sensible choices when selecting food. Ask yourself questions like: Is it high in fats? Does it contain lots of salt? Is it filled with chemicals? If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions, make a healthier selection.
A Not-So-Well-Known Benefit of Spinach
Your mother, grandmother, and, perhaps, your second-grade teacher all told you to “eat more vegetables.” Most of you grew up knowing that spinach made Popeye stronger, but do you eat spinach on a regular basis? Do you know that it can prevent macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in people over sixty-five?
Fresh Is Best
Fresh vegetables are the best. raw vegetables are excellent snack foods (Illustration #11). Each day you need to eat some raw vegetables. The U.S. government says everyone should eat at least five to eight half-cup servings of vegetables, and at least one should be raw. This is actually less than the Bible diet recommends.