A Reidly Lifestyle: Biblical

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Grace-Motivated Dieting

MIKE COSPER|11:00 PM CT

Grace-Motivated . . . Dieting?

We're a few weeks into our new year's resolutions. How's that diet going?

According to The New York Times, Americans last year spent about $62 billion on diets, exercise, and gym memberships. But most us give up on these efforts by March.

It feels like an endless cycle. We're unhappy with our weight, we make grand commitments, and we stick to them rigidly . . . for a couple of weeks. Eventually, the drive-thru lanes, frappucinos, and buckets of ice cream get the best of us, and we fall off the proverbial wagon.

Our failures recall Paul's words in Romans 7:15: "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." I don't want to eat that giant burrito, and yet over and over again, I eat the giant burrito. What a wretched man I am!

Perhaps, as we start to feel the pangs of temptation against our new year's resolutions (or if we're simply struggling to stick to a diet) we would benefit from a shift in perspective. If dieting is like life under the law, then it's worth asking: Is there such a thing as grace-motivated dieting?

I think there is. There's a way forward for those of us who feel unhealthy and eager for change, a way that can be motivated by grace and love, rather than vanity, guilt, or shame. It takes three things:

Shifting Perspective
Seeking Wisdom
Enduring Patiently

Shifting Perspective

I'll never forget this moment, about six years ago. My best friend had recently gotten married, and my wife and I were spending time with him and his new wife, looking through the photo album from their wedding. As we turned to the back cover, I was horrified. The last picture in the album was from the morning of his wedding day, when the groomsmen had gone to a park to play basketball. For some tragic and inexplicable reason I am standing in this picture with my shirt off. I hadn't been near a basketball court (or, apparently a scale) in a few years, and the sight was . . . unhealthy. Round. Big.

"I'm going on a diet," I blurted out, eyes wide open, thinking photos are forever, photos are forever. For the rest of my friend's life, this awful picture of me would grace the back page of his wedding album.

This is how many of us begin. Our bodies lose their youthful shape, and in a revelatory moment, we jump on the dieting carousel: gaining, losing, plateauing, gaining, losing, crashing, gaining again. We're driven by a moment like this, a moment (or a long season) of shame and guilt. Words like fat ring in our ears, and every trip past a mirror is torture. Sometimes we blame ourselves, sometimes we blame our genes, sometimes we blame stress and work.

There are two possible motivations for the desire to transform our bodies, one that has the power to motivate and one that has the power to kill.

The latter motivation is more common. It's the reason young faces and bodies grace the magazine covers in grocery stores aisles. These images help drive the market for plastic surgery and much of that $62 billion dieting economy. This motivation cannot be limited to a single emotion or sin. But some combination of vanity, obsession with youth, and fear of death results in anxious discontent, a deep feeling of inadequacy and desperation for acceptance. We foolishly believe that if we could get skinnier, bulkier, younger, prettier, or stronger, we'll be satisfied.

This motivation literally leads to death. For some, the short-term fixes lead to crash diets, eating disorders, and a variety of other methods that do our bodies more harm than good. Ultimately, all of us face the ticking clock of time, slowing metabolisms, disease, grey hair, wrinkles, cellulite, and expired bodies. The desire to avoid death and old age that drives us to the gym can't ultimately stave off our inevitable end.

We become enslaved to the "law" of fitness, obsessively fighting a losing battle against our wills and the march of time. Our victories are short-lived, our defeats are crushing.

But there's a better way. Whatever we feel about our bodies, they don't have to be the source of shame or guilt. Shame and guilt are not motivators; they are masters, filling our days with anxiety. The alternative starts with seeing our bodies as part of the great story of the gospel:

Our bodies were created by God. God made you with a fantastic attention to detail (Matthew 10:29-31).
Our bodies are subject to the plague of sin. Disease, obesity, dysfunction, and weakness are results of the fall (Psalm 38:3-4).
The gospel tells us that in Christ, we're given a once-and-for-all seal of approval by the only One whose opinion matters (1 Corinthians 1:8).
That acceptance isn't conditional or partial; it includes our bodies.We're whole beings, bodies and souls inexorably knit together. The brokenness of both is covered by the sanctifying blood of Jesus (Romans 8:11).
One day, these failing bodies will be exchanged for gloriously restored and unbreakable bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-45).

