Paleo & Spirituality - NSV

roro73

So yesterday I almost gave in. I had struggled a little with the fact that the Paleo premise goes against everything that I believe as far as a creationist because it’s based on evolution. It was a mental struggle andI haven’t really had time to research it much. I did well with my food choices yesterday but after bible study last night I started talking to a few girls about how silly it probably seems, but wondering if my way of eating goes against Christianity (mind you one of the girls was eating birthday cake as we were having this discussion).

They both got on me about going on a specific “diet” and not cutting anything out of diet because then we may binge later (They didn’t give a second thought to the fact that I was torn spiritually). I was even more in a conundrum about whether the way I was eating was the right way or not. I was feeling weak but it hit me, I didn’t even want a slice of cake. That was weird, normally I would have been the first one to take a piece. I was still going back and forth and had told myself that maybe these girls were right. It wouldn’t hurt to just go back to counting calories. Then I told myself, I still have calories left today…I might as well stop & get something yummy on the way home. Was I hungry?...NO. I just knew I had calories left so I might as well use them. I had an internal battle going on in my head about whether I should continue eating Paleo or not…then I thought about it. God created us to eat whole, real foods as well. It can only be positive that I’m avoiding sugar, processed foods and gluten. I felt better. I didn’t stop anywhere. I went home, finished some stuff up and went to bed. When I woke up this morning I felt AMAZING! I felt thinner. I know it’s weird to say that because I probably didn’t lose any weight (I didn’t weigh), but I wasn’t bloated. In fact, today I’m wearing jeans that have always been so tight, that I keep checking my zipper to make sure it’s still up because they feel looser J For my body, this is definitely the right way to eat!

spirit80

Wheat and grains has been around a long time. The problem started to developed when we started to refine wheat into flour somewhere aeound 1879 or so. This is where Paleo comes in to cut the refined grains. Evolution is a whole other topic.

kannd86

I think that makes a lot of sense. It doesn't have to be about evolution, just about real food. Do what's right for you. And congrats for overcoming that internal battle.

Jindra12

I could understand your struggle with this evolution thing. I just tell everyone this: People want to follow Paleo because it is based on blah blah blah. On the record, I don't believe that we were here for over million years. I believe we were here for less than 4 thousands years and I do believe that God created everything in 7 days literally. then I explain what Paleo is all about.

RekindledRose

For me there is a huge gap between Spirituality and Christianity, and I say this as a Christian. I'm more Primal than Paleo, but I understand what you mean. I just got semi-reamed by my DH this morning for following a diet based on the premise of evolution. Like another poster said, that's a whole other topic, but for the record I find it hard not to pity those who believe in evolution contrary to what hard science reveals.

That being said, I've started to tell people that I try to eat food as near to natural as I can rather than label my diet by a name. I eat sprouted grains (Love Ezekial products!), some milk, and lots of meat, veggies, fruit and nuts. I eat seeds, both the 'normal' ones and the ones in apples, oranges, grapes, watermelon, and others.

You're eating wholesome food and taking care of the body that God gave you. You wouldn't decide against visiting the Grand Canyon simply because the ones in charge (gov't) have declared it a place created by billions of years of slow erosion (belly laugh) would you? No, we visit it and see it as evidence of the Great Flood. The same with Paleo, Primal, Zone Diets, etc. We eat the good things and try to minimize the bad.

Though, I do eat a bite of gooey brownie cake once in a while, ha!

Be in peace!

caribougal

Wow. That adds a whole level of complexity to diet choices for you.

As a Jewish, atheist, skeptic, and scientist, I can't relate to your conundrum at all.

But... you could think to yourself... What Would Jesus Eat?

I doubt the answer would be Dairy Queen or McD's.

Ah... The power of Google... "What Would Jesus Eat" ---> http://www.everydiet.org/diet/what-would-jesus-eat

"Based on his research he concluded that the diet of Jesus would have included fish, whole wheat bread, olives, figs, dates and red wine. Fish was widely available and was probably eaten on a daily basis, while red meat would have been consumed only occasionally, perhaps once a month.

Foods that are forbidden in the Bible, such as pork, are to be avoided, as are all processed foods including refined white flour and sugar."

So there you go... except for the whole wheat, it's Paleo. The bit about pork is complicated, because while Jesus was Jewish and therefore didn't eat pork because his Bible told him that God said not to, you're Christian, which means you follow the New Testament, whose followers will mostly say the dietary rules (among other things) of the Old Testament were overruled. So even though Jesus would NEVER have eat pork (or shellfish), if you believe that the example of his disciples should be followed over Jesus himself, then you will find rationalization to eat "unclean" foods such as pork.

Now there's a discussion for your bible group... why is it OK to eat pork if Jesus didn't? Many of the lines that people cite to point to why it's OK to eat pork are refuted once they are examined within context of the period and not just taken literally. Since you're a creationist... I assume you like literal interpretations of the New Testament... so you're probably OK to eat pork.

I'm guessing it became "OK" to eat pork when people who already ate pork were converted to Christianity.

Good luck with your decision!

skwidlund

I struggled a bit, until my husband (a pastor with a Master's in Theology) said this: "Does it really matter in this issue whether we evolved or were created? Either way, humanity clearly wasn't meant to eat a diet that damages God's creation in so many different ways, from individual health to environmental impact. And there is nothing God-honoring about clinging to a diet that's making us sick."

