From the archives

WWJD? What Would Jesus Devour?

May 2004

The ever-growing diet fad is taking on biblical proportions!

In 1997, The Weigh Down Diet by Gwen Shamblin sold over a million copies. No wonder; it promises "No Diet! No Exercise! Eat Your Favorite Foods!" Just follow "God's perfect boundaries of hunger and fullness."

Last summer Dr. Don Colbert's best-seller asked, What Would Jesus Eat? The answer, according to the family physician, "non-animal-derived living foods."

And now the latest "Bible-based" diet bloating bookstores is the Hallelujah Diet. The Rev. George Malkmus is a devout "vegan." (Vegans are the strictest of vegetarians, refusing to eat dairy products, eggs, or any other "animal product.") The ordained diet adviser believes that "The Lord gave us everything we need in the Garden of Eden: fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds." And here's the best part, Malkmus argues that people who ate a raw diet in biblical times lived an average of 912 years. "We call the way we eat the 'Hallelujah Diet.' We celebrate its true Creator."

Jordan S. Rubin disagrees with Malkmus. The Maker's Diet argues the Creator has other culinary commands. "Arguing from the book of Leviticus, the Messianic Jew's diet includes certain "clean" meat and dairy products and warns against an all-raw, vegan regimen. "The healthiest diet is to consume meats, poultry, dairy, fruits and vegetables and to consume them in a form the body was designed for." For instance, he argues for un-pasteurized milk.

Elisabetta Politi, nutrition manager at Duke University's Diet and Fitness Center, is concerned about the proclamations coming down from metabolic Mount Sinai. "I am just thinking of the safety of having unprocessed dairy products. From a public health perspective, it's undoable. It's an extreme going back to an agriculture society that we are no longer."

Stephen Barrett, a Columbia University-trained psychologist and founder of the Internet site "Quackwatch," is also concerned. "I think that the people who promote these things [are] here to save the world and preach they're the Messiah [of health]. Their personalities and characters have all sorts of grandiosity and little scientific basis."

Combining diet and devotion is nothing new. Some Jew observe a kosher diet, Muslim follow "halal" dietary plans, and generations of Catholic grew up not eating meat on Fridays.

But are these "biblically-based" diets, well, biblical? And what, exactly, would Jesus eat? To find out, we simply need to ask, "What did Jesus say?"

"Are you so dull?" [Jesus] asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean") (Mark 7:18-19).

Jesus actions certainly didn't promote a vegan diet. He serves up a miraculous meal for 5,000 men with a boy's lunch of bread and fish. When the disciples return from fishing, Jesus has prepared a breakfast of grilled fish. And, at Passover, He ate lamb.

The Apostle Paul also argues there are no "Christian" dietary restrictions:

One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him (Romans 14:2-3). As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself (Romans 14:14).

All food is clean . . . (Romans 14:20).

. . . for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you . . . (1 Corinthians 10:27).

Aside from questionable scientific evidence, those promoting these "biblical" diets seem to be taking out-of-context verses and turning them into universal commands. Or, as Jesus said, "Straining out gnats and swallowing camels." (Not exactly a vegan diet!)

So, WWJD? What would Jesus devour?

The Gospels record him eating fish, bread, lamb, and washing it all down with wine. And, if they would have had it in first century Palestine, dark chocolate!

Yes, yes, yes!! I was just thinking about this topic, since I reviewed the Rubin book! On an email list, this book was brought up and ack upon ack, they are worshipping this diet. Give me a break! He says to eat dirt in this book, and I DO NOT MEAN "eat dirt" as in autoracing! You are so spot on, so timely. I just love your columns. Thank you for writing this. Eat dirt, my foot! And just what does everyone have against Louis Pasteur?? (maybe because he was French . . .) MrsinewaTG@aol.com

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WWJD? What Would Jesus Devour?

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