Paleo Diet? I'm not impressed....

I am vegan.  however that is not the reason why I researched and wrote this post.  I wrote this post, because I looked at the “paleo” diet and was not impressed.   The word paleo is greek and it means ancient.

paleo- older or ancient, especially relating to the geological past.  "Paleolithic"  Origin from Greek palaios ‘ancient.’

The Greeks, though an ancient civilization, were not the first civilization on the earth, not to mention they were a highly pagan, idol worshipping civilization.  Personally, I feel unclean just thinking about eating anything even inadvertently to do with them. 

However, every time Yasharal was taken in captivity, they had become accustomed, just as we have today, to eating the food of the pagan captors.  Every time, the turah regarding food had to be given back to them.   We know from the accounts in Shamuth and B’Madbar that this didn’t always sit too well with them.  They groaned and complained all the time. 

Anyway, this paleo diet fad has become the thing to do, especially now that athletes and entertainers have jumped on the paleo bandwagon.  But, is this the diet of the children of Yasharal?  Is it a way of eating we should be partaking in? 

Well let’s take a look at the difference between the paleo diet, and what YHUH declared was to be our way of eating…..

As with eating paleo the way of eating in Scripture focuses on eating real, whole, fresh food that is sustainably raised. As well as not having anything GMO, or high in chemicals, additives, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, dyes, etc.  Yet here, is really the only place where the two are similar.

Breaking down the similarities and differences

Both ways of eating are high in vegetables and fruits.  We understand that fruits and vegetables are high in phytonutrients that protect and guard against many diseases.  And scripture points only to ancient grains and the grains of today, such as corn, wheat, and even oats are not the same as grains cultivated and eaten by our ancestors.

Something else to consider is that modern grains not only contain gluten (wheat and oats), but they also can also increase your blood sugar, especially corn.   In addition, grains though packed with fiber, are also starches, and should not be consumed with protein.   

Where the paleo diet recommends lower glycemic fruit such as berries, while according to Brashyth 1:29 all foods and fruits that contained tsara (seeds) were to be considered food.  ALL…  

Scripture also calls us to also not eat foods that are the result of divers seeds planted together.  Manmade hybrids would cover this, as well as planting different seeds in the same plot, box, etc. (Uyaqra 19:19 “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.  DBarym 22:9 You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, LEST THE WHOLE YIELD BE DEFILED, the fruit of YOUR SEED that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. )  This means no eating of foods that have been mixed and/or sowed or bred together.  That means no cow or chicken, and many fruits and vegetables such as cavenaugh bananas, oranges, lemons, and even most apples.  (natural hybridization is different than man deliberately changing the DNA of a food product.) 

The Paleo diet focuses more on eating low glycemic fruits, which can be any fruit.  Scripture on the other hands focusses on eating seeded fruits and vegetables as well as non-hybrid fruits and vegetables.

What about fats:

The paleo diet focuses on receiving fats from oils, nuts, seeds, and avocados.   And this would line up well with Scripture.  However, according to the paleo diet, people are encouraged to eat generous amounts of saturated fats like coconut oil and butter or clarified butter. Beef tallow, lard and duck fat are also good, but only if they come from healthy and well-treated animals. Beef or lamb tallow is a better choice than lamb or duck fat.  Olive, avocado and macadamia oil are also good fats to use in salads and to drizzle over food, but not for cooking.

It goes on to say that if you are eating goat and/or lamb milk, butter, yogurt, cheese to make sure they are consumed by these animals that are sustainably raised or grass fed.

Scripture most definitely differs on the account of fat.  In fact, Scripture specifically points out that we are not to eat blood or fat, even from clean animals. Uyaqra 7:23-27 where it states:

“Speak to the children of Yasharal, saying: ‘You shall not eat any fat, of ox or sheep or goat. And the fat of an animal that dies naturally, and the fat of what is torn by wild beasts, may be used in any other way; but you shall by no means eat it. For whoever eats the fat of the animals of which men offer an offering made by fire to YHUH, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his people. Moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.”

Uyaqra 3:14-17: “Then he shall offer from it his offering, as an offering made by fire to YHUH. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall REMOVE; and the kahan shall burn them on the slaughtering place as food, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma; all the fat is YHUH’s. This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.”

Uyaqra 5:15 establishes this further. The Kahanym were to eat from the meat, after doing the following: “… all the fat thereof; the rump, and the fat that covers the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul that is above the liver [the fatty membrane surrounding the liver], with the kidneys, it shall he take away: And the kahan shall burn them on the slaughtering place for an offering made by fire unto YHUH: it is a trespass offering

What about fish?

