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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Christianity (vs.) the Paleo diet

When I did yesterday's post, my personal thoughts were that although the Paleo diet or "Cave Man Diet" makes nutritional sense to me, the aspect of our ancestors starting out as cave men and being strictly hunters, wearing animal skins and slaying woolly mammoths before breakfast could be served etc. simply did not fit the BIBLICAL account of creation in the Garden Of Eden.

I fully realize that there are a lot of people out there, acquaintances of mine included that think the biblical account in Genesis concerning the creation of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden is utter nonsense and pure fiction.

We have to agree to disagree on that if your mind set falls into that category. Doesn't mean we can't be friends. It just means that in my humble opinion the Bible is the inspired word of God from Genesis to Revelation and to dismiss the Garden of Eden and creation of Man out of the dust of the ground, in essence dismisses the entirety of the bible. One cannot pick and choose passages that only make sense to him or her.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

New King James Version (NKJV)
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

http://www.greatdreams.com/reptlan/nephilim.htm / LINK concerning Nephilim

This blog post is not equipped to deal with the entire account of creation and follow it through the book of Revelation including such topics as the flood of Noah's day, the parting of the red sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's army, the existence of "Nephilim" which would account for  Goliath's existence. etc. In essence the Bible is about Jesus Christ from Genesis to Revelation. It is about how His shed blood and substitutionary death and subsequent Resurrection paid the price for all of our sins that we might have eternal life at the end of this physical earthly life. As the bible says,

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.) I John 5:12
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.


So the question arises as to whether or not I think the Paleo or Cave man Diet has merit for us today or not. I think that it does, however it has nothing to do with my agreeing on the origin of man and how we evolved over tens of thousands of years etc.

It has more to do with the fact that in our world today, especially in America, our diets contain way too many EMPTY CALORIES, dangerous food additives, too much refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated and  partially hydrogenated oils, lack of exercise, dangerous carbonated colas destroying our PH balance etc. Our ancestors did not go to the drug store and eventually end up taking anywhere from one to 15 or more prescriptions drugs every day of their life in order to survive. There were no stores that sold Ho Ho's, Twinkies, food with dangerous dyes, chemicals and food additives, and  hydrogenated cooking oils etc. You do not have to go back 10,000 years to find a lifestyle that did not have almost everyone over the age of 35 on one or more prescription drugs.

I think there is a fair amount of evidence that diets such as the Atkin's diet, the Paleo diet etc. work since they are eliminating the refined empty calorie, high chemically altered fats, hydrogenated cooking oils etc. from the diet. They are replacing that diet with protein, vegetables, some fruits and good unprocessed fats such as extra virgin olive oil, virgin and extra virgin coconut oil, real butter instead of chemically altered hydrogenated margarine spreads, healthy nuts etc.

There is NO doubt that many type 2 diabetics have dramatically improved their A1C readings, and their cholesterol and triglyceride lipid profiles, lowered their blood pressure etc. on the Paleo or perhaps the Atkin's diet or any regimen that cuts refined carbohydrates/

I am taking a somewhat modified approach that I feel I can live with. I still have a bowl of low sugar oatmeal with organic ground flax seeds every morning with a 1/2 cup of milk. I am increasing my veggie intake, trying to eliminate bread altogether, along with biscuits, mashed potatoes and fast food and empty calorie food in the process. I admit I still occasionally have a small diet Pepsi because I lived on the darn things for years. I used to drink 2 or sometimes 3 a day and now  I have a small one one every two weeks or so. My plan is to eliminate them entirely in 2013.

I am going to finish this post by posting a link concerning Christianity and the Paleo diet and how one can be both a Christian and perhaps take something from the Paleo diet to help overcome type 2 diabetes.

Bottom line is you can study the diet itself and not buy into the ancestoral belief of this is how mankind started and we are somehow returning to that lifestyle.

Here is the LINK: I personally found this website very interesting.

http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/can-a-christian-follow-a-paleo-low-carb-diet/9381

(EXCERPT)

I really enjoy philosophical questions about nutrition from my readers because it means they are giving serious thought to this whole concept of livin’ la vida low-carb and not just blindly following it (that’s what far too many people are doing with conventional wisdom regarding diet). Some people buy into the healthy low-carb lifestyle hook, line, and sinker because it just makes total sense to them through the scientific evidence and results they see personally while others have to come into it gradually at their own pace as knowledge and understanding begins to happen and they become convinced empirically. That’s what is so fantastic about the whole low-carb/Paleo/primal community is that each of us are at varying levels on this journey to attain optimal health and have our own hurdles and obstacles to overcome to make this way of eating work for us in the long-term.
With the rise in popularity of the Paleolithic diet in recent years that hearkens back to the nutritional and exercise habits of our early human ancestors, an intriguing question has come up amongst a certain segment of my readership: Christians. I’ve briefly discussed the subject of diet and the Bible in a previous post I wrote called “Does The Bible Consider The Atkins Diet A Sin?” As a believer in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I’ll receive an e-mail from time to time questioning how I reconcile my faith in God and the Paleo diet. Whether it’s the whole “evolutionary” aspect of it or the seemingly high-carb diet of Biblical days, there are some serious concerns whether or not a Christian can follow a Paleolithic diet while maintaining the integrity of their religious beliefs. The following e-mail I received from a reader recently addresses this directly from a Christian who sincerely wanted to know how her faith and chosen diet can co-exist:

MY INPUT:

If you are a Christian or would like to become one

http://www.allaboutgod.com/become-a-christian.htm

and would like to look at the Atkin's diet, or the Paleo diet or just  take a look at dramatically reducing carb intake, especially REFINED EMPTY CALORIE CARBS, then I think you will enjoy the lengthy but well written and informed article listed in the LINK above concerning "Can  a Christian follow the Paleo Diet?" Check it out.

Dan


King James Version (KJV) / Romans 10:9-10
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.




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