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Eating by the Book
What the Bible Says About Food, Fat, Fitness, and Faith by David L. Meinz What the Bible Says About Healthy Living
Three Biblical Principles That Will Change Your Diet and Improve Your Health by Rex Russell

Kosher for Health

by Traute Klein, AKA biogardener

Observing kosher dietary rules can improve your health by avoiding allergens and reducing bad cholesterol. You can adapt the rules to benefit your family's health.

Kosher

I am using the word "kosher" only in relation to the dietary laws of Old Testament. I an not referring to ritual practices or religious convictions, because I am not qualified to talk about them.

Hold the mouse over the pictures to read the captions of these definitely non-kosher foods.

Eating for Optimum Health

During Lent, many people change their eating habits after indulging in all their sinful favorites during the preceding weeks. I have never been tempted to do that. I like to eat for optimum health at all times. My health has been sensitive since birth, and I cannot afford to abuse it.

Mardi Gras is not for me. The word means "Fat Tuesday," and my stomach turns just thinking about the meaning. I have never taken part in a Pancake Supper which many Winnipeg churches celebrate on Pancake Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday which is the beginning of Lent. One of the items on the menu is pork sausages. Not only does my stomach revolt with them, my skin breaks out in painfull boils the day after I eat it.

I suffered from those boils through the first twenty years of my life without ever finding out what caused them. Then I ate in a college dormitory where the chef refused to serve any type of pork product, and my problems disappeared, only to reappear the day after I ate one single bun baked with lard. Then I understood that pork is not good for me, regardless of religious considerations.

Dietary Restrictions

The dietary rules of the Old Testament may appear restrictive, but according to what I have learned about good health, they make sense. Let's look at the ones which I remember:

• No Pork
  Modern research tells us that pork contains more allergens than any other meat. It is one of the most widely eaten meats in the world, because a pig or two can easily be raised in underprivileged circumstances. Most people who have reactions to the meat are probably not aware of what is disagreeing with them. My oldest brother has the same reaction to pork as I have, but he is not going to listen to his little sister, so he keeps on suffering from boils on the back of his neck.

• No Shellfish
  Shrimp is a delicacy to many people, yet we now know that it is a dangerous and even lethal food. A Winnipeg woman died after eating food which had been deep-fried in the same fat in which shrimps had previously been cooked. Shellfish like shrimp, lobster, scallops, mussels, and clams feed near the ocean floor where heavy metals collect, metals which are toxic. My husband has nicknamed shrimp "little garbage cans." When I think of their toxic content, the taste becomes less appealing.

• No Fish without Scales
  In my childhood, smoked eel was a delicacy, because eel (a sea serpent and not a fish) is plentiful in the coves of the Baltic Sea where I grew up, and it is easy to catch. I call it the "vulture of the sea," because it feeds on cadavers and accumulates toxins in its system. After seeing the harvesting of eel in the film "Die Blechtrommel" (The Tin Drum), I lost my taste for this childhood treat. Tuna is a fish without scales. Please take note.

• No Combination of Dairy and Meat Products
  We have learned in the last century that combining the wrong foods in the same meal will produce LDL or bad cholesterol. So if you cannot resist the temptation of eating North American pizza, at least make it vegetarian, or else, eat the real Italian pizza which my Italian landlady in Toronto used to serve. It contained neither meat nor cheese, but was a yeast cake brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with herbs and onions. My mother's German Zwiebelkuchen (onion cake) was not that different, except that my mother had never heard of real Italian olive oil.

Non-kosher

Normally, I illustrate articles about good eating with photos of food which promote good health. This time, I decided to give you one last look at what you should not be eating.

Anti-allergen, Heart-healthy Diet

I have adapted many elements of the kosher diet for my own eating, not for religious reasons but for health considerations. My family has no choice but to follow suit, because I am the kitchen boss. This diet is easy on people with allergies, because it eliminates two of the most common culprits, pork and shrimp. It is also good for the circulatory system, because it avoids the production of bad cholesterol in the body.

Reading Material

About 30 years ago, I read my way through the church library in Quebec City. The only book title which has remained with me all these years is "None of These Diseases." The author, S. I. McMillan, was an American pastor who took a prolonged leave of absence from his church to study the Old Testament health restrictions and their effect on the people who practice them.

The title is based on the assurance which God gave the Children of Israel that "none of these diseases" would fall on them if they obeyed his laws. McMillan demonstrates statistically how the Jewish people have remained healthier than their neighbors, as long as they remained true to their traditional diet. They suffer far less from cancer and circulatory diseases. One point which I remember is the lower incidence of cervical cancer in women whose husbands are circumcised, although that is not related to diet.

The book is no longer in print, but I found what appears to be a reworked version of it, entitled "None of These Diseases, The Bible's Health Secrets for the 21st Century" by S. I. McMillen and David E. Stern, 2000.