“And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.'” Genesis 1:29 ESV
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Background
Friends, if you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know why health is of great value to me and you know my personal story.
It’s funny because I’ve been a nut for nutrition for many years, however, I now know I was on the wrong track.
For about 6 years, I was a sold-out, bought-in believer in the paleo-like teachings of Weston A. Price’s followers and am now no longer.
I am not going to get into the science of it all, because nowadays you can search for the point you want to make and find “studies” to prove your side. However, if you want to do some research, check out: Nutrition Facts, The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, Forks Over Knives, or check out some documentaries I recently recommended. But I will say that oftentimes, we scour the internet in search of “proof” that the diet or lifestyle WE PREFER (ie: bacon, steak, whole-fat raw-milk ice cream, eggs fried in lard, etc.) is actually beneficial to us and then we sit pridefully on our throne without really challenging our thinking with ANY other viewpoint.
I absolutely do believe Dr. Weston A. Price was an amazing man, dentist, observational scientist, and more. It’s obvious he had a heart to help people be well. He was absolutely correct in his theories against processed foods. However, I personally feel his nutrition research in the 20s and 30s does not warrant the kind of teachings that are now promoted by those who follow his legacy. If you don’t know, there is a heavy emphasis on animal products such as all kinds of meat, butter, bone broth, kefir, etc. (albeit organic and grass-fed), very similar to the “paleo” type of diet.
However, instead of being negative, I just call that period of our lives “Phase One”. It was definitely a good transition from the SAD (standard American diet) way of life we were living prior. It brought us to a place where we were no longer living off processed foods and pasteurized drinks. We came to value “real” organic food and get ourselves back to basics.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said…
But, there was still more to learn.
Our health was suffering and we needed help. Thankfully, our sweet 80-something-year-old doctor taught us all about our new way of living! He healed from his own cancer decades ago and has helped countless others do the same, much to the dismay of his colleagues in the medical industry. (As I’ve stated previously, we’re not against the medical industry. We just believe many have it wrong in a few key areas of prevention, nutrition, and truly healing disease.)
His recommendation to all of his patients was a biblically-based, whole food, plant-based way of life. I fought him tooth and nail about it, citing all of my W.A. Price/”traditional foods” wisdom and proclaiming that surely I knew the right path and was already on it.
His response?
“How’s that working for you?”
Ouch.
Choices have consequences
After weeks of processing his advice, I took a good hard look at myself and others I knew who were followers of the same teachings. With the exception of a few (which could simply be a product of “good genes”, exceptionally low stress-levels, or the fact that it simply hadn’t caught up with them yet), most were not an ideal picture of health. Many were facing their own health challenges, including myself, my Amish friends (!), and even some of the bloggers out there whom I followed! Now, I believe that diet is not the end-all-be-all of solid health and that there are other areas that we need to work on as well, but this did begin to raise some red flags for me.
I write this not to accuse or blame (so please, no hate mail, W.A. Price followers!), because we’re all on this journey of figuring out the best path to health and wholeness together and it can be HARD! But when I really took that good hard look and compared it to the people following my doctor’s advice, it was like night and day. The people whom I was recommended to learn about and learn from were healing from cancers, thyroid problems, obesity, autoimmune diseases, tumors, diabetes, and more! All while gaining more energy, becoming more fit, and truly getting more nourishment!
I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing, but I committed to changing our diet to be plant-based for 2 weeks. Friends, that was many, many years ago. And we’ve never looked back.
NEVER would I have thought we’d ever do this. I mean NEVER. I was one of those folks who condemned the practice (in my own ignorance)!
But friends, it’s so nourishing for our bodies! It’s living food! For our living cells!
What we eat is pure nutritional goodness, straight from the earth. And it’s SOOOOOO yummy! Our world has opened up with the addition of so many flavors and textures and combinations of foods that I feel like my whole life was missing! 🙂
But, “science”
I know, I know…
What about protein?
What about calcium?
What about B vitamins?
Those are all of the standard questions I used to ask before I knew better too.