That really helped settle my concerns. Eating this way isn't necessarily mean converting to or promoting a particular way of belief - for me, it's about being able to live the abundant life God has for me.

strychnine7

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-problems-with-modern-wheat/#axzz2KGG35ItT

The grains we eat today are not the same as the ones eaten in the previous few-thousand years. Selective breeding and genetic modification rule the day, now. So, as unhealthy as grains may or may not have been before, they're downright bad for you now and evolution or creationism has nothing to do with it. Anyway, just my two cents.

roro73

Thank you everyone for your input. I feel even more reinforced in eating the healthy whole foods God intended us to eat. You guys ate Awesome!

roro73

I struggled a bit, until my husband (a pastor with a Master's in Theology) said this: "Does it really matter in this issue whether we evolved or were created? Either way, humanity clearly wasn't meant to eat a diet that damages God's creation in so many different ways, from individual health to environmental impact. And there is nothing God-honoring about clinging to a diet that's making us sick."

That really helped settle my concerns. Eating this way isn't necessarily mean converting to or promoting a particular way of belief - for me, it's about being able to live the abundant life God has for me.

Thank you for sharing! I foresee myself quoting your husband in the future

idauria

As a Christian, I don't get behind the evolution stuff, but I can get behind the premise of this way of eating. I don't really want to label it as a diet, which implies something temporary for weight loss, but as a lifestyle. I can get behind eating whole, nutritious foods. I believe our diets should be whole food based and that really has nothing to do with what your religious beliefs are. However, I also want to make sure that my "diet" is not becoming my idol. I don't want to obsess so much over what I am putting into my body that it becomes more important than my relationship with Christ. In Him we have many freedoms, but we need to be careful that those very freedoms don't interfere with our faith.

NicoWoodruff

Acts 10: Peter's vision

9.On the next day, as they went on their journey, and drew near unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:

10And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,

11And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet held at the four corners, and let down to the earth:

12In which were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.

13And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.

14But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.

15And the voice spoke unto him again the second time, What God has cleansed, that call not common.

16This was done three times: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.


"Kill and eat" sounds pretty Paleo to me. And can't get much more biblical than Ezekiel bread which many Paleo's allow.

caribougal

This is a good one to talk to your pastor about. Many assume that passage is means it's OK to eat "unclean" meat. But some believe it's really a discussion about people... whether or not there are "unclean" people, and it gets into whether or not Jews should be hanging with Gentiles. See, you can choose to read it literally, or you can choose to read it within context (based on assumptions about context). This is why there are 41,000 sects (give or take) of Christianity. Everyone has an interpretation that suits them.

Either way, if Peter ran right out after this conversation and chowed down on some pork BBQ, I bet he got that pork from pastured local pigs, not from factory farms. Buy local!

(Of course, If you believe in God, I guess you could argue that factory pigs are part of God's plan too, or else they wouldn't exist.)

kjm3579

Adam & Eve were to eat of the fruit of the garden. However, they sinned and were forced to leave the garden. After that point we see plenty of Biblical examples of people raising animals and eating them. Could it possibly be that the same God who is so powerful that He created the entire universe by speaking a few words made some simple changes in our bodies at the time made was put out of the garden so that he could contend with his life in the world? I believe so..... And if you read the book Wheat Belly he mentions how much different even the wheat is now from Biblical times due to genetic breeding and engineering -- so even if you look at Jesus and the disciples sharing bread together that bread was nothing like what we can get today. Our bodies are made to be temples of the Holy Spirit and if we don't take care of ourselves, what does that tell Him and what kind of a witness are we to others?

Akimajuktuq

The way I eat now saved my life. Sorry to be rude, but I don't care if it fits with Christianity. I also think that food, health and pharma industries are not being very Christian in how they are brainwashing everyone to eat in a way that promotes disease.

Honestly, I am very spiritual. I do not think it is plausible that life just sprang out of nothing, that it's one big accident. Life is completely miraculous. I do believe that life can adapt and change to a point. I also think that the way humans are currently messing with life is going to lead to a global societal collapse (which may look a lot like the Rapture).

While I don't necessarily "believe" in evolution, even if that's how the miracle of life has developed, I really don't think it goes against the Bible. Even my VERY Christian grandmother keeps her mind open to evolution, adaptation, dinosaurs, aliens, and that not everything in the Bible is necessarily to be taken completely literally. She also thinks that we are not able to know the mind of God or fully understand the miracles that He has created.

breeanreyes

How could eating the food that God created for us be non-Christian? I would consider it another form of worship to honor that which He has provided for us instead of relying on man-made crap. Obviously, us humans can NOT do a better job.

mandabrett

This is what I think about a lot. John the baptist seemed pretty primal to me!

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. (Mark 1:4-7 TNIV)

monkeydharma

OK, let's put things into perspective... It isn't about evolution.

Mankind has been growing/eating grains for about 10,000 years - and mankind has been around for a LOT longer than that. We were created/evolved to eat a hunter/gatherer, non-grain diet...plain and simple. 'Paleo' and 'Primal' are brand names, for Mark Sisson and Robb Wolf to sell their books, supplements and what-all. All of these diets are variations of a hunter/gatherer lifestyle.

The only way for a Christian to have problems with this eating lifestyle is if they believe in a 6,000 year old earth - which is a particularly twitchy way to interpret Genesis. If you believe that concept, then you're stuck with the idea that mankind has been eating grains for its entire existence. If that is the case, then you have many more philosophical problems than trying to justify a hunter/gatherer diet in your theological environment - in which case....buh-bye. Enjoy your loaves and fishes.