Our bodies are first and foremost a gift. God made them "fearfully and wonderfully" (Psalm 139:14) and intended them to be a part of the glorious harmony of creation, using them to serve him and others. Sin has disrupted that harmony, introducing sickness, weakness, and the vast host of problems that plague our bodies. We could despair of the brokenness, convinced that nothing will get better until the resurrection. But this despairing attitude neglects the fact that God has made us stewards of all of his gifts, including our bodies. As Paul says:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Rather than seeing our bodies in the light of the world's absurd standards, we see them as gifts meant to give God glory and to serve others.

There's no doubt that Americans have serious challenges related to fitness. Obesity is an epidemic, and health problems related to diets abound: cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes---the list goes on and on. Seeing our bodies as a gift should cause us to respond in much the same way we respond with our finances. As good stewards, we should examine all the ways we think about and care for our bodies.

Rather than being motivated by youth culture and absurd (and shifting) standards of beauty, we should be motivated by stewardship: how ready is your body to serve others?
When thinking about aging, rather than focusing on fighting the signs of age, or living in fear of the effects of aging, we should seek health for the sake of longevity. Should the Lord allow, we want to lovingly and enthusiastically serve God and others for the long haul.

Seeking Wisdom

Crash diets and exercise obsessions only make sense when they serve an idol in response to motivation like shame. We'll gladly risk long-term injuries and damages to our health, sacrificing them on the altar of youth or self-image, if we think the ends justify the means.

But if we're seeking health so we can be good stewards of the gift God has given us, the ends and the means are essentially the same. How we go about changing is just as important as the results that we're seeking.

This calls us for wisdom. We need to be patient and sober, wisely avoiding the recklessness that accompanies diet culture like "abs in two weeks" or "lose 20 lbs TODAY!" We should talk to doctors and trainers, adopting a long-range plan for a lifestyle that promotes health and embraces the realities of modern life.

We need to be realistic, both in the methods we adopt and the results we expect. Not everyone can go to the gym every day, and not everyone can adopt the same diets. Nor is it necessary. Food, like any good gift, should be enjoyed as a gift and avoided as a master. It can master us in excessive consumption, and it can master us in obsessive and fearful nitpicking. Food shouldn't consume all of our thoughts and conversations, and our decisions aren't grounds for judging others. A self-righteous dieter---whether low-carb, high-carb, low-fat, high-fat, Atkins, Weston Price, or Weight-Watchers---is just another Pharisee, destined to frustrate and annoy far more than convince those around him. Hold your convictions about food gently and loosely, recognizing (as Paul did with the Corinthian church) that it's an area open to a variety of convictions.

Enduring Patiently

Food is tempting. Exercise is not. And change is slow. Keep this in mind as you try to make real and lasting change.

My own efforts have resulted in mixed success. I lost a lot of weight after I saw the picture, dropping about 40 pounds in the year or so that followed. I focused on eating healthy and exercising, benefiting greatly from the counsel of a friend who worked as a personal trainer. In the years that followed, I've fluctuated a good bit, but I've enjoyed a base level of fitness that seems to help me bounce back quickly when I fall off the wagon. The first six months was by far the hardest.

In recent years, I find I'm far more motivated by how I feel than by how I look. When an injury required almost three months off from exercise last year, I once again stared at a bit of a discouraging "spare tire," but I was far more concerned with my general fatigue and weakness.

When we're healthy, we're better able to serve, love, and bless others. We don't wear out so quickly, and we're not daunted by requests to help, whether it's moving a table, leading a kids' Sunday school class, or traveling to Africa.

The dieting roller coaster isn't ending. So long as we have Big Macs and big screen TVs, there will be a host of people who wake up one day saying, "I need to lose weight." And in the world of diet books and exercise tapes, there is plenty of good science and helpful information. We don't necessarily need different goals for our weight and fitness. We need better motivations.