Per the paleo diet rules, if you are eating fish you should choose low mercury and low toxin containing fish such as sardines, herring and anchovies or other small fish and avoid tuna, swordfish and Chilean sea bass because of the high mercury load.

Scriptures states:  Dabarym 14: 9"These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat, 10but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.  Uyaqra 11:10 But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales--whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water--you are to regard as unclean.

As long as the fish above has fins and scales, it is tahar or clean to eat.  Should we worry about mercury?  But of course. 

What about dairy?

The paleo diet shuns dairy products, stating that it leads to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer and may increase (not decrease) the risk of osteoporosis.

Scripture does not shun dairy.  In fact, we are told that YHUH lead the people to a land flowing with Chalab (milk) and Dabash (date syrup or tree sap).  Shamuth 3:8, 17, 33:3; Yachatsqal 20:6.

 

But does this mean that we were to partake of it?  Well there seems to be many verses that point to consumption of dairy products both in and out of captivity, and there is no command not to partake of dairy products. 

Though Chalab is translated mostly as milk, it appears that for human consumption, it pointed more to kefir like drinks or yogurt.  Scripture says chalab was both a drink as well as something that was eaten.  All the verses regarding milk referenced goat and/or sheep milk.  Never milk from cattle.  Brashyth 18:8; Mashly 27:27, 30:33; Shamual Alaph 7:9 (there’s more but too many to list them all)

The word chamaah is translated as curd and means butter usually although sometimes cheese.

Now, the way that cheese is made currently, it would appear that all the chemical pasteurization as well as the usually pork rennet and enzymes used to mold cheese and keep it from perishing, as well as the coloring that goes into most cheeses would render these products unclean.  However there are clean cheeses out there made from goats and sheep that do not contain these products.  In addition, the lactate from goat and sheep milk does not have the same effect on the human body as the lactate from cow milk.  One is led to wonder if this Is due to the fact that the cows we know today, are not the cattle of ancient times.

Meat is really where the differences get a little tricky

The paleo diets dictates that eating sustainably raised, lean grass fed meat, pastured poultry and lamb, wild fish, eggs,  and other esoteric meats such as ostrich, bison or venison as part a healthy diet is not likely harmful and is very helpful in reducing triglycerides, raising HDL (or good cholesterol), lowering blood sugar, reducing belly fat, reducing appetite, raising testosterone and increasing muscle mass. 

They only make the case that eating too much meat puts pressure on the planet – more water use, more climate change, and more energy inputs, and say to eat meat as a side dish or condiment, and only consume grass fed and sustainably-raised.

Now scripture says something completely different…

To begin with, Scripture explicitly states that YHUH planned for our diet to be seeded fruits and grasses.  Sin was the cause of the transition to the eating of clean meat.  (meats mostly used in slaughterings to YHUH)  Uyaqra 11 states emphatically which animals were clean and which animals were unclean.  Many stop there and say, well if it’s not listed, then it must be clean.  But we also need to look at a few other verses to get a better understanding of what types of meat were clean and unclean.  First off, ostrich most definitely was on the list of unclean meats.  But what about chicken, turkey, and cow meat?  None of these animals were on either list.  That’s why we need Uyaqra 19:19 and Dbarym 20:9 to give us clearer understanding.  According to both of these verses, we also were not allowed to eat meat from an animal that had been the result of mixing seed.  It has been scientifically proven that chickens are manmade and were created after the accounts in Scripture.  Most folks use this as their excuse to consume chicken.  However, a chicken is a manmade hybrid bird.  The result of crossing four different birds, one of which remains unknown, and one of which is a hybrid itself.  It is the same with modern cattle.  Bison, oxen, and buffalo are all descendant from ancient ancestors.  They were domesticated in some places, and left to run wild in others.  Used mostly for their hides these animals though domesticated are truer to type than the modern cow.  The reason being, is that the cow is a cross breed of several different types of ancient cattle.  While it is believed the auroch is the ancient ancestor of the cow, just like with some fruits and vegetables that have gone through manmade dna changes, modern cows are also unclean by scriptural standards. 

So there you have it.  The difference between the paleo diet and statutes and instructions of YHUH around clean and unclean foods.  Something to note, is that most people in the blue zones, eat mostly non-hybrid fruits and vegetables and consume mostly fish as their “meat”, leaving goat and lamb for special occasions.  This ties in with how our Scriptural ancestors ate, and accounts for their very low stats when it comes to disease, obesity, and illness. 

As for me, I prefer to eat Brashyth 1:29.  Just as it was the plan of YHUH for us from the beginning, it is His plan for us in the end.  (Yashayahu 11:1-9)  What a baruk day that will be!

Alykham Shalum

Tamar

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