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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