Mike Cosper is pastor of worship and arts at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He writes on the gospel and the arts for The Gospel Coalition.

posted under Biblical, Cravings, fitness, Food, Get It Together, Good Point, Inspiration, Lifestyles, Small Steps, Weight Loss | 0 Comments

God's Perspective on Fitness (in a way)

Posted by Clare@peak313 in Featured, Spiritual | 5 Comments
My Christmas Wish For You

I wish I could tell you that eating cookies, candy and chips would have no affect on our bodies.
But they do.
I wish I could tell you that not moving our bodies and challenging our muscles would have no bearing on the scale.
But it does.
I wish that I could tell you that filling our bodies with empty calories and non-nutritious (yet yummy) foods would give us endless amounts of energy.
But they don’t.
I wish I could tell you that instead of our body breaking down little by little as we age, it gets better and better.
But it doesn’t.
♥♥♥
You see. So many of us aren’t accepting the reality of the situation. It’s not my wish that we would have to discipline ourselves daily, activate self-control and work hard to keep our bodies and health in check. God has designed our bodies this way on purpose. Have you stopped to think why that is?
God is asking us to allow Him in, every day, in every area of life. He wants us to use HIM as our fulfiller of desires. He wants us to cry to HIM when our hearts cry for food. He wants us to ask HIM for the daily self-control needed to battle every day issues.
In this season, we are reminded of a beautiful thing.
God With Us.
We have been given a gift. A Spirit and Presence that lives inside of us.
God with Us.
He resides in these deteriorating bodies.
God with Us.
He resides in us whether overweight or not. He resides in us when we aren’t residing in Him.
God with Us.
My Christmas wish for you is this: That you would accept the beautiful challenge God has given us to steward these wonderful houses where our spirit resides. And that instead of constantly fighting and rejecting the notion that we have to work, that we embrace it fully with the energy, vigor and focus that God has given us. Ask yourself, “how can I present my life and body as a gift to the one who is with me always?”

posted under Biblical, Cravings, Exercise, Food, Get It Together, Good Point, Progress, Small Steps, Weight Loss | 0 Comments

Going against the grain

Going Against the Grain Towards Better Health

Grains are often called the “staff of life,” having a sort of credibility that is biblical in proportion. So prevalent is the perception that grains make for “good food” that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – which is the United Nation’s international agency for defeating hunger – uses a head of wheat as its emblem, with the Latin Fiat Panis or “Let There Be Bread” as its motto.

Despite the rather lofty secular position a loaf of whole grain bread may hold in the international community, the biblical record actually shows that the first foods mentioned in the Bible were the Herbs and Fruit Trees (Genesis 1:29), and that by punishment for sin God gave man bread:

“…cursed is the ground for thy sake;…In the sweat of thy face shalt though eat bread, till though return unto the ground…” (Genesis 3:17,19).

The inherent wisdom of this biblical message has long been forgotten and today, according to the USDA MyPlate, grains should constitute a sizeable sector of our diet in the form of “bread, cereal, rice, and pasta.” Many of us, whose hyper-agrarian taste buds and gastrointestinal tracts have never once gone a day without some grain-derived morsel of bread or cracker, find ourselves expressing our dependency on these foods in telling, half confessionary phrases like: “I’m starving for a piece of bread,” or “that pizza is to die for,” forgetting that among non-agrarian peoples, grains were universally considered a last resort, or, starvation food only.

In an agrarian society such as our own, we should expect our government to recommend the consumption of grains and our contemporaries to consume grains in plenty. After all, we are no longer hunting and gathering our food. Cereal grasses, in fact, are at the substrate of nearly all modern food production, from the breads we bake, to the milk we drink and to the meats we eat.** With 10% corn ethanol gasoline now a federal mandate, even our vehicles are forced to quench their thirst at the table of the almighty grain.7