But did you know that:
Americans actually eat TOO much protein on average? (source)
Lentils have 9g of protein per half cup and black beans have 8g per half cup? (source)
Just 2 tablespoons of chia seeds have 177g of calcium? (source)
Foods like nutritional yeast, nuts, seeds, mushrooms, spirulina, and grains are excellent sources of all of the B vitamins? (source)
In the words of my doctor, “Where do you think horses (one of the most muscular large animals there are) get their protein, calcium, and vitamins from?”
Plants!
Mostly grasses, in fact!
.
The growing trend of “traditional foods”
I was first introduced to the traditional foods movement way back in 2008. It was a quiet and sort of underground movement of people who recognized the need to get back to whole foods. However, with the help of social media, it has now quickly morphed into something dangerous with many people advocating for dangerous eating practices such as eating whole sticks of butter daily, or only eating animal products and consuming zero fiber. Yikes! This is NOT the way to health.
What we see on social media today was certainly NOT what our ancestors were consuming.
Did they eat meat and dairy? Yes. Was it all they ate? No. Did they consume insanely large amounts of it? No. Was it the most nourishing diet of their era? Yes.
But we must ask why.
The generations before us simply didn’t have access to the plethora of foods we now have access to. They didn’t have the option to drive down the road to Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, or Costco and grab a cart full of fresh produce, nuts, and seeds from around the globe. They only had access to what they could grow, store, and eat within a short period of time. They were in desperate need of vitamins and minerals and they could easily find them in their animals’ milk and meat. But did they have an unlimited supply of meat and dairy the way we do today? Absolutely not! Did they live long and healthy lives? It doesn’t seem so.
The Blue Zones
While W.A. Price observed a variety of people groups around the globe and documented how their health changed when processed foods were introduced, he did not perform any longevity studies on the people eating traditional foods. So while their teeth may have looked good and their facial structure was strong, we have no evidence that they were living long, healthy lives free from disease.
So where do we see isolated people groups living long, healthy lives throughout history? The Blue Zones. If you’re unfamiliar, I’m not going to get into the details here, as there are many resources out there for you to investigate (the book, social media, even a Netflix series). But suffice it to say, these people groups from around the globe have consistently been the healthiest people on the planet, with the highest percentage of centenarians. THESE are the people we should be learning from.
And what is one of the common themes we see in each community? A plant-based lifestyle.
Check them out! You’ll be so encouraged!
What does Scripture say?
Genesis 1:29 says, “Then God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;'” Genesis 1:29 NASB
We were originally created to eat plants. It really can’t get much more clear than this. Our physiology reflects these verses. We were not created with the teeth, digestive tract, stomach acid, or claws that carnivores or even omnivores have. Meat was not part of the original plan and our bodies agree. It is an obvious and well-known fact that humans do not have prominent canine teeth for shredding animal flesh, our jaws move in all directions allowing for grinding and chewing plants (carnivores and omnivores have jaws that only open and close), our intestines are long like those of herbivores and frugivores (which doesn’t digest meat well; leaving it to putrify because of the time our digestion takes), our stomach acid is a much weaker concentration (not like that of carnivores and omnivores which is strong to help digest meat), and our hands and nails are again not created like those designed to rip open flesh, but rather to hold and open fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
Yes, much later in Scripture God allowed us to consume meat following the flood, which destroyed plant life for a time. But does that mean it is ideal for our health today? We are called to be wise stewards of our bodies. This means denying our own flesh (putting aside our WANT of certain foods we enjoy) and doing what is best for our health so that we may have the strength and longevity to serve the Lord as long as He wills.
The Bible both begins AND ends with a tree of life, fruit, and health. Before the curse AND after, God gives us a picture of a garden and perfect health. He does not give us the image of gnawing on a cow carcass for all of eternity, but rather an endless bounty of vegetation.
“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:” Revelation 22:1-3 KJV
Doesn’t that sound wonderful?
We’ve been so incredibly blessed by this new path so full of life. I pray that you’ll look into for yourself and give it a try. You never know what God may do through it!
Note:
**We do NOT use the term vegan, as I’ve said before, since many (but not all) vegans eat only processed vegan junk food (think of the popular chocolate sandwich cookies) which are completely devoid of life, only in the name of sparing the death of animals. We believe this is a very unhealthy lifestyle lacking the nutrient-dense foods that are required for strong and healthy bodies.
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