And yet despite all of this, economic pressures and cultural preferences can not delete the fact that our bodies did not evolve on a grain-based diet. Grain consumption en masse, in fact, stretches back only 1-500 generations (20-10,000 years)*, depending on how far from the bread basket of civilization, i.e. the Fertile Crescent, one’s ancestors happened to have wandered, or how fortunate they were in fending off invading agrarian societies, such as the Romans, whose moniker as the “Wheat Empire” was earned to it by the fact that that Roman forts were actually granaries, designed to hold a year supply of wheat in case of siege. Still today, the Irish, Scottish and Finns have some of the world’s highest levels of celiac disease, as their resilient ancestors managed – for the most part – to fend off the Roman invaders, while at the same time preventing them from adapting adequately to the radically different fair of a grain based diet. (Learn more in our article The Dark Side of Wheat)

Historical examples like these provide an interesting window to peer through, but it is to prehistory, as inscribed so perfectly into the very flesh and bone of the human frame, and then even further down to our very DNA, that we must look if we are to perceive with any clarity how alien cereal grass seeds are to our metabolism.

The most obvious physiological representation of this fact is that we are monogastric mammals, and therefore are not equipped with the multitude of forestomachs found in the ruminant animals which enable them to break down these difficult to digest grasses. Even the ruminants have great difficulty with the “seed” form of the grasses, developing metabolic acidosis, infections and other “diseases of affluence” not dissimilar to those that afflict humans who consume grains heavily, especially when fed wheat.

Seeds, after all, are the “babies” of these plants, and are invested with not only the entire hope for continuance of its species, but a vast armory of anti-nutrients to help it accomplish this task: toxic lectins, phytates and oxalates, alpha-amalyase and trypsin inhibitors, and endocrine disrupters. These not so appetizing phytochemicals enable plants to resist predation of their seeds, or at least preventing them from “going out without a punch.” (Learn about the ultimate "invisible thorn" in wheat seeds here)

We are monogastric mammals for a reason. Our gastrointestinal tracts have been intelligently constructed via millions of years of adaptation to environmental determinants, with diet first in order of importance. It is no longer a mystery why we are built the way we are. In fact decades of research in biology, evolution, anthropology and genetics have now brought to light the formative forces behind our present day metabolism and physiology.

We Are What We Once Ate Long Ago

A growing body of research has emerged which focuses on the relationship between agrarian or grain-based diets and diseases of affluence, and how increased susceptibility for obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes in agrarian societies can be linked to the absence of genetic adaptations to the consumption of grains in our species as a whole. These genetic aberrations can be further broken down, to varying degrees of intensity, in demographically distinct human populations who have had between 1 and 500 generations of biological time to adjust to their consumption. The greater the distance in space and time a human subgroup has spent from grain consumption, the less likely that group will have the genes necessary to handle the metabolism of grains effectively.

That we did not evolve eating cereal grasses was made perfectly clear in the published thesis: “Agrarian diet and disease of affluence – Do evolutionary novel dietary lectins cause leptin resistance?” where a group of European scientists** point out that:

“The grasses emerged between 65 and 55 million years ago. And since the last common ancestor of the humans emerged before this time, some 90 to 65 million years ago, it cannot have had a diet consisting of seeds from grass. Subsequent evolution of our primate ancestors up until 4-8 million years ago is thought to have taken place in the trees, where almost all potential plant food comes from dicotyledonous species and the monocotyledonous grasses are absent.”

At some point 4-8 million years ago our arboreal ancestors descended from their trees taking up a radically different livelihood as ground level foragers, and later as nomadic hunters and gatherers.

The advent of Homo Sapiens 200,000 years ago saw animal foods become increasingly important. As our ancestors moved away from equatorial zones, where vegetarian sources of food were available year round, carnivorous behavior sustained our migrations to less hospitable latitudes.

Carbon isotopic signature analysis of hominin remains from the Upper Paleolithic (28-29K years ago) reveal that these ancient hunters and gatherers were consuming animal protein year-round at a higher trophic level than the arctic fox.**

This is not surprising information, considering that thorough analyses of the data gleaned from the world’s historically studied hunters and gatherers show that 73% of them obtained 50% or more of their subsistence from hunted and fished animal foods.**

Perhaps the strongest case can be made for a grain free diet by looking a certain genetic defects all humans share in their genotype.

1. Humans share several distinctive genetic traits with felines: a) enlarged brain size and reduced gut size, in response to an animal based diet. b) the inability to synthesize taurine, an amino acid found in high levels in animal foods c) the reduced ability to convert 18 carbon omega 3 fatty acids found in grains and seeds, e.g. alpha linolenic acid, into the metabolically essential 20 and 22 carbon fatty acids like EPA/DHA found in animal flesh, e.g. wild fish.

2. Humans are incapable of deactivating the leptin-blocking lectin found in grains, which makes them prone to obesity. The exact gene sequence that deactivates this lectin is found in genetically diverse species such as rodents and birds; a homology, no doubt, which exists because both species have had many thousands of years more time than humans to adjust to grain consumption.

Moreover, different human populations have differing degrees of grain adaptation.

1. Scientists have identified an incomplete Angiotensin Converting Enzyme gene, and an incomplete alipoprotein B gene in groups of humans who have very high rates of cardiovascular disease, and have had little time to adapt to an agrarian diet.

2. Celiac disease afflicts, in greatest number, exactly those human populations that have had the greatest separation in time and space from the agrarian modality. (Learn how 30% of the world's population has the "celiac gene" here).

The story of our intolerance to grains is complex, and involves too many factors to address in this short article. We will briefly list the most dominant problems, which we hope to cover in future analyses:

1. High anti-nutrient content: enzyme inhibitors, mineral binding phytates and oxalates.

2. toxic lectins which increase gut permeability, aggravate distant cell types and organ systems in the body, and stimulate the production of autoantigens. (Learn how wheat lectin relates to potato, rice, barley and tomato lection here).

3. Unbalanced amino acid profiles: low in the essential amino acid lysine, and extremely high in the excitoxic amino acids aspartic and gluamtic acid,

4. DNA sequences in grains, e.g. gliadin in wheat, exhibit similar, if not identical patterns with certain pathogens and human tissue, e.g. pertactin (the immunodominant sequence form pertussis – the pathogen that causes whooping cough) shares the same sequence as the wheat protein known as gliadin. This ‘molecular mimicry’ can cause autoimmune reactions and disease.

(Learn about how over 100 diseases have been linked to wheat consumption)

5. Certain grains have opiate-like activity in the brain e.g. wheat contains gliadimorphin which activates the endogenous opiate receptors. (Learn more about Gluten exorphins)

6. Grains once processed and cooked have high glycemic ratings, causing the endocrine roller coaster that can lead to both forms of diabetes.

7. 70% of the industrial world’s grain production goes to feeding livestock, poultry and fish.

*It is possible that these estimations need to be revised to 30,000 years ago. Read "Bread was Around 30,000 Years Ago" To Learn More.

** Plio-Pleistocene Hominin Diets for Modern Humans, pg. 367

posted under Biblical, Food | 0 Comments

Does the Bible Say We Should Eat Grains?

I've wracked my brain about this quite a bit and though I don't agree with everything she said, I'm really happy to have found this :)

I often (ok, basically always) encourage clients to ditch the grains for the sake of their health, and many do see tremendous health improvements by doing so. One question/objection I often get is “If grains are unhealthy, why are they consumed in the Bible and why did Jesus use so many references to Bread” or “Grains are the staff of life, and Jesus even called himself the “Bread of Life” so eating them can’t be bad!”

It is certainly a valid point to consider and as a Christian, it was one I researched while going grain-free. Fortunately, for those of us striving to eat as healthy as possible and to live good Christian lives, the answers aren’t conflicting.

To fully understand the factors involved though, it is important to note several things:

1. The Grains of Biblical Times are Much Different Than The Grains of Today!

There certainly are many references to grains in the Bible, and with good reason. The Bible was compiled during a predominately agricultural time, and this would have been a reference that was easily understood by the people during that time period.

Though the Bible references grains, the grains consumed a couple thousand years ago bear little to no resemblance to the grains we consume (or don’t consume!) today.

In Jesus’ time, there were only three major types of wheat in existence: Einkorn, Emmer and later Triticum aestivum along with simple, non hybrid varieties of other grains like barley, millet and rye. These grains had (and still have ) a higher protein content and lower antinutrient content than grains of today.

This is a stark contrast to the 25,000+ species that exist today, most of which we created in a lab to be disease resistant or produce high yields. In order to achieve these traits like disease and pest resistance, scientists had to enhance the part of the grains that naturally resists disease and predators: mainly, the glutens, lectins, and phytates- the most harmful parts of the grains to humans.

In addition, these hybridized strains are often allergen producing and usually sprayed with pesticides and chemicals. It is interesting to note that some people who are allergic to modern strains of wheat show little to no reaction to (properly prepared) Einkorn wheat insmall amounts.

So, the grains of Jesus’ time weren’t genetically similar to the grains of today, and had lower concentrations of the harmful components. In addition, they were prepared much differently:

2. The Grains of Biblical Times Were Prepared Differently Than The Grains of Today!

Besides the differences in the basic genetic structure of the grains, grains in Biblical times were processed much differently, and consuming them in modern form wouldn’t have even been an option.

Since grains do contain anti-nutrients like gluten, lectin and phytates, these components have to be neutralized somehow. Traditional cultures throughout the world have found ways to lower the effect of these harmful properties.

In Biblical times, grains were often prepared by soaking, fermenting or sprouting before being consumed. Often, this wasn’t intentional, but a result of methods of storage which left the grains exposed to warm, moist conditions that encouraged sprouting and fermentation.

When a grain sprouts, the chemical structure changes and the anti-nutrient content is greatly reduced. Fermentation mitigates this further. Grains are harmful to humans when consumed straight off the plant in an uncooked or un-prepared state.

In addition, any grains consumed in Biblical times could truly have been called “whole grains” unlike the processed granola versions of modern times. Equipment didn’t even exist to grind grain to the micro-fine particles that we call flour today. Grains were often ground, by hand, using stones or similar objects.

Think of the difference in particle size between a hand-ground, sprouted piece of wheat and the dried, hybridized, dust-like flour we use today. The flour we consume today is ground to such a small size that the surface area of the grain is literally increased 10,000% and the starchy area is expanded. As a result, the body quickly converts it to sugar, which is why flour and processed foods can have as much of an impact on the blood sugar as pure sugar can.

Another obvious point to realize is that any reference to grain in Jesus’ time was a reference to an actual grain, in whole form or made into bread (that also wouldn’t resemble the stuff you get at the store!). Certainly, grains in Jesus’ time would not have been made into donuts, pretzels, chips, snack foods, cookies, etc.

Grains in Biblical times also wouldn’t have been mixed with vegetable oils, high fructose corn syrup, chemical additives, commercial yeasts, artificial flavorings, or other ingredients used today. Jesus wouldn’t have been snacking on Chex Mix or chowing down on bagels or soda while he was fishing.

If one truly desires to eat grains because they are referenced in the Bible, than these grains should be one of the three varieties that actually existed in the Bible, and should be prepared in a similar way and eaten in a similar way (though I’m not sure this is what many people are envisioning when referencing the Bible for their reason for consuming grains).

3. Grain Consumption Didn’t Begin Until After the Fall

If you read the text carefully, Adam and Eve are given the plants and fruits to eat in the Garden of Eden when there is peace and optimal health (considering death didn’t enter the picture until after the fall).

It is only after they sin that reference is made to tilling the soil and growing grains, and this reference is mingled with a reference to death when God tells Adam: “From the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat, until you return to the ground from which you were taken.”

In this sense, one can wonder if grain consumption was part of God’s plan in the beginning at all. Of course, God created grains, as he created everything, and saw that it all was good. An important distinction to make is that not everything that is “good” is necessarily “beneficial” to the human body.

God created poison ivy, which has its place in the eco-system, but which is not beneficial to the human body. God created many poisonous species of plants and animals, and they are good, though not beneficial to the human person.

God created grains, and while they have been consumed at times throughout history, nowhere is it specifically declared that they are beneficial and healthy for the human body, or that their consumption is part of the optimal diet for humans.

The context of the Bible was an agricultural time period when grains were sometimes necessary for survival or population growth. Especially considering the differences in grains today, it must be evaluated if grains are still a necessary part of the human diet.

In my opinion, references in the Bible give us insight into this as well:

4. Grains Were Often Eaten in Times of Hardship

While grains are referenced often in the Bible, these references are not always positive. From the animal offering of Abel that was preferred to the grain offering of Cain, to the admonition to Adam to till the soil until death, the Bible has its share of negative grain references as well.

The Book of Ezekiel is one of the most detailed and well-known references to grains, as God commands Ezekiel to use “wheat and barley, and beans and lentils, and millet and spelt” to make a bread for the people to eat.

This “recipe” has gained popularity and a version of bread fashioned after this method can be found in many grocery stores these days. Often, this is assumed to be healthy as it was a recipe given in the Bible. Unfortunately, a few important details were left out:

Taken in context, the book of Ezekiel is not a pleasant time. During Chapter 4, there is an impending siege, and these grains are all that is available. In fact, these foods are seen as food for animals, and Ezekiel protests having to eat them.
Because of the pending siege and famine, Ezekiel is also told to eat carefully portioned amounts to make sure there is enough food.
In verse 12, Ezekiel is commanded to cook this “bread” over human excrement, “For your food you must bake barley loaves over human excrement in their sight, said the Lord.” When Ezekiel protests, God allows him to use cow dung instead…. hardly appetizing, huh?

Other references link grain consumption with hardship as well:

When God’s people must leave Egypt in haste , they eat unleavened bread because it is all they can prepare in time
In the exile in the desert, God’s people eat Manna from Heaven though they eventually cry out for meat and are given quail
During the seven years of famine in Egypt, the Egyptians must eat grains because it is all that is available

[On a side note, both Biblical references and research on mummys from Ancient Egypt show that the Ancient Egyptians consumed grains in relatively large amounts in the form of breads and beer. The ancient Egyptians ate more "whole grains," leaner meat, less saturated fat and more fruits and veggies than the average American today. According to conventional wisdom, they should have been healthier, but researchers are stumped to find that they had high rates of heart disease and plaque in arterial walls as well.]

5. Meat is Often Linked With Times of Celebration or Redemption

Just as grains are often linked with hardship, many references to meat and fat in the Bible seem to promote their use (which is interesting, because many diets that encourage a Biblical way of eating often minimize meat consumption).

While meat was not specifically named as a food for man in the beginning, after the flood, God told Noah that “Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat. I give them to you as I did the green plants.”

When the prodigal son returns, the father kills the fatted calf in celebration instead of making a cake or baking some bread.

In the Old Testament, meat sacrifices were often required. In fact, at Passover, the blood of a lamb (foreshadowing Christ) was necessary to save the firstborn sons. The passage makes it very clear that unless the Israelites actually consumed the flesh of the lamb, they would not be protected.

It times of fasting or sacrifice, people in Biblical times (and still today) abstain from meat. From a scientific standpoint, there are health benefits to fasting, especially from occasionally removing proteins and fats for a short time.

Abstaining from meat as a form of fasting (as Catholics still do during Lent and many other religions do at times as well) shows that meat is something to be enjoyed and consumed!

Jesus As the Bread of Life

Throughout the New Testament, references to bread take on a parallel to Christ himself. Jesus is born in Bethlehem, (translated “House of Bread”). Jesus is laid in a manger, a feeding trough for animals.

Jesus even refers to himself as the “Bread of Life” in the Gospel of John, and He tells us that unless we “eat His flesh and drink His blood, we shall not have life within us.”

So when Jesus refers to himself in this way, and when we pray for “Our Daily Bread” in the Our Father, are these references an encouragement to consume grains?

I’d say that these references are not meant to be a nutritional directive, but rather to reveal important theological truths. As I mentioned above, there are many references of grain consumption during times of trial and famine.

Bread was consumed during fasting and times of trouble or sacrifice. These references are sprinkled throughout the Old Testament and would have been understood by the Jews during Jesus’ time.

Since Jesus became man to become a sacrifice for our sins, these parallels remind us of the sacrificial role Christ will take on.

Jesus also refers to himself as the “Lamb of God” in the Gospel of John, and these two titles taken together have a lot of meaning. As was foreshadowed in Old Testament Passover, the lamb was slain so that the angel of death would pass over God’s people.

Christ’s sacrifice, the last one needed, offers redemption as He dies for our sins.

Jesus celebrates the Last Supper with his disciples at the time Passover would have traditionally have been celebrated by the Jewish people. The Last Supper takes place on the feast of unleavened bread, when the sacrificial lamb was typically consumed. Though, the lamb is noticeably absent from the Last Supper.

At the Last Supper, Jesus holds up the bread, saying, “This is my Body, which is given up for you.” At this central moment, Jesus links the two titles he has called himself, the “Bread of Life” and the “Lamb of God.” The “bread” becomes the “Lamb”, which is to become the sacrifice for all mankind.

The next day, Jesus is crucified and dies at the hour that the sacrificial lamb is usually killed during Passover. All these connections would have had deep meaning to the Jewish people who would have recognized their references in Scripture.

Jesus, as God incarnate, was both the “Bread of Life” sustaining His people in times of trouble and trial, and the “Lamb of God” that takes away the sins of the world.

The references connecting Jesus with “Bread” are very important to the message of His Sacrifice for us. They are not ever presented as a dietary guideline or a mandatory command to consume grains.

Just as vegetarians can avoid meat without worrying about not following the references to meat-eating in the Bible, a Christian can certainly avoid grains without worrying about not following a Biblical directive. Jesus drank wine and his first miracle was turning water into wine, though I’ve never seen anyone argue that it is wrong to avoid drinking because Jesus drank wine.

More importantly, as Christians, we believe that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and should be nourished and treated as such. (“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body,” (1 Cor. 6:19-20)).

For this reason, it is worth considering for a Christian, if grains in their modern form should even be consumed for those trying to live as healthy as possible out of respect for a body made in the image and likeness of God.

In my opinion, grains certainly can be avoided, and often should be!

The Bottom Line

While there was perhaps a time in history when smaller amounts of grains, properly prepared, could be consumed without damaging the body, this is not the case today.

As mentioned above, grains today are much different than those of Biblical times. Many studies are now linking consumption of modern grains to inflammation, arterial plaque, joint problems, arthritis, infertility, PCOS and many other conditions.

Celiac disease, gluten intolerance, Type II Diabetes, Heart Disease and Cancer are all on the rise. Even small children are showing signs of insulin resistance and obesity. As a whole, our society suffers from damaged metabolisms and impaired insulin function.

The modern diet, especially in the last half a century has created a society of largely overweight people with health problems. Almost half of all people will die of heart disease, and consumption of grains, especially in processed form, has been linked to heart disease. (For a funny and factual explanation of why, watch the movie Fat Head if you haven’t already!)

For those who still want to consume grains in Biblical fashion, I suggest finding one of the three original strains, taking special care to prepare them by sprouting, fermentation or both, and eating them in moderate amounts along with a lot of veggies and meat.

For me, I don’t feel as well with any grain consumption, even correctly prepared, and the time needed for proper preparation just isn’t worth it. There are many other sources of nutrition that can be eaten in the whole form God gave us, without the need to process or even cook before eating.

Calorie for calorie, meats, fats and vegetables are much better (and more bio-available!) sources of nutrients, without the harmful anti-nutrient content.

For the small percentage of people who can tolerate grains without ill health effect, moderate grain consumption might be ok. The rest of us should consider the potential negative effects.

Many people will continue to eat grains, even in light of the emerging evidence, and this is certainly their right and prerogative. Heck, if a person wants to eat only Cheetos and Pepsi for the rest of their life (however short it may be!), that is his decision. My hope is just that Biblical references to grains won’t be used to justify eating processed flours and foods that are nothing like the actual grains of Biblical times